Wickhams (department store)

They attempted to buy the Spiegelhalter property, but a mutually acceptable price could not be agreed, making the shop a holdout.

The Spiegelhalters' refusal to move led to a situation in which the new store was built around the family shop, which continued to trade when Wickhams opened on either side of it.

Also, the central block with its tower would not have been in the centre, with the completed building having seven windows in the left wing and nine in the right.

Although of German descent from the Black Forest village of Neukirch, the Spiegelhalter family had lived in the East end of London since about 1828 working as jewellers and clockmakers.

Many family members were born at 81 Mile End Road [4] Because of anti-German sentiment flowing from the Great War, in 1919 the Spiegelhalters changed their names by deed poll to Salter.

The Salter family finally closed the shop at 81 Mile End Road in 1982.