Lillywhites was founded in 1863 by James Lillywhite, best known as the man who took the England cricket team to Australia in 1877 to play a game which later became known as the first test. He captained the team and also paid all their expenses. Raised within a very famous cricketing family, his father William Frederick Lillywhite, was the first man ever to bowl over arm in a first class cricket match.

The first store on Haymarket in London, was 1,600 square feet in size. Half the store sold a wide range of cricket bats and the other half sold cigars. This was based on the perception that all a good gentleman needed was a good bat and a good cigar to smoke, while waiting for his turn to play cricket. Even though the store primarily concentrated on cricket, it was not long before other sports were catered for, and so the birth of Lillywhites began.

In 1925, Lillywhites made it's move to Piccadilly Circus within the heart of London's West End. Now offering 35,000 square feet of retail space, Lillywhites was able to offer goods for 34 different sports from five floors. The company also introduced many new sports to consumers, and indeed the country, for the very first time.

Lillywhites has undergone a series of ownership changes in recent years, however since Sports World International purchased the company in 2002, the store has been subject to major investment in the backroom facilities. This been followed with major refurbishment to all the trading floors, and will concrete the stores position as the number one sports destination in the world.

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