148/150 High Street, Sutton, Surrey
Sutton Woolworths was one of the very early stores of the chain. It opened in the High Street in 1916. In the below 1923 postcard, the Woolworths store can be seen on the right. It was next to the Surrey County Theatre which opened in 1921.
Source: Woolworthsmuseum.co.uk
Below you can see the store to the far right. I’m estimating this to be in the 1930s from the cars.
Source: CinemaTreasures.org
Below is a 1935 postcard, where it can be seen that the store has had a refurbishment with an art deco cinema-style facade, quite suitable considering what the neighbouring building was.
Source: CinemaTreasures.org
This photo was taken shortly before Sutton High Street was pedestrianised in the early 1980s. Woolworths is on the left, where you can see the store’s 60s makeover – with the upper floors covered in what looks like concrete.
Source: Flickr, Simpson E.
Looking at the building today, yes it does seem to be some sort of grey concrete cladding, or maybe it’s metal. The store has been split into 2 units, a Burton/Dorothy Perkins and a Superdrug (I’ve merged two photos here from 192.com)
Source: 192.com
I don’t know the exact date Woolworths left this building, but I do know that the chain acquired Superdrug in 1988 and Woolworths opened in a new building at 71 High Street, Sutton in 1994.
I will cover the 71 High Street store (Store No. 1192) in a separate post.
Woolies Buildings - Then and Now 
So I love art deco, and I was born in Sutton Surrey. Just thought of it as London really, but I’m in Australia now so distances are different . Thanks for the post x
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Ahh there are lots of lovely art deco buildings on the high street. You’re right, Sutton is in London, but for some reason has Surrey in their address. I guess it’s on the border! x
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This is a fascinating blog. I just wanted to say that this post actually relates to two different sites in Sutton High Street. The first three pictures are the original Woolworths (a bit before my time!) which must have been at 96 High Street. If you click on the CinemaTreasures.org link under the photo, you will see that the address of the Surrey County Cinema (later the Gaumont) is shown as 98 and that is next door. I think this Woolworths building probably still exists as it shows up on a Google Street View from 2015 and was a Currys Digital branch until fairly recently.
It must have been around 1960 or so that Woolworths moved further down the High Street to 148/150 High Street. This was roughly on the site of an old pub called the Greyhound Hotel (demolished in 1959). So it would have been a new building rather than a 60s makeover.
When this store closed, I think there was a few years’ gap before Woolworths returned to the town in 1994, which is presumably why the third and final Woolworths was given a different store number 1192. That store (now Peacocks) was almost directly opposite the site of the first one!
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Hi Michael, thank you so much for that information. I’ll have to relook at the post and update it. It’s rather like being a detective isn’t it!
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This covers 2 different sites of the earlier Woolworths 1920s Woolies was much higher up the hill near Sutton Arcade. The Gaumont cinema address was 98 High St
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Hello Kim, ahh yes another reader mentioned that too – you’ve reminded me to update the post. Thank you!
Sabrina
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