IT is a household name on the high street and Marks and Spencer Bolton is celebrating its 100 year anniversary of trading in Deansgate.

Marks and Spencer was founded in 1884 by Thomas Spencer in Leeds.

It is amazing what a penny can do. "Don't ask the price, it’s a penny" was the slogan Michael Marks used when he opened his first bazaar in Leeds in 1884. It could not have been any simpler and both his idea and hard work soon paid off.

But it was when Michael went into partnership with Tom Spencer in 1894 that the company we all know really started to take shape.

They opened a store in Bolton in 1892 as a Penny Bazaar spending 12 years in Bolton's famous Market Hall on a plot of around 260 square feet — a far cry from the massive operation it is today in Deansgate.

Did you know that Marks and Spencer sold their first bra in 1926 and that the company's scientists worked with the Government during World War Two to help with the rationing strategy?

They were one of the first stores to introduce avocado pears, in 1959, with one customer trying to serve it as a dessert with custard.

After 12 years in the Market Hall a second store then opened in September 1915 at number 60 Deansgate.

This store frontage was 14 feet across and the ground floor covered a total of 1,000 square feet.

This particular store remained open until 1929 and on June 21 of the same year a new shop, at 45 to 49 Deansgate was opened.

Things remained pretty much the same in terms of how the store looked until on August 17, 1950 part of the first floor was converted into a sales floor.

The main frontage remained at 62 feet but the total square footage of the store then nearly doubled to 12,400. The ground floor covered 6,500 square feet and the first floor was 5,850 square feet.

Store manager of M&S Bolton, Angela Tierney, says: "So much has happened to M&S Bolton over the past 100 years. We have had three different premises since starting as a Penny Bazaar and we've grown the store a lot over the years since setting in at Deansgate in 1915."

The M&S company archive has a collection of more than 7,000 historic items, including photographs and is located at the University of Leeds' Michael Marks' building.

Marks and Spencer (now known as M&S) is also, colloquially known as Marks and Sparks and has been as long as most of us can remember.

It was always the place to go for essentials such as underwear and socks as well as tights, children's clothes and in the latter years food and more contemporary clothing.

It is a British tradition that has stood the test of time but its fame and enduring popularity has seen it expand into other parts of the world. How fascinating it was to shop in Malta, on a warm sunny afternoon, browsing the rails of M&S.

Its policy, in the early days, was to sell only British goods and it got a well-deserved reputation for excellent quality, hard wearing clothing.

Its 1953 slogan was "the customer is always and completely right" and that is a motto that many shops liked to stick to in the long gone days of the1940s, 50s and 60s when the customer was king and being served in a store was part of the retail experience.

M&S began selling Christmas cakes and Christmas puddings in 1958. In an effort to improve the quality of their Swiss rolls, they hired the food expert Nat Goldberg, who made a major improvement across their entire cake range, which had lost the public's favour a few years earlier. As a later measure to improve food quality food labelling was improved and "sell by dates" were phased in between 1970 and 1972.

This was a time of great change in retail. Supermarkets were soon to be the most popular way of shopping — up to this point corner shops and small stores were the only way most fresh produce could be bought.

It entered into long term relationships with British manufacturers, and sold clothes and food under the "St Michael" brand, that was introduced in 1928. The brand honours Michael Marks.

It also accepted the return of unwanted items, giving a full cash refund if the receipt was shown, no matter how long ago the product was purchased, which was unusual for the time.

M&S staff raised £5,000 to pay for a Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft called The Marksman in 1941.

You will, perhaps remember the St Michael label. By 1950, virtually all goods were sold under the "St Michael" label. M&S lingerie, women's clothes and girls' school uniform were branded under the "St Margaret" label until the whole range of general merchandise became "St Michael".

Do you have any early Marks and Spencer memories you would like to share with other Looking Back readers?

Perhaps you worked there or have memories of the store in its early days.

If so do get in touch with Gayle McBain on 01204 537269 or email gayle.mcbain@nqnw.co.uk