‘We were really looked after’

For some families, questions about the company’s future loom large. Simon Clawson, 48, was a “John Lewis kid”: his father worked for the company, on and off, for four decades, until the age of 75, in roles including service porter, security and receptionist. “The social secretary arranged many of the trips to theme parks, theatres, airshows and even weeks away we took as children,” said Clawson, a teacher from Milton Keynes.

“There was an annual gala for all branches – it was like a big fancy dress party and there would be rides and games. It was part of the ethos of the company.” He met his lifelong best friend – a fellow John Lewis kid – through the company.

The staff discount and bonus allowed the family to get their first home computer “and many other life-changing things we’d otherwise have struggled to have”, he said. “I love that version of John Lewis. I was proud my dad worked there. We were really looked after.”

Clawson said his father was “a bit heartbroken” to hear the firm could change its ownership model. He didn’t believe it at first, he added. It was almost the kind of thing that would require “an act of parliament” to change, his father told him.