William McIlroy (department store)

William McIlroy was an Irish draper who moved to England, where he opened his first store on Regent Street, Swindon[1] in 1875.

[2] The business grew, with William's brother-in-law James Wheeler and son Ewart joining the business, and 22 branches were opened up across England and Wales amongst them Bristol, East Grinstead, Kirkby in Ashfield, Minehead, Stroud, Portsmouth[3] and most famously Oxford Road in Reading.

[4] The Oxford Road store was opened in 1903, and was known as the Crystal Palace of Reading[5] because of its 2000 feet of plate glass windows, and employed over 1000 people.

[8] During the 1930s the grand ball room was added to the Swindon store, with the chandeliers and panelling coming from the cruise liner Mauretania.

[14] However, on 13 January 1998, the store was closed by its owners Mackays, citing that it could not compete with rivals Debenhams, House of Fraser and the Designer Outlet Centre.