High Street stores that disappeared

1976 was a long time ago... but at the time, I was in Year 7 of secondary school.

This BBC story has details on a range of shops which were on the High Street at that time, but have since disappeared from our High Street.
They include Woolworths, Freeman Hardy and Willis and Radio Rentals.

Image: Woolworths in Hunstanton, image by Alan Parkinson

We actually have 5 of those letters including a big red 'W' that were saved from the skip

I follow a really useful Facebook page which is called Pictures of how Rotherham used to be.
This shows hundreds of pictures of the town through the ages, and charts the disappearance of these chains through the decades, and also some more local independent shops. I remember Suggs sports on Wellgate, and Coopers toyshop on Doncaster Gate, where I would get my Subbuteo teams from, for example. There was the snooker hall on the corner of the High Street, where I played, including an impromptu trip down on the bus when the final was delayed by the SAS siege of the Iranian embassy in 1980.

Rotherham was my home town in 1976, although I lived about 4 miles to the east in a smaller village.

I also set up a Flickr group called The Disappearing High Street some years ago.

What shops do you remember from your own home town which have now disappeared?
There are often stories in local newspapers of local chains and shops which have been there for decades, or over a century, which are now closing down...

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