Pennywell Woolworths – Store 817

205 Portsmouth Road, Pennywell, Sunderland, Co. Durham Woolworths opened in Pennywell in 1953. It opened amongst a curved parade of shops – see the below photos, it is like being transported back in time. Source: Lee, T. Source: Sunderland Antiquarian Society Source: @WearsideEchoes Closing date is unknown, but closed before 1995 and it is not…

Seaham Woolworths – Store 649

46 – 47 Church Street, Seaham, Co. Durham SR7 7HG Woolworths opened in the seaside town Seaham in 1936. It was a purpose-built store with the recognisable Woolworths architecture. Here are a few photos of the store over the decades. Source: eBay Source: eBay In this photo, the fascia has been updated to the Woolworth…

Barnard Castle Woolworths – Store 534

22 Market Place, Barnard Castle, Co Durham DL12 8NB Woolworths opened in Barnard Castle in 1934. They took over the site of the Angel Inn, demolishing the pub to build a small store with a concrete facade. Source: Barnard Castle Character Appraisal Report  Woolworths traded from here for 75 years, and here are a few…

Crook Woolworths – Store 529

8 North Terrace, Market Place, Crook, Co. Durham Woolworths opened in Crook in 1933. It was a small purpose-built store with the classic architecture. You can see it squeezed in between the larger buildings in this photo. Source: Soult, G. In this colour photo you can see the bright red fascia. Source: Royle, G. The…

Consett Woolworths – Store 388

32-38 Front Street, Consett, Co Durham DH8 5AJ Woolworths opened in Consett in 1930 on Front Street in a purpose-built store. Source: Twitter The store was successful so it was extended to become almost double the size – this is a photo from the 1960s. Source: Facebook And this is a 1950s staff photo. Source:…

Hartlepool Woolworths – Store 322

Lynn Street, Hartlepool, Co. Durham Woolowrths opened in Hartlepool on 7th July 1928. It was on Lynn and looks quite a large store from this photo. Source: Facebook Source: Francis Frith Source: Hartlepool History Then and Now Woolworths traded from Lynn Street for 40 years, until the building was to be demolished. Most of Lynn…

Durham – Store 321Woolworths

17 Market Place, Durham DH1 3NE Woolworths opened in Durham in 1928. It was on Market Place, you can see it on the left of the photo, the white building. Source: Worth Point In May 1959 work started on building a new store to replace the existing one, and it was completed on 22nd June…

Spennymoor Woolworths – Store 278

37 – 39 High Street, Spennymoor, Co. Durham Woolworths opened in Spennymoor in 1927. It originally opened on the High Street, which we know thanks to Graham Soult’s research here. He has worked out that the Woolworths may possibly be the second building on the left in this postcard, with the awning by the lamp…

Chester-le-Street Woolworths – Store 267

30 – 36 Front Street, Chester-le-Street, Co. Durham Woolworths opened in Chester-le-Street in 1927. It was quite a large store on Front Street, purpose-built with an art deco facade. You can see it in the below 1950s photo, the white building with the canopies on the far right. Chester-le-Street looks busy and bustling here, you…

Gateshead Woolworths – Store 154

232 – 242 High Street, Gateshead, Co Durham NE8 1DL In 1923 Woolworths opened on Gateshead High Street, on the site of the Queen’s Theatre that was fire damaged the previous year in 1922. Sadly there are no photos of this Woolworths store when it was open, but from this photo it seems there was…

Bishop Auckland Woolworths – Store 116

84 Newgate Street, Bishop Auckland, County Durham Woolworths opened Store 116 in Bishop Auckland in 1922. The architecture was of a standard Woolies style. You can see it has been kept the same through the years, with the fascia being updated. Source: Northern Echo In this photo you can see the canopy from the 1950s…

South Shields Woolworths – Store 104

100 – 108 King Street, South Shields, County Durham NE33 1JG Woolworths opened in South Shields in 1921 on King Street. The town was heavily hit in World War II, and the store got destroyed. It took 8 years for it to be rebuilt. The store lasted until the end in December 2008. Source: Cornfoot…

Darlington Woolworths – Store 28

78-79 Northgate, Darlington, Durham DL1 1TZ (later changed to 66 Northgate) The twenty-eighth Woolworths store was in Darlington. It opened on Northgate in 1913 with Frank W Woolworth personally opening it. Source: Woolworths Museum The store was extended in 1927, and this is possibly when an Art Deco facade was added. Graham Soult did a…

Middlesbrough Woolworths – Store 8

51/67 Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough, Teeside TS1 5BT The eighth Woolworths branch to open in the UK was at Middlesbrough, back in 1911. According to the 1913 Kelly’s Directory of North and East Ridings of Yorkshire, it originally opened at 91-93 Linthorpe Road, but then moved to bigger premises at 51 -67 in 1926 (pictured below). Source: 100thbirthday.co.uk…