Commercial Overprint Society of Great Britain
Vol. 3 No. 2; August 1, 2005
Watson & Philip, Ltd.
by Michael Behm
Watson & Philip of Dundee, Scotland, was a company that sold foodstuffs to both commercial clients and to householders. From the receipt, we can see that there was also a location at the dockside in Aberdeen in 1933. (The image at left shows the Aberdeen docks; the image below shows the Regent Quay in 1960.)
Little information is available on Watson & Philip Ltd. to researchers who are restricted to the Internet. We can infer that it was a family-owned business from references to a Watson being on the board of directors in the 1990s, and that the firm was a great patron of the arts from the painters who mention that their works had been purchased by Watson & Philip.
Watson & Philip was very active in the 1990s, purchasing Amalgamated Foods in 1991, selling SPAR Scotland to C. J. Lang, its main competitor, in 1993, and expanding furiously from 1996 to 1998: announcing plans to grow from 450 stores to 550 in 1996, planning an additional 100 outlets the following year, planning a "unique regional franchising scheme" that would nearly double the number of stores, planning an additional 82 stores in 1997, and planning a further 90-100 Alldays convenience stores in the second half of 1998, with most being franchised.
Then, the fall: in October 1998 Watson & Philip sold its food distribution business to Brake Brothers and changed its name to Alldays. In 1999, Alldays sold off their Trademarket chain of cash-and-carry businesses. In October 2002, Alldays was placed in receivership to clear the way for its £131m purchase by The Co-operative Group.
I am aware of only two commercial overprints from Watson & Philip: both appear on this issue and both are signed by James Brown, who worked in the Aberdeen location. I encourage you to examine your collections: does this commercial overprint appear on other issues? Was the overprint used in other locations—such as Dundee and Glasgow?
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