Cater Brothers
Cater Brothers was a supermarket chain based in the South East of England that became part of the Presto chain owned by Allied Suppliers.
History
Cater Brothers Supermarkets was a natuaral progression for a famiy of butchers and greengrocers. Henry Charles Cater (1818-1868)was a pork merchant and laterly a pork Butcher in the East End of London. Three of his four sons went onto become a Cheesemonger, a Grocer and a Provisions merchant.[1]
Henry John Cater, one of Henry Charles son's is shown as being a Grocer in Bridge Street, Mile End in the 1881 census.[2] It was his five sons whom took the business over after his death in 1919, with his son Erastus being appointed chairman of the board. By the start of the Second World War the business had around 30 stores.[3]
In 1956, Leslie Erastus, son of Erastus had taken over the running of the business and was keen to move the company into the new self service supermarket business.[4] The first supermarket was opened in Bromley in 1958, with branches being added across the south east at a rate of around one a year. The new chain had stores as far away as Reading to Colchester, all supplied by a depot in Dagenham.
However in 1972, Leslie Erastus was killed wihile flying his plane across the French Alps.[5] Along with Leslie Erastus was two other passangers, one being rival supermarket owner F J Wallis of Wallis Supermarkets. After his death, the Cater family decided to accept an offer of £7 million for the business from Debenhams in 1973.
Debenhams intergrated the business with their 40 food halls, which were modernised as part of the intergration and opened a further 2 new Cater supermarkets. However the business struggled in the competitve 1970s market, and in 1979 Debenhams sold the business to Allied Suppliers.[6] Allied Suppliers intergrated the new stores into their Presto chain and the Cater Bros brand was no more.
Branches
- Basildon
- Bow
- Bromley
- Canning Town
- Catford
- Croydon
- Chelmsford
- Colchester
- Edmonton
- Eltham
- Greenwich
- Morden
- Putney
- Reading
- St. Albans
- Southend
- Watford
References
- ^ "Cater Brothers - a story of a supermarket by David Waters". Retrieved 21 April 2015.
- ^ "Cater Brothers - a story of a supermarket by David Waters". Retrieved 21 April 2015.
- ^ "Cater Brothers - a story of a supermarket by David Waters". Retrieved 21 April 2015.
- ^ "Cater Brothers - a story of a supermarket by David Waters". Retrieved 21 April 2015.
- ^ "Cater Brothers - a story of a supermarket by David Waters". Retrieved 21 April 2015.
- ^ "Cater Brothers - a story of a supermarket by David Waters". Retrieved 21 April 2015.