When Cheetahs Dined in Croydon
Some shop keepers go to extraordinary lengths to attract trade.
However, today's bargain prices and celebrity guest appearances are nothing compared to the promotions staged by Croydon's traders in the interwar years.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s stores spent considerable sums in promoting themselves and encouraging visitors to frequent their establishments.
A leader in this field was Kennards, which later became part of the Debenhams chain of department stores.
Each week thousands would flock to Kennards in North End to do their shopping and enjoy the numerous entertainments arranged by the management to attract business.
Details of many of the attractions to be found at the shop are detailed in Vivien Lovett's book, Kennards of Croydon - The Store that Entertained to Sell.
One of the shop's most popular promotions was its pony rides. In 1928 Mr Bell introduced two ponies to the store.
These were an immediate success and such was the demand for rides a year later Mrs Miller was employed to assist Mr Bell.
She later introduced another three Shetland Ponies to Kennards' stables. Pony rides at the store continued to thrill children right up to 1966 when Mrs Miller retired. The success of the ponies led Kennards to embark on probably their most ambitious promotion with the establishment of a small zoo.
Conceived as a means of attracting families to the store the zoo was a sensation.
Housed next to the pony stables, in a small yard off Drummond Road, the zoo originally housed some monkeys, a camel, a peacock, some birds and other small animals.
As thousands of children dragged their parents to Kennards to see the animals, the store decided to capitalise on their success and introduce more exotic species.
In November 1930 a lion and lioness called Leo and Florence joined Willie the Wolf, Harry the Hyena and Percy the Porcupine in their new home at Kennards. Later a group of cheetahs were also given temporary lodgings in the zoo.
The store proudly advertised their new venture as "the first real zoo ever to be seen in Croydon". Although many of the animals featured were quite docile, a large notice warned that the store would not accept responsibility "for what may happen if people will poke their fingers through the bars!".
Be this as it may, some of the animals were not always confined to their cages. In the mid-1930s a cheetah was on display in the restaurant where it, together with no doubt some slightly nervous diners, were serenaded by Ida Santerelli and her female band.
A photograph shows the cheetah sitting nonchalantly on a dining table while a waitress shows it a menu, probably hoping it will chose something to eat from the sweet trolley rather than one of the diners!
Sadly for the young children of Croydon, the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 forced the zoo to close and the animals were found safe lodgings elsewhere.
Kennards of Croydon costs £12.25 including postage and packing and is available from V. Whitehouse, 14 Clarice Way, Foresters Drive, Wallington, Surrey SM6 9LD or from Croydon bookshops.