Tracking down Oxford Street’s second ex-Woolworths

Graham Soult

Retail consultant, writer, blogger; helping retailers via CannyInsights.com and CannySites.com. Say hello on Twitter at @soult!

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10 Responses

  1. Les says:

    Yes there was a restaurant, and a quick food outlet and a full bakery, I worked in them all , it was a fun place to work. (Les) the rear entrance detail needs to be updated. It would nice to hear from ex colleagues, get in touch?

  2. Clare says:

    Did there used to be a restaurant in this Woolworths? I am sure my mum used to take me there when I was a child, to have fish and chips and seem to remember it being below ground level.

    • Graham Soult says:

      Quite likely! Flagship stores of this kind almost always had a restaurant – sometimes up until the 1980s, I think.

    • Gordon Slater says:

      Hi Clare, I worked at 311 from 1982 until it closed. The restaurant was on the first floor, next to the small supermarket on the same floor. The staff canteen was on the 3rd floor ( I think) and fish & chips used to cost us 10p (15p if you had dessert too! ) Kind regards Gordon Slater

    • Sally Redgrave says:

      Yes in the basement, we used to use it for staff disco’s and other functions
      I worked there in the 70’s for 4 years in the cash office great place to work
      Mr Blackman was my first store manager he was lovely with Marjorie Thorpe as cash office supervisor
      Then we got Mr Sarjeant he was great as well x

  3. Jane says:

    This is fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing this. My grandad and nanna met and worked along eastcastle street. My nan remembers watching the furniture being delivered to the store and picking out what she wanted to buy. She has passed away now so this is a lovely bit of history for us.

  4. Frances says:

    and you thought you were documenting Woolies History. Inadvertently, you also documented the home of my ancestors as identified in the 1841 census. They and hoardes of neighbours are listed as living in adam and eve court! thanks for the pics, they are great.

  5. Jonathan Carling says:

    Another great piece of detective work!

    In 1986 I spent a few months working in the Wimpy restaurant, a few doors to the east of what was already HMV at that time. Wimpy’s backdoor was on the opposite side of Adam and Eve Court – I suspect quite a few of the shops shared a corridor onto the court for their back entrance. The Wimpy closed a few years later, after the company was taken over by Burger King. Don’t know what its used as today.

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