House of Fraser (Kendal’s)
Susie Stubbs
Affectionately known as Manchester’s Harrods, Kendal’s has been trading on Deansgate since 1832, housed in a striking, Grade II-listed art-deco building. It was the epitome of style long before new pretenders Harvey Nicks and Selfridge’s muscled in on the scene. Today, its seven floors offer the best of the high street and those harder-to-find brands under one rather large roof with fashion for all ages, classy homewares, a kids’ department and comprehensive cosmetics hall, two cafes and the stylish San Carlo Cicchetti restaurant on the ground floor, a smaller version of the hugely popular Italian eatery opposite.
The poshest shop in town, it was once owned by Harrods, but a brief attempt at imposing the London name swiftly buckled under a storm of local protest – in much the same way that today’s Mancunians stubbornly refuse to stop calling it Kendal’s, though the store was re-branded as House of Fraser in 2005. The ‘original’ Kendal Milne is now the Deansgate branch of Waterstone’s but the two buildings of the department store remained open until the 70s, linked by a subterranean tunnel.
