206/207 High Street, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
The 60th Woolworths store opened in Cheltenham in 1915, taking over the Cheltenham Munical Office. The clock and first floor architecture were kept from the original occupiers. (Thank you to reader Pete Dickinson for this information)
Source: Historic England
In 1957 Woolworths moved from this location and it became a Tesco. The beautiful building and clock were demolished. Today you will find Specsavers, Bright House and Pandora in its place. Thank you to reader Derek Bond for this information. He remembers the Woolworths being full of dark wood counters. He says the building to the right of Woolworths in the above photo was ‘The Famous’ – a gentlemen’s outfitters. This became Patisserie Valerie, and indeed you can see it is the same building if you compare it to this building.
123-125 High Street, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 1DN
When Woolworths moved, they bought the site of the Royal Hotel at numbers 123-125 so they could have a bigger store. This is the building you can see in the below photo.
Source: Gloucestershire Live
The store must have been huge inside as the site became a shopping centre. on 28th June 1986 this Woolworths store closed and was sold to the Arrowcroft Group, who demolished it to make the Beechwood Shopping Centre which opened in 1991 (Source: Cheltenham – Another Shopping Centre Demise)
Today that shopping centre is being demolished to build a John Lewis store. I won’t post a ‘now’ picture as it’s currently a building site.
Woolworths returned to Cheltenham in later years at numbers 105-107 High Store (Store number 1187).
Woolies Buildings - Then and Now 
I was a trainee manager here in 1979 according to Woolworth legend it was the biggest single floor store in the store estate as big if not bigger than a football field there were two side entrances that opened on to a side lane with a rough surface car park .These together with our store formed the template of Beechwood Court.There was also a Shoppers World Unit introduced at the rear of the store that opened in 1979.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So it was huge then! Thank you for that information, I will add that into the blog post 🙂
LikeLike
This was always a very busy store, so there was some surprise locally when it closed. By 1986, property deals were starting to become much more important than trading performance, but it was also a monster of a building which will have had very high overheads.
There was a stock room on the first floor that extended the full length of the massive sales area, and then another stock room on the second floor that was perhaps half that size. It’s amazing to think how much stock must have been held away from the sales floor in those days.
There was a goods yard facing onto Albion Street, roughly where the multi storey car park is now. This was entered through a pair of white gates with ‘FWW&C’ painted on them in big red letters. These led to the rear of the buildings where there was a large goods lift giving access to the stock room and also the roof, where cars were often parked. Presumably a management perk.
Around 1990 the new, much smaller store was built a few doors down, replacing the former Co-Op department store.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The original store shown in the picture with the clock was next to “The Famous”, which was a gentleman’s outfitters further down the High St. It appears on the right hand side of the photo. The Famous became Patisserie Valerie and is situated at 208 High Street. The Woolworth building became Tesco and then other smaller shops. The address is around 206 – 207 High Street, although I think the numbers have changed since it was Woolworth’s. I remember it was full of dark wood counters
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much for that information, that is brilliant! I’ll be able to find a ‘now’ photo and add it to the post.
LikeLike
Next to the tesco store was Hepworth men’s outfitters I worked there the manger was Doug Davis he lived in st marks just opposite entrance to King Goorges playing field and latter Harry Sterno bishops Cleeve then Dixy Dean from Birmingham
I remember the tesco fire
LikeLiked by 1 person
The original Woolworths took over Cheltenham Municipal Offices in 1915 when they moved to their present location in the Promenade. The Clock and first floor architecture were kept from the original occupiers.
LikeLike
Aha, that explains the grand architecture. Thank you! I’ll add that to the post.
LikeLike
Any body remember the big Tesco fire when it was next to the Famous?
LikeLike