Recommended Posts

Down here in Dawlish we had no supermarket until just over a year ago when Sainsbury's opened. In the town centre there was an ex-Somerfield Co-op store. It was small in Somerfield days, but at least there was a reasonable range of stuff, crammed in in a rather congested way. When the Co-op took over they refurbished the shop and re-opened with much wider aisles - and therefore a much more limited range of food etc. Next door was the old Woolworth's - which was also owned by the Co-op, and stood empty and derelict for a good two years. Then Sainsbury's got planning permission to build on an industrial estate at the edge of the town. There was no end of complaining about how the town centre shops would lose business and become unviable. Did the Co-op jump up and try to be competitive? Three months before Sainsbury's was due to open, the sleeping beauty suddenly stirred into life, re-hashed Woolworth's and cobbled the two shops together into one. I think they opened in this format a couple of weeks before the brand spanking new Sainsbury's opened. Prices sky high, range still limited, just a glorified convenience store really. So they threw away a small fortune on a half-hearted, defeatist last minute effort.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • Replies 232
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Posts

There exists a truly horrific photo of me in my balaclava and NHS glasses, with my late sister in her NHS glasses, being rather too closely hugged by a very iffy looking Co-op Santa. I've done all I

The Elizabethan Rooms have some good memories for me also, carni. This is a post that I put on the thread where the photo came from. I'd also love to see some photos of the ballroom because it was wh

i was a floorwalker at coop house during the 90s and have wonderful memories of it especially the staff and some offenders,in particular one old lady in her 70s who stole ladies coats at £40 a time,on

Here's another I heard about yesterday. In Wellington, Somerset, there was an old high street Co-op store - no car park. At the time of the Somerfield takeover, Somerfield were in the process of building a new store with car park. Simultaneously Waitrose were getting in on the act and building a big supermarket in the town. What an opportunity the takeover gave the Co-op - move into the brand new store, sell the crummy old 19th century premises, and go head to head with Waitrose. So what did they do? Sold the new store to yet ANOTHER competitor, gave the old cramped high street shop a wash and brush up, and carried on as before. Do they have a death wish or something?

Link to post
Share on other sites

elizabethan rooms did some ggreat works doos to. i know we had several when i worked at boots and went toba few with trent congreet and raliegh too with boyfriends who worked there.

Link to post
Share on other sites

come to think of it i think the last works do i went to was from boots the week before piggy and i got married he was home on leave from raf so came with me so i surpose i can say i left there with my husband too

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...

:) I'm tempted to visit the old Co-operative store that was - Parliament Street - and take a look at what they've done to the place; I wonder if the Art Deco staircase exists? - and if it doesn't, then what happened to it? :)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Too posh for the likes of me, but I remember it from being an apprentice electrician atCoop house in the late 60's.

Much of the Coop House was paneled with veneered wood of a high standard.

I remember the smell of polish.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Always remember Santa's Grotto and the Lego building competitions they used to hold in the Elizabethan Rooms.

My mum and dad had their wedding reception there in the 50s. My mum even went down to the Coop bakery on Meadow Lane, armed with a page from an American magazine of the period, and got them to replicate the wedding cake that was on the front cover. Cost a fortune - as my old dad never tired of reminding her!

Link to post
Share on other sites

The Beatles played at the Elizabethan Rooms on 7th March 1963 with Billy J Kramer and Jerry and the Pacemakers.

The girl I shared a flat with told me she was in the lift with the Beatles and we thought she was telling us fibs until she came up with her the ticket she had had signed by them all !!! Wonder if she still has it?

Link to post
Share on other sites

We went to a few dances at the Elizabethan Rooms at the Co-Op in the fifties, Boots used to hold quite a few of their dances there as well as at the Sherwood Rooms

Dennis

Link to post
Share on other sites

what department did you work in dennis when you were at boots i worked in d10 ogfs late 60s early 70s

Link to post
Share on other sites

what department did you work in dennis when you were at boots i worked in d10 ogfs late 60s early 70s

The Printing dept. Station Street 44 to 66 apart from two years in the R.A.F. Used to go to Boots college at Beeston one day a week, was the college still going when you were at Boots?.

Dennis

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 3 weeks later...

Some great memories of one of Nottinghams greatest institutions and I still remember my mother's dividend number !

I remember popping into this wonderful building, (parking directly outside just off the Maid Marion Way roundabout), in order to collect the various TV's and 'Audio Centres' that were ready for delivery to their new owners all over Nottingham.

Nobody seemed to bat an eyelid as we balanced expensive Colour TV's, precariously, on the steel railings as we loaded our vans!

Having since had the good fortune to have travelled all over the world, (at various employers expense), the time I spent working at the GNCS Radio & TV workshops was some of my most enjoyable times that I can remember.

I recall one of the earlier posts mentioning the 'Black Boy Inn' and I recall setting up a basic sound stage for a group who were performing there and I believe that I provided the feed for Radio Trent on that occasion.

What an apprenticeship I was delivering and installing TV's and Stereo one minute then I was repairing them in the workshop, (possibly one of the best equipped in the country), and then I found myself installing sound systems in clubs and installing PA Systems in various factories around the county!

The main Cooperative building, (on Parliament Street), was a magnificent building by any standard and I suspect that it's demise marked the beginning of 'urban decay' not just in Nottingham but throughout the UK as things would never be quite the same after the glorious 1970's!

Many thanks to you all for reminding me of those halcyon 'Co Op' days!

  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Welcome Martian.

Were you at Oakdale Road in the 70s?

Originally a coop supermarket, but I worked on it when the TV repair department was built.

I remember they dealt with the Phillips 2000 range of video recorders. Tapes you recorded on both sides like an audio cassette

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, I had the pleasure of working there for five years with a diversified range of people - all of whom were great company.

I had the 'pleasure' of visiting most of the GNCS stores, (Broadmarsh never had the character of Parliament St), and many of them have long since gone.

Your mentioning the Philips 'VCR' reminded me of all the changes within the domestic entertainment arena such as the: -

Stereo transmission of radio programs on FM.

Closure of the 405 line system, (everybody's roofs started to look less cluttered as the large VHF 'H' aerials were replaced by the much more compact UHF yagis).

Introduction of CEEFAX and Oracle text services alongside TV transmissions and BT's equivalent PRESTEL.

Battle of the video formats with only VHS and Betamax remaining.

And that was all during the short time that I remained in the business!

But I transgress - the workshop was, as you highlighted, a Co Op store but it was a genuine delight to work in and I distinctly remember waiting outside, (on many occasions), waiting for the manager to open up!

Apologies for drifting off thread!

Link to post
Share on other sites

It was on two levels the lower one had windows at the back that looked out over the Trent valley.

Spent weeks wiring all the plugs on those TV soak test benches.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...