Cavendish House was a Cheltenham institution for nearly two centuries

Cavendish House is no more. Not so much a shop, more a Cheltenham institution, it provided for the needs and wants of local people from cradle to grave for two centuries.

As much an essential of the spa town as its ornamental ironwork, regiments of scarlet geraniums in the Long Garden, or tweeds during race week, Cheltenham without Cavendish House is a shock to the system.

The Promenade was laid out in 1818 and lined with 44 chestnut trees. Then land along its length was sold for development and the first shop, a draper’s called Clark and Debenham, opened for business in 1823.

Messrs Clark and Debenham had another store near Cavendish Square in London and soon the Cheltenham outlet became known as Cavendish House.

Regardless of your vintage, if you live, or have lived in the town for a time you’ll have a memory of the department store known to all as Cav. The sights, the sounds and the smells.

Speaking of the latter, many will recall the outcry in 1997 when Cav’s food hall closed.

It was found on the Regent Street side of the store in the space more recently occupied by the cafe and men’s clothing department.

Wonderful whiffs from the food hall permeated the ground floor.

Customers ran a gauntlet of intermingled aromas as they browsed the counters. Freshly roasted coffee beans. Perfumed Earl Grey, Lapsang Souchong and other exotic teas. Citrus fruits and earthy vegetables. Truckles of cheeses from near and far.

Half a century ago there was a barber shop up the stairs from the food hall from which the pungent pong of bay rum escaped.

But this shortly gave way to more olfactory temptations from the restaurant’s kitchen.

The restaurant was a treat with its crisp white clothed tables, EPNS cruets and, as the centre piece, a single carnation pink and perky in its specimen vase.

Waitresses in pinnies and frilled mop caps fetched and carried, while fashion models stalked between the tea takers displaying the price of the frock they were wearing, available from the ladies’ department.

During the festive season Cav’s upper storey was given over to Santa’s grotto and Tinsel Toyland, with fairy lights and cotton wool snow adding to the magic.

The Promenade was originally a residential thoroughfare. When what became Cavendish House opened it occupied a row of houses called Promenade Villas.

This remained the case until, by degrees, the store was rebuilt over three years at a cost of almost £1m to reopen in 1966.

Until then the store was host to subterranean secrets, as Echo reader James Ball recalled in a letter to the Nostalgia pages some ten years ago.

“Back in the early ‘60s I worked at Cavendish House as a porter, then became a delivery driver” he wrote.

“Under the store were cellars that years before had been living quarters for the staff.

“But there was also a warren of tunnels, hidden staircases and passages branching off in every direction so that members of staff could reach the various departments without having to be seen by the customers.

“As a porter, my job entailed taking and fetching parcels from various departments. I had to negotiate the tunnels, one of which went from Cavendish House, under the Promenade to the old Post Office, now Waterstone’s.

“Another tunnel went under Regent Street, stopping just short of the Everyman Theatre.”

What is to become of the Cav site is presently the cause of much comment and speculation. For now, take a look at the images here and remember the glory days of Cavendish House.