Two Brothers, Benjamin and Samuel Mander lived in a house half way down St. John’s Street, which ran in those days from Dudley Street to Victoria Street. They started making carriage varnish in their back garden in 1773 and gradually acquired properties up and down St. John’s Street. Their descendants developed a varnish and paint works in the heart of the Town Centre as the business grew which eventually occupied 2 and a half acres of the Town Centre.
Owning two and a half acres of the site which we now know as the Mander Shopping Centre, Manders submitted an Application for Planning Permission during the mid 1960’s to construct a comprehensive Shopping Centre. This entailed acquiring surrounding lands to assemble a site of 5 acres - the present size of the Centre. No public money was used for this venture and it is acknowledged that the Company’s investment in the Town Centre represented a considerable achievement. The funding Partner for the development was Prudential.
At the begining of the 1960 the Board received approaches from a number of Property Developers. Murrayfield Properties Limited who had acquired the site of the Star & Garter Hotel which was sited between the varnish works and Vicoria Street. Murrayfield Properties wanted to develop the whole of the site situated between Victoria Street, Queen Square, Dudley Street and Bell Street, and create a shopping development. The Board, however, decided to undertake the development themselves and for that purpose, incorporated Manders Property (Wolverhampton) Limited.
The construction of the Centre was carried out in phases. The initial works commenced in June 1965. The first phase was completed in 1968 and the second phase in 1972. The third and final phase was completed in 1976.
The Mander Shopping Centre occupies a site once home to the elegant Victorian Central Arcade which was sadly burned down by a fire in 1970. The old Arcade was soon replaced with the new Central Arcade, which can be accessed from Dudley Street.
When the Centre was built, a multi-storey car park was constructed providing safe and secure parking for 550 cars. There is also a substantial Service Basement which can accommodate up to 90 goods vehicles at any one time. Each shop unit is serviced from the main Service Basement either directly into shop basements via loading decks or via service core lifts and corridors leading to the rear doors of each shop unit.
The Mander Centre also boasts a prestigious office complex namely Mander House, which sits on the roof of the multi-storey car park. The block comprises of 10 floors and is host to a very select selection of office tenants ranging from Solicitors, Accountants and Bankers.
Because of the original connection between the Mander Family and the Mander Group of Companies who made it all possible, there was a considerable element of civic pride when the Mander Centre was built. As a result the Mander Centre was constructed to a very high standard of finishes and won a Civic Trust Award. The plaque can still be found mounted between the Scenic lifts at Square Level.
Wightwick Manor, was a former Mander home and is now in the hands of the National Trust, was one of the first properties of its kind to have fully installed electric lighting and purpose built bathrooms . The Mount Hotel at Tettenhall is another Mander home. This house was built on the profits of the family firm and is now a very popular hotel and Conference Centre, boasting beautiful grounds and gardens.
In the mid 1930’s Mander Brothers, as they were then known, acquired an old munitions factories of 1914/18 vintage at Heath Town and that is where Manders Paints and Inks moved to.
Several members of the Mander family have served on the local Council and indeed a number of the family served as Mayor. Another member of the family, Sir Geoffrey Mander served as a Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton South West during the 1930’s and throughout the 1939/45 War.