 Lewis Meeson was created by amalgamating two newsagent chains, A Lewis and Co (Westminster) Ltd and Meesons.With the head office based in Barker and Dobson’s home town of Liverpool, the chain later acquired further newsagent chains such as T H Sperring, NSS and Centre News.After many years of losses, around 1985 Barker and Dobson decided to sell Lewis Meeson to Guinness plc, the owner of Martin Retail Group, which operated under the banners of Lavells and Martin the Newsagent.