Leak & Thorp - the great fire of 1933 in photos

From its early days in the mid 1800s, it established itself as one of the leading stores in York by the 1930s.

The store survived the First World War, and later the Depression - but in 1933, it suffered a cruel blow.

A devastating fire broke out which totally destroyed the shop.

“All that was left of the former imposing four-storey building – a commercial pride of Coney Street – was a blackened framework and piles of smoking rubble,” says a history of the store. “Many people thought that the company would never recover.”

The fire-wrecked Leak & Thorp in Coney Street - with the Yorkshire Herald, former Press offices, on the right

READ MORE: Lost shops of York: Inside Leak & Thorp

Our photos today - many from a collection of images and cuttings from Ian Collinson, whose family held a controlling stake in Leak & Thorp for many years - show firefighters tackling the blaze and the aftermath.

One image shows the burnt-out shell of the building - just yards from the former Press office building in Coney Street.

Of course, the store did survive. It was rebuilt and went on to be dubbed 'the Selfridges of York'.

Leak & Thorp continued to delight York shoppers right through to the 1980s when it eventually closed.

Please share your memories of Leak & Thorp - and any old photos - in our nostalgia group in Facebook, Why We Love York - Memories (www.facebook.com/groups/yorknostalgia/)

You can also send your memories and old photos straight to our newsroom via the Send Now button below...