The story
The origin of the name 'Lavells' is unknown.
The founder, Arthur MacKenzie was a wholesale confectioner from West Kensington. Herbert Mansfield became company secretary soon after and acquired the company outright in 1933.
Lavells successfully survived the war years in spite of the difficulty of rationing. In 1948 it became a publicly quoted company and was subsequently acquired by Callard & Bowser, who in turn were acquired by Arthur Guinness & Company Limited in 1951.
From Wikipedia’s article on Lavells Newsagents Ltd, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3