Woodbridge Woolworths – Store 772

11 Thoroughfare, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 1AA

Woolworths opened in the historic market town of Woodbridge in Suffolk in 1951. The building itself was built circa the 1850s.

Woodbridge Woolworths 1951

Source: Avery, K (Woolworths History and Pictures)

Before it was a Woolworths, Rowland & Sons used to be here.

Woodbridge Rowland & Sons

Source: Bay M, Flickr

There is a whole load of memories of Woodbridge Woolworths on the comments from this link. I’ll share a few here:

“Stockroom Boy. My first job after leaving school 1962.My job among others was spraying the floor with oil every day to stop it squeaking.” McCann, P.

Woodbridge Woolworths 1965

Source: Francis Frith

“I worked there 1967-68 on Saturdays while attending Civic College! Upstairs stock room was spooky!” Rhody, W.

“Saturday girl 1970-73, worked on all the counters, fruit & veg, sweets, toys etc. Hated the diy counter, you had to cut lino with an enormous very sharp knife & no training!” Clarke, L.

Woodbridge Woolworths c1970

Source: Driver, P. (Facebook)

“Saturday girl ‘71-‘73. Hated going upstairs for stock. Baskets on wheels always laddered my tights. Supervisor never put me on the records, usually ended up selling hairnets and curlers!” Spall, L.

“Bought my first mobile phone from there around 1998, it was analogue and never worked anywhere. Took it back for a refund😅” Keeble, S.

“I used to have a Saturday job there in the late 1960s. I used to get put on different sections but by far my favourite was the cake and biscuit section! Used to weigh out the biscuits from a large box and put in brown paper bags for the customers. Lots of different boxes of biscuits such as custard creams, bourbons, Lincoln, Chocolate digestives, Rich Tea, Jammy Dodgers etc. The large slab cakes were fruit cake and iced fruit cake and I had to slice a piece off for the customer as small or as large as they wanted. Happy days! 😃” Wright, C.

Woodbridge Woolworths 2003

Source: Historic England

It was in a beautiful building, quite unique compared to other branches. This Woolworths lasted until the end, closing when the chain went bust in December 2008. Today you will find a FatFace store here.

Woodbridge Former Woolworths

Source: Historic England

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