Lost supermarket chain remembered for 'cut-price' drinks and Green Shield Stamps

A lost supermarket chain that once sold cut-price items was a familiar fixture in Greater Manchester for years.

In the 1960s, the way we shopped changed dramatically as supermarkets meant customers no longer had to travel from shop to shop for different items. Instead of asking staff behind counters to fetch things, shoppers also began to serve themselves, grabbing items after browsing the shelves.

In Greater Manchester, many will remember visiting their first supermarket and for some - that supermarket was Lennon's. The family business dates back to 1900 when Mr Frank Lennon established his grocery and provisions businesses in St Helens, now part of Merseyside.

Read More:

Until the early 1950s, the family ran a small group of traditional style grocery shops. But in 1958, one of Frank's sons, Terence Lennon, paid a visit to America and was inspired by their style of grocery selling and when he returned laid the plans for converting Lennon shops to self service.

It soon became a public company and old cinemas local to the family were soon bought and converted into supermarkets. The chain progressed rapidly and Lennon’s started adding off-licenses, selling cut-price drinks.

As the business prospered, more shops were opened and by 1963, Lennon's boasted a turnover of £5 million, the Manchester Evening News previously reported. Lennon's supermarkets were later opened in Manchester, Rochdale, Wigan, Levenshulme, Cheetham Hill and more and outside of Greater Manchester, branches could also be found in Liverpool, Lancashire, Yorkshire and elsewhere in the country.

The first supermarket arrived in Rochdale in October 1963, when Lennon's opened at the junction of Yorkshire Street and Whitworth Road. The MEN previously