The Novocastrian tailoring institution of Rundles began in 1908 when founder Richard Thomas Rundle set up business in Thorn Street, later moving to 108 Hunter Street. Rundle saw the potential of sewing machines to speed up suit manufacture before many other tailors and found a profitable niche.
In December 1939 Mrs C.E.A. Rundle bought the Hunter Street building formerly occupied by the Lane and Trewartha store. She moved her tailoring business into half the new premises on Christmas Eve of that year.
Mrs Rundle died in August 1949, leaving her shares in the business to R.L. and N.D. Rundle.
In 1950 the firm expanded again, buying three adjoining shops, and in 1952 Rundles became a public company. In 1959 the firm bought the old Hall and Son grocery warehouse on Scott Street and in 1973 the manufacturing division was expanded with the lease of 15000 sq ft of factory space at 259 King St Newcastle.
In the 1990s Rundles briefly closed, one of many victims of a changing industrial, business and social landscape. It re-opened in Hunter Street West, where it still operates today.
From our book, The Way We Worked.
I had a few school suits from Rundles (Stamina, made from Crusader Cloth). They came with a little leather wallet.
The left hand photo in the set of three from the 1940s is my uncle, Sam Cousins. Sam passed away at 97 and was the brother of my Dad, Neville Cousins, who passed away last July aged 100 years and 9 months. Sam worked at Rundles all his life. My sister and I visted him at work in the mid 1960s just after lunch and discovered him having a quick 40 winks in his office, which he later denied.