Cater Brothers was a supermarket chain based in the South East of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, which was later taken over and integrated into Presto chain owned by

Allied Suppliers Home and Colonial Stores was once one of the United Kingdom's largest retail chains. Its formation of a vast chain of retail stores in the late 1920s is seen as the first step in the development of a UK food retail market dominated by a small num ...

History

Cater Brothers Supermarkets was a natural progression for a family of butchers and greengrocers. Henry Charles Cater (1818-1868) was a pork merchant and latterly a pork

butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesal ...

in the East End of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Three of his four sons went on to become a cheesemonger, a grocer and a provisions merchant. Henry John Cater, one of Henry Charles's sons, is shown in the 1881 census as being a grocer in Bridge Street, Mile End. It was his five sons who 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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the business had around 30 stores. 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. The first supermarket was opened in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

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 and Colchester, all supplied by a depot in Dagenham. In 1972, Leslie Erastus was killed when a plane, piloted by rival supermarket owner F. J. Wallis of

Wallis Supermarkets Wallis (derived from ''Wallace'') may refer to: People * Wallis (given name) ** Wallis, Duchess of Windsor * Wallis (surname) Places * Wallis (Ambleston), a hamlet within the parish of Ambleston in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, United Kingd ...

, crashed in the French Alps. After his death, the Cater family decided to accept an offer of £7 million for the business from

Debenhams Debenhams plc was a British department store chain operating in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries, also owning the Danish ...

, in 1973. Debenhams integrated the business with their 40 food halls, which were modernised and branded as Cater Food Halls and opened a further two new Cater supermarkets. However the business struggled in the competitive 1970s market, and in 1979, and had lost £975,000 in 1977 and £383,000 in 1978 on a turnover of £54 million. Debenhams sold the business and it's 24 stores to

Cavenham Foods Cavenham Foods was one of the United Kingdom's largest food processing businesses. History The company was founded by Sir James Goldsmith in 1965 when he bought up a series of bakeries. In 1971 Cavenham acquired the Bovril Company but then sold ...

subsidiary

for £9.5 million. Allied Suppliers integrated the new stores into their Presto chain and the Cater Brothers brand was no more. The Cater name, however, lived on longer in Chelmsford, with an office block that was built above the store carrying the Cater House name until it was converted into residential flats and renamed Canside in 2014.

Branches

* Altrincham * Basildon *Bedford * Bow * Bromley * Canning Town * Catford * Croydon * Chelmsford * Colchester * Edmonton * Eltham * Greenwich *Hitchin *Holloway *Kingston * Morden * Putney * Reading * St Albans * Southend * Watford *Wood Green

References

{{Defunct UK grocers Defunct supermarkets of the United Kingdom Debenhams