Anstice & Associates, Our History
Background and History
The story of Anstice & Associates begins in 1886 when Lonsdales Jewellers of Christchurch began stocking wholesale optical goods in addition to jewellery. Spectacles were made of steel or rolled gold and by 1890 they were supplying spectacles directly to the public.
By the early 20th century Rene Lonsdale (a member of the Lonsdale family) was working as a consulting optician, and Lonsdales Opticians was exclusively an eye testing and spectacle providing service in Worcester Street, between Cathedral Square and Cambridge Terrace.
He was joined by Norman Wright, a trainee Optometrist who qualified in 1925. When Mr Lonsdale retired from the practice, the business traded as Lonsdale Opticians until 1968 when Norman Wright retired and the practice was purchased by John Anstice.
The business remained at 127 Worcester Street until AMP developed their office building between the Square and Oxford Terrace. This forced John to relocate to the corner of Worcester and Manchester Street where the practice traded as John Anstice Optometrists for a number of years.
The business then moved to shared rooms with Veale and Hulme Optometrists, on the corner of Chancery Lane and Cathedral Square, until the consulting room was flooded by a mysterious spring that emerged from the next door picture theatre.
John Anstice Optometrists then moved to 10 Hereford Street which was again followed by another flood, at which point John decided that he needed to be his own landlord, and in 1998 the business moved into 10 Clyde Road (pictured below).
The Clyde Road Premises
10 Clyde Road, a double brick villa built in 1910 at one end of the Deans Estate. For one of the Deans family it was named Blantyre, after a stream close by where the Deans lived in Scotland.
The earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 caused extensive damage and Blantyre was forced to be demolished, which has led to the construction of an all new purpose-built practice, built by Falcon Construction. This concrete cube system will withstand whatever nature wishes to throw at it.
John Anstice retired from active practice at the end of 2013 and passed the baton to two of his trusted Optometrists, Dharshie Hughes (Jeyaseelan) and Jeremy Fox. Dharshie and Jeremy, along with a highly qualified team have taken the care of patients, especially children, to the next level, in the form of Schoolvision, a specialist assessment qualification from the UK. They are passionate about eyecare and uncovering any issues related to vision and learning.
