Hillards
{{Short description|Defunct British supermarket chain}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Hillards plc
| logo = File:Hillards shopping bag with logos and artwork.jpg
| type = Public
| founder = John Wesley Hillard
| slogan =
| fate = Acquired and merged into Tesco
| predecessor =
| successor = Tesco
| foundation = {{start date and age|1885}}
| defunct = {{end date and age|1987}}
| location = Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire
| industry = Retail
| products = Groceries
| key_people = Peter Hartley (Executive Chairman)
| num_employees =
| parent =
| subsid =
}}
Hillards plc was a small supermarket chain from the North of England, bought out in a hostile takeover by Tesco in May 1987.
History
File:Train, Ilkley (1983) (geograph 2797818).jpg in 1983.]]
The company was founded by John Wesley Hillard in 1885, in the West Yorkshire town of Cleckheaton.{{Cite web |url=http://www.hillards-trust.co.uk/4612.html |title=Hillards Charitable Trust |access-date=2006-09-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070102175622/http://www.hillards-trust.co.uk/4612.html |archive-date=2007-01-02 |url-status=dead }} The first shop was opened in Lion Chambers there, and shortly after 1900, there were twenty shops operating as Lion Stores. By 1951, there were over seventy stores, and by 1968, it had warehouse size stores in Wakefield, Lincoln and York.
In 1970, the trade name Lion Stores was dropped in favour of Hillards and in 1972, the company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange. Peter Hartley, a grandson of the founder, became executive chairman in 1983 and in May 1987, following a hostile bid, the business was acquired by Tesco for £220m.{{cite news
| title = A history of Tesco: The rise of Britain's biggest supermarket| url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/2788089/A-history-of-Tesco-The-rise-of-Britains-biggest-supermarket.html| publisher = Telegraph Media Group Limited|accessdate = 13 February 2009| location=London| first=Tim| last=Clark| date=15 April 2008}}{{cite news|title=TESCO profits are estimated to have risen|work=The Guardian p. 25|date=17 March 1987}}{{cite news|title=THE TESCO camp in the takeover battle for Hillards|work=The Guardian p. 27|date=29 April 1987}}
File:Tesco Supermarket - geograph.org.uk - 774387.jpg|Former Hillards in Cleckheaton, now a Tesco
File:Tesco, Roundhay Road, Oakwood, Leeds (12th April 2014).JPG|Tesco in Oakwood, Leeds was scheduled to open as a Hillards but opened as Tesco as the chain was acquired mid construction.
File:Tesco, Pontefract (5th July 2019) 001.jpg|Former Hillards in Pontefract, now a Tesco
References
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110727095424/http://www.hillards-trust.co.uk/5302/6673.html List of Hillards Stores]
{{Defunct UK grocers}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Retail companies established in 1885
Category:Retail companies disestablished in 1987
Category:Defunct supermarkets of the United Kingdom
Category:Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange
Category:Companies based in Kirklees
{{UK-retail-company-stub}}