16 High Street, Cobham, Surrey KT11 3DY
Woolworths opened in Cobham on 3rd March 1955 and this was a very special one, as it was Woolworths’ first self-service store. You can read a detailed article about it on the Woolworths Museum website.
Source: Esher District Local History Society
The following extract is from Elmbridge Borough Council
Cobham Woolworths was the first self-serve Woolworths in the country, staff were trained rigorously before opening to deal with customer complaints as the idea was seen as very new and ‘un-British’. However, it went down very well and is the format of shopping which we know today.
‘It had a ‘clompy’ lino-on-timber floor, two aisles and no trolleys, just baskets. If I was good, mum would buy me a quarter of hot peanuts in a normal paper bag that oozed grease. We often sat and ate them on the patch of grass in front of the gas showrooms next door. I remember seeing my first pre-packed plastic bag of peanuts and thinking how awful it was having to eat them cold!’
Memory: Graeme A (through the CCHT)
Source: Woolworth Museum
The store closed in the late 1970s. Today there is a pharmacy at this location.
Source: loopnet.co.uk
Woolies Buildings - Then and Now 