Your Responses

Anne Harte - Aug '08
I remember Lennox's with great love. I too went there many time with my mother as I grew up. Going to visit Santa was the highlight of my christmas. I remember the toys were tantalisingly pinned on the walls and I would make my way towards Santa in the hope of getting a nurses uniform or a dolly. It was a magical grotto. How good it is to be reminded of all of this. My aunt and grandmother worked in the store before I was born. I have been living away from Armagh too long. I want very much to go back again. I will always call Armagh home.

Jayne Bassett - July '06
Getting new school uniforms in August, stiff white collars and blazers with the sleeves turned up inside so it would last all of the following year, and my first ever school beret. Rows of beautiful timber drawers with all different sizes of socks and vests - with the little cardboard price tag which was bent over at the top.

Taking a lifetime to walk through the shop as Mum talked to everyone she met. Christmas Eve shopping trips with the whole family. Getting lost throughout the shop when little and then hiding in the coffee shop when a teenager. Having the door held open by a lovely gentleman coming in and going out.

Standing with my Mum and Dad and brothers beside the library one evening after the huge bomb and seeing the burning shells of so many great shops,-people next to me weeping at the sight.

June McAllister - June '06
Lennox's was the best department store in the North. Sadly missed by all of us. We enjoyed the coffee shop and the friendliness of the staff who went out of their way to help. It was a great meeting place. The goods on sale there from clothing to furniture, to childrens, to the Christmas shop and the china shop where we were all afraid to walk as the floors shook with age, were all fabulous. Even when one was not interested in buying it was a joy just to walk around and look at all the fabulous things on offer. Nobody ever pressurized you into buying. A lovely place altogether, and very sadly missed by all, young and old alike.

Charles Simpson - April '06
I was a boarder at Armagh Royal School with my brother David. We were kitted out at Lennox's. The name of the man who looked after us was Mr Withers. We went to the Royal in 1967. They were a very friendly local department store.

David Sturgeon - Feb 06
What a shock to hear of the passing of A.Lennox & Sons. I left Northern Ireland in 1966 , and am now living in Lafayette Louisiana. I remember selling household linens to Mr.Lennox , I think there were two brothers,but the one I knew was a fine gentleman who was a preacher in the Plymouth Brethren. - And yes, who can forget the lovely coffee shop

Caroline McCarthy - Sep 05
I always have fond memories of this store, and it was always a meeting point in Armagh. As a child growing up in Armagh Lennoxs' seemed like a huge store and I too remember going to see Santa with my brother and the feelings of excitment and fear of going downstairs to the grotto! Lennoxs was great for buying presents but I always remember going in during August with my mum to buy the dreaded school uniform there too. I agree it is a great loss to the people of Armagh.

Penny McKeown - Sept '05
Lennox's was one of those shops in which you could buy whatever you needed for your house, your kids, your husband and yourself, although you might have to save up for it! (And Whitsitt's was almost next door). Aladdin's Cave might as well have been the name for the whole store! But my most cherished memories are of the countless hours (maybe weeks or months if you totted it all up?) I spent there in the coffee lounge in company of many friends (Maureen, Thelma, Roma, Lesley, Maureen, Nancy .......) passing the time, gossiping, drinking decent coffee. And a great place to take your young children -- a high chair for the very little ones, and the regular sending of older restless ones out to ride on the camel at 2 pence a time -- such good value. Then they would come back and ask, variously, for 17p, or 29.59, or whatever, to buy some toy they had spotted during their wanderings! Other coffee shops may come and go, but the memories of the Wheel and Lantern will last for ever!

Stephanie Palmer - June 05
My mom and grandmother used to take me there when I was a little girl. The toy department was my favourite. My mom bought me the most beautiful doll "Victoria Rose".. Stephanie

Skaldy - June '05
I remember it well. The time was from 1972 to 1976. My mother used to take me into the store when I was a child to get a ride on the racing car. It cost 2p at the time. A large imposing man would walk by and I would hear all the ladies say "hello Mr Lennox"

I would go past my Grandfather, John McConville who would guard the door and who would always smile at me. I would then go into the toy department with my mother Mary and look at the airfix models. At Christmas a visit to santas grotto was a must. I always thought Santa looked a bit like my grandad but my mum said I must be dreaming !!!! As a teenager I used to go to the coffee shop behind the gents department. On the way I would say hello to Phillip & Derek and bring my girlfriend in for a coffee. I think in 1982 it cost me 50p for 2 coffees. We would talk for hours before she would nip up to the ladies department to say hello to her mum who worked in the ladies department & then she would walk home with her. Its 23 years later and I can still smell the coffee. In the immortal words of Forrest Gump "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you get till you bite into it"

Annetta Prescott - February '05
I have many happy memories of Lennox's. As a child it was always a highlight of a visit to Armagh. Even on the morning of my wedding (July '96) I remember calmly calling into Lennoxs to buy some costume jewelry for my bridesmaids!

Mark G Hughes - August 2004
I left Armagh some 22 years ago, but reading your article about A Lennox and Sons brought back some wonderful memories, especially as a child coming in out of the rain at the start of a cold dark evening and being brought to the JOLLY ROGER toy store by my mother and being allowed to look at and sometimes even receive a toy. Then, new toy in hand, off we went for a cup of hot chocolate and eat what now seems to have been the biggest creamiest pastries. I can almost taste it now. What a shame it has gone and what a shame more was not done by those in a position of responsibility to save and even refurbish this part of Armagh history.

Kay McBride - July 2004
This is a great article bringing back many memories of A Lennox & Son. It was a store where you were always sure to get what you were looking for - from an outfit for a wedding, including accessories, a wedding present, furniture, bedding, ornaments and anything else you can think of. I loved to walk around this store, just browsing, before the smell of coffee drew me to the coffee lounge where you were always sure to meet someone you knew!
Christmas was a special time in the store and I brought my children to see Santa there, as my mother did with myself and my sisters. The day Santa arrived at Lennox's always signalled the start of Christmas in our house. Then of course there were the staff - always courteous and helpful, going out of their way to assist at all times. The closure of A Lennox & Son was a great loss to Armagh. Once this store closed, there was no longer a store where we could purchase just about anything needed - as well as a store, it was a meeting point. It is greatly missed and will never be replaced.

Denise Lavery - July 2004
It was lovely to read about A Lennox & Sons Department Store in Armagh which is no longer in the town. It brought back pleasant memories as a child growing up in the City. I remember visiting Santa's grotto which was a magical place with the old Santa sitting in his rocking chair at his fire place giving out parcels to every wide eyed child that entered in. I recall the lovely coffee shop which I spent many mornings in with my mother and grandmother.

Lennox's is very much missed in Armagh. The City has deteriorated so much from its closure and I no longer have this lovely store to spend a Saturday afternoon in with my own children.