It used to be said that Andover was evenly divided between those who could remember Woolworth’s on the east side of the High Street and those who could remember it only on the opposite side. Since Woolworth’s demise in 2009, there will now be a third but growing category of those who cannot remember it at all. This photograph evidently dates from 1953 as the windows and upper façade are full of memorabilia to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

Plans for a Woolworth’s store in Andover were first drawn up in 1929, revised the following year and the new shop opened in 1931. This replaced two shops that had long been part of the High Street scene – Barton the hairdresser and Fry and Sons, who were bakers and confectioners, combined with a tea room. These shops were two halves of one building, which was demolished to accommodate the new Woolworth’s store, built largely to follow a company template but adapted according to the size and shape of the site.

The new style of shop window must have seemed very modern at the time with the bowed corners, allowing a three-dimensional view of any shop display. In those days, value for money was the key selling point and everything in the shop was either 3d or 6d. This continued until rationing began in 1940 during World War II. Shortages then meant that prices everywhere were rising and that very tight pricing policy had to be abandoned.

Many people in Andover must have vivid memories of the interior, especially those who worked there. This writer’s faint schoolboy memories are of a shop that was always packed with people, especially around the ice cream cabinet just inside the door - perhaps that was because we had all been released from Norman Gate or East Street school at the same time. There were of course the well-known pick and mix sweet assortments while biscuits, including broken ones, were sold loose by weight from a central island halfway down the shop. Many will also remember, just inside, the bright red Avery weighing scales, a universal feature of all Woolworth’s stores. These were activated by putting money in the slot; perhaps that was still 3d or 6d.

In 1967 a decision was made to buy the old line of Parsons and Hart shops, a department store on the other side of the High Street, which had briefly become a branch of the Army and Navy Stores. At the same time Woolworth’s also bought the former Ponting the Chemist’s, next door at No 19. However, there were planning delays because Woolworth’s wanted a uniform building across the site but Andover Borough Council insisted on an appearance of separate shops, similar to what was already there and in keeping with the rest of the High Street. Eventually the council won out; although Parsons and Hart was demolished completely, the appearance of three new buildings arose in its place. The fourth of Woolworth’s purchases, the Ponting building, even retained its old façade, propped up with supports while everything behind it was pulled down.

Demolition started in 1969 and another collection of partly-ancient (1534) buildings was destroyed. Three years later, on 15 June 1972 the new branch of Woolworth’s was finally opened by the mayor Cllr Cyril Berry. In tandem, the old 1931 shop opposite closed, to eventually become a branch of the HSBC bank.