Pick ‘n’ mix anyone? Shoppers get unexpected glimpse of former Woolworths

Shoppers to a mid-Norfolk market town were greeted with an unexpected flashback to its past.

During the installation of new signage to the front of Poundland, on Market Place, Dereham, eagle-eyed passersby would have been able to spot the former Woolworths letters.

Originally founded in the USA, Woolworths was a British high street favourite for years before administrators were called in 2008 after the company racked up around £400 million worth of debt.

Roughly 27,000 jobs were lost at the time of its collapse and some 800 stores were closed.

The Dereham branch closed in 2008.

Prior to that the building used to be a hotel. The King's Arms, which had welcomed both Anthony Trollope and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, had been an inn for nearly 500 years and finally closed in 1962 before being demolished to make way for a branch of Woolworths.

The current Poundland sign was taken down this afternoon, Tuesday May 15, and replaced with a new one.