A new photography exhibition explores Lewis’s deserted fifth floor. Laura Davis meets its creator

THREE decades have passed since the newspaper was discarded on the very spot it still lies. “Make John happy,” shouts the headline – a plea from Lennon’s ex-girlfriend May Pang.

A thin layer of dust coats its yellowing pages and spreads across the floor once bustling with shoppers.

It’s deserted now, a Marie Celeste of retail, but never quiet.

Music and messages are pumped through the tannoy system from the department store below, a disconcerting reminder of what could have been.

Yet it’s the place’s unchanging state that makes it special – a snapshot of the past, shut up in its entirety since the 1980s.

“It’s a bit eerie really,” says freelance photographer Stephen King, who has documented the space for a new exhibition and accompanying book – Lewis’s Fifth Floor: A Department Story.

“It’s really strange. It’s unbelievable how big it is and how intact a lot of it is.

“I thought I was just going to go in for a day and take some interesting photographs but instantly it was apparent that it could become a much bigger project.”

King learned of the almost-mythical fifth floor from a lift attendant in Lewis’s, who spoke of a hidden place with museum-piece restaurants decorated with 1950s tiles, old-fashioned lifts and a rows of retro hairdryers.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” he says. “It’s fantastic that it’s been kept there but it’s a testament of the times.

“If Lewis’s business was doing any better it wouldn’t be there. They would have renovated it to use in another way, but with the recessions and the way people’s shopping habits change it’s been closed off.”

Entering the space for the first time was a fascinating experience, King continues.

“It was quite daunting – where do I put my camera down and start first?,” he says.