Transport

Initially the Partnership delivered its goods by horse-drawn vans. Many department stores had funeral departments and the delivery horses were also used to pull the hearse.

By the early 1900s the first motorised vans with solid wheels and poor suspension appeared. In 1935, Peter Jones ran electric shuttle vans but these were soon replaced by more conventional vehicles.

In Waitrose, deliveries were initially made by bicycle but in the 1920s they had a fleet of vans which were required as they would deliver to customers up to three times a day. Refrigerated lorries were introduced in the 1960s as the business began to sell more frozen foods, and the Central Vehicle Workshop, now at Bracknell, was created to maintain the Partnership’s fleet.