Here's a photo from 1980ish, around about the time Tesco moved into their Wellgate Centre premises.
I used to pop in here for their garlic bread in the early 80's, but I have never set foot inside a Tesco since!
Photo by DC Thomson.
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There was a cafe at the very back of the store which I used to frequent on an almost weekly basis during the summer holidays with my mum and grandparents. It did great fish and chips.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, I don't think they ever did their shopping there - we only ever went for something to eat!
was this on 2 levels? i seem to remember a big brown lift in the store? wasnt it also where until recently woolworths was?
ReplyDeleteOnly on one level, the lifts at the entrance took you to the car parks.Worked there for 5 years,many fond memories.Was where I met my wife!
ReplyDeleteI had a minor op on my lip at the DRI...I had my school uniform on with the intention of heading back to the school afterwards. My dad took me down to Tescos in the Wellgate for a bite of lunch. Forgetting(!) that I had just had my top lip numbed, cut open and then stitched I tucked into chips with tomato sauce and a glass of Fanta in the cafe. Not a good idea...uniform carnage! Dribbled ketchup and Fanta down the front of my uniform wasn't a good look so managed to get the rest of the day off. Yaaaaaaay.
ReplyDeleteits now called Home Bargains after Woolworths closed.
ReplyDeleteBut what was it between being Tescos & Woolies...?
Wullie, I'm not sure there *was* a different shop after Tescos shut down and before Woolworths opened.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure Tescos closed at the point that the Wellgate was being significantly redeveloped (in the mid-1990s), which took around six months or so. By the time the redevelopment had been completed, Woolworths were ready to move in.
Of course, I could be completely wrong! The alternative is that the space was temporarily rented by one of those short-lived "pound shops" that often spring up whenever a building becomes available.
Tescos shutting their shop coincided with them opening their shop along Riverside. After it closed, the Wellgate was significantly redeveloped. After redevelopment the unit re-opened as Woolies. Where Superdrug, Poundland and the shops opposite are now, would also have been incorporated in the original Tesco unit.
ReplyDeletethe lift went to the car park.After leaving the morgan my first job was in the cafe which backed onto the staff canteen.Many found memories of the place and all the characters. that worked there.Eventually started my retailing career with tesco's which is probably why i work for Morrisons now ha ha
ReplyDeleteTesco moved out to Riverside in Early 1990, and the unit was vacant for a couple of years until the Wellgate started it's re-modelling in mid 1992. Woolworths opened on part of the site in 1993, Tesco in fact covered the whole area from where the lifts to the car park behind Superdrug still are (the lifts used to be actually inside Tesco) and Yeomans on the other side right, to the back of Home Bargains and Poundland (ie a very large store!)
ReplyDeleteBlimey, I can't believe it's been 20 years since they moved out! Time flies, etc.
ReplyDeleteI do remember the lifts being inside the Tesco store, which was a bit cheeky if you ask me - while, if memory serves me correctly, they were relatively close to the entrance (and therefore you didn't have to walk through the store, a la IKEA, to get to them or enter the Wellgate properly), it did mean that those coming down from the car park, or those leaving the Wellgate, were "forced" to visit Tesco whether they wanted to or not!
So "Tescoland" may not be as new a concept as we all imagine it to be!
Same as BHS :)
ReplyDeleteThe lifts were just inside the door that you can see.Wines and spirits next to the lifts opposite the TKL cigs kiosk.Round into Home and Leisure dept(Tony Les grant) with the customer services counter by the turnstiles manned by Carol and ? on the other lift wall.Cafe at the back of here leading onto the shop floor Produce (Hi Mum)with deli counter and bakery on the back wall.Nigel was the boss when I was there with Steve Austin as his deputy.......Happy Days was it really 33 years ago !!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhen they got the new trolleys that took a pound coin as a deposit I had the job of chaining them all together in the car park and them bringing them down to the shop floor 10 at a time in the lift. There were a few hundred trolleys so it was an all day job (but double time Sunday shift so no worries). Great life experience for a first job - lots of characters and a built-in social life that went with the job.
ReplyDeleteI remember back in the 1980s that people used to say if you shopped at Tesco that you were 'a mink' because of their reputation as being downmarket and cheap at the time, especially with their own brand stuff.
ReplyDeleteHow times have changed, eh? ;)
I worked in tesco it opened in march1978 i worked in the childrens deparment our boss was mr olly and deputy wss tony watson great times.evelyn was the other gal on customer service wonder where everyone is now.anyone any ideas? linda.
ReplyDeletei worked in the in-store bakery after school, weekends and holidays 1978 -79. it was murder! queues a mile long all day especially for the french rolls and baguettes, also for the doughnut machine and fresh pancakes. it was a brand new idea to have a bakery in the supermarket!. best fun was throwing all the waste stuff down the 'chute' at night. clearest memory was the manager whispering that there was a bomb scare and that we had to get everyone out without panic - i was 16 and trying to stay calm let along get others out orderly!! strangest thing was people refusing to leave because they had waited 20 mins for their bread and insisting on waiting - and others trying to take full trolleys down escalators (not paid for btw). crazy stuff.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone tell me was Tesco on bottom floor of wellgate or middle floor thanks
ReplyDeleteMiddle floor, Bhs was at the bottom
ReplyDelete