Bristol party to mark Woolworths' 100th birthday

On what would have been popular high street store Woolworths' 100th birthday, former Bristol employees got together for a big party.

A year ago, hundreds of staff at branches of Woolworths across Bristol lost their jobs when the retailer went into administration.

Woolworths was one of Britain's best-loved high street stores, with 12 in the Bristol area, including branches in Broadmead, Fishponds, Kingswood, Filton, Hartcliffe, Shirehampton, Bedminster, Hengrove, Yate, Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon and in Nailsea.

On what would have been the store's 100th birthday last week, 100 staff from branches across the city got together for a party at the Great Western Railway Club.

One of the organisers, Naomi Preece, 26, of Bishopsworth, told the Evening Post: "Woolworths may be gone, but the spirit has really lived on. The party was to celebrate Woolworths' 100th anniversary, but it was also a reunion, as it has been almost a year since the stores closed.

"We managed to get the venue for free and arranged the party using our own money. We invited about 150 people through Facebook."

For several months after Woolworths shut its doors, several former workmates used to get together for coffee mornings to reminisce and look for new jobs.

Miss Preece, who worked in Woolworths in Hartcliffe and the Galleries, but now works in insurance, said: "These coffee morning are much less frequent now as we have managed to find work. We have all stayed in contact and do get together as much as we can."

Justin Carroll, who helped open the Imperial Retail Park store in 2005, now works for Morrisons. The 28-year-old said: "I loved working in Woolworths. We were one big family. I was so gutted when it shut, but we did expect it. We were planning a big 100th celebration just before we closed, so we thought we would go ahead with it anyway."

Sue Harvey, 41, of St Anne's, who used to work in the Galleries, but now has a job in insurance, said Christmas will not be the same this year. She told the Evening Post: "It's nice to be working considering the economic condition, but I will miss the buzz leading up to Christmas. Woolworths shutting affected people's lives. We grew up with it."