*Historical* Over the border now to Cheam. This is a place you can visit anytime for a fascinating glimpse into the past.

This was the location of one of the UK’s first Sainsbury’s grocery stores, set up at the turn of the last century. Staff would serve the customer from various departments situated around the edges of the main store floor. 

Incredibly a large percentage of the fixtures and fittings still exist. The building is now occupied by Wildwood (recommend the Hoisin duck Pizza) and you can appreciate close-up the original ornate tiles, intact on the floor and walls.

Take a look at the pics…

Sainsburys tiles 1900s
The J Sainsbury step in the doorway
Sainsburys tiles 1900s overview
An overview of the restaurant with the tiles still in place
Sainsburys tiles 1900s
A close up of the wall tiles and reflected in a mirror
Sainsburys tiles 1900s Cheam
Incredible floor detail
Sainsburys tiles 1900s detail flowers
Flower motifs on the wall
Wildwood Cheam 2022
The windows are still in place too
Sainsburys Cheam history 1900s
As it was at the turn of the last century

Enjoyed seeing this post? We’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below…

8 Responses

  1. Really interesting, hope to visit soon. Memories of the older style Sainsburys should come flooding back! Thanks for the photos.

  2. Wow! That floor looks amazing and love the fact that people make an effort to save it! Thanks for sharing :))

  3. Great to see these pictures as they take me back to 1961 when after two weeks training in Stamford street in London I started my first job at Sainsbury’s in Wallington that looked like the black and white photo. It was so exciting and I had to be persuaded to go home as being only 15 I was only allowed to work to a certain time. Everything was so interesting learning from boning a side of bacon to cutting a barrel size piece down to small pieces without wasting any of it. I worked for them for over 5 years until they changed to supermarkets.

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