And Berwick-upon-Tweed makes 33…
Tags: Berwick-upon-Tweed, Gosforth, Home Bargains, Prestatyn, Tamworth, Woolworths
Former Woolworths (now Home Bargains), Berwick-upon-Tweed (14 Aug 2010)
Ever since I paid a visit to the old out-of-town Woolies in Stockton back in July, Berwick-upon-Tweed (store #232) has been the only one of the 33 North East Woolworths stores missing from my collection of photographs.
The other 32 shops that shut down following Woolies’ collapse have all been featured in this blog already. It won’t surprise you, therefore, to discover that I visited Berwick in August, with a view to capturing that final elusive shot. Not that it’s really the end, of course – there are still plenty more of the 807 stores nationwide to visit (though only when I’m passing them anyway), as well as quite a few of the North East stores that had already closed down long before the Woolworths name disappeared from the high street in 2009.
Marygate, Berwick-upon-Tweed (14 Aug 2010)
Dominated by the spired Town Hall, there’s no doubt that Berwick’s main thoroughfare of Marygate is a truly impressive and memorable urban space, despite the best efforts of traffic and market stalls to clutter it up.
It’s fitting, therefore, that the town’s imposing old Woolies building, completed in March 1937, should occupy a prominent spot in Marygate. Architecturally, the property perhaps most resembles a stretched version of the old Woolworths in Gosforth (#716), which was built about a year later.
Former Woolworths (now Home Bargains), Berwick-upon-Tweed (14 Aug 2010)
Taken over by Home Bargains following Woolworths’ collapse, the store features the same toned down burgundy and grey fascia that I noted previously at the Tamworth and Prestatyn Home Bargains branches – both themselves former Woolies sites. Indeed, the colour scheme isn’t so far away from the famous carmine red that defined every Woolies’ fascia well into the twentieth century, as shown in the 1930s postcard below. The image, interestingly, also suggests that the stone façade was at one time painted white.
1930s postcard showing the Woolworths store in Berwick
However, Woolworths’ presence in Berwick predates the current building, with the first Woolies store in the town opening a decade earlier, on 28 August 1926. This was apparently in Marygate too, though I’m yet to work out exactly where it was, or whether the building that it occupied still exists.
Marygate before the current Woolworths building
The earlier photo above, featured in this interesting gallery of historic images of Berwick, was clearly taken before the present Woolworths building was constructed – from what I can make out, it must have replaced the properties that you can see between the statue and the left-hand edge of the photo. However, it’s impossible to make out whether the original Woolies is there among the huddle of shops lining the street. The prominent statue, incidentally, is conspicuous by its absence in my present-day shots, or, indeed, in the 1930s postcard. Perhaps someone from Berwick can shed light on what happened to it?
Soult's Retail View» Blog Archive » Cumbria’s 100% hit rate of new Woolies tenants said:
Nov 05, 10 at 20:56[...] between touring the East Midlands, travelling up to Berwick, and stopping off in Horley on my way out the country, I also found time this summer to visit the [...]
Soult's Retail View » Blog Archive » What’s become of North Yorkshire’s former Woolies? said:
Nov 18, 10 at 18:19[...] well as comprehensively exploring the North East, and making the occasional excursion into Cumbria or Scotland, I’ve also clocked a few of [...]
retrogadget said:
Nov 28, 10 at 21:52Discovered your fascinating website by accident. Perhaps you can help solve something that’s been puzzling me for a while. Nearby to me,(I live in Ashby de la Zouch, Leics.) at Tamworth the old Woolworths store is now a Home Bargains, why though is the signage in dull red and grey rather than the standard red and blue. I notice that the Berwick store is in the same colour scheme. Can anyone explain…?
Graham Soult said:
Nov 28, 10 at 22:18That’s a very good question, and something I noted myself in relation to the Prestatyn and Tamworth stores, as well as Berwick!
Funnily enough, only last week I asked someone in the know at Home Bargains why certain stores had this different fascia, and apparently it’s simply to meet local planning requirements, presumably in more sensitive locations where the traditional red and blue frontage would not be given permission (though this doesn’t really explain why Tamworth has the toned-down fascia…) So, it seems that it doesn’t signal a wider rollout of the grey and burgundy look – which is a shame, as I do think it looks much smarter.
Graham Soult said:
Nov 28, 10 at 22:20Incidentally, you may be interested in my visit to Ashby-de-la-Zouch if you haven’t already seen it: http://www.soultsretailview.co.uk/2010/11/02/one-bus-ticket-11-former-midlands-woolies/
Nicky said:
Jan 15, 11 at 22:20A bit late but the statue noted as disappearing was relocated a short distance away… In fact, if you had rotated 180 degrees from where you took your second photo, you’d have spotted it!
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=berwick+upon+tweed&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Berwick-upon-Tweed&gl=uk&ei=Ch0yTeDOHIuDhQfM1bHBCw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ8gEwAA
*n
Nicky said:
Jan 15, 11 at 22:21http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=berwick+upon+tweed&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Berwick-upon-Tweed,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&ll=55.773387,-2.008641&spn=0.000352,0.001206&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=55.773292,-2.008571&panoid=HUFH8F_i0We7T8lngRxYMg&cbp=12,51.39,,0,-1.11
That link should work :)
*n
Graham Soult said:
Jan 15, 11 at 22:30So it is! I must have walked past it on the way to and from the station… doh!
Soult's Retail View » Over to you – your ex-Woolies pics from Warrington, Batley and Beverley said:
Feb 07, 11 at 16:47[...] of course, is classic Woolies, its wide frontage very similar in composition and materials to the slightly later (1937) store in Berwick upon Tweed. Former Woolworths (now Boots), Beverley (5 Feb 2011). Photograph by Jon [...]
Soult's Retail View » On the hunt for ex-Woolies – and thriving high streets – in the Scottish Borders said:
Jan 27, 12 at 21:24[...] echoing the investment that it’s made in other former Woolies sites such as Tamworth, Berwick-upon-Tweed (below) and Prestatyn. Former Woolworths (now Home Bargains), Berwick-upon-Tweed (24 Aug [...]