Which high Street shops do you miss the most past /present

I loved BHS for bras and tights- both were a perfect fit and very reasonable.

I loved Bon Marche for tops and I still have some well made ones which I have had for years- they wash and wear so well.

Woolies as a child- their pick and mix for me!

When ' we ' were teenagers, a lot of the aforementioned shops would have been full of groups of teenage girls on Saturdays ( I remember some with heads full of rollers in preparation for the ' Saturday night out ' ). That doesn't seem to happen now. When I was in Miss Selfridge on a Saturday about eighteen months ago, it was empty. My seventeen year old DGD certainly doesn't ever trawl the shops. A sign of the times, sadly. The dance halls are long gone too.

In England BHS and Dickins and Jones. Here in France I miss John Lewis, Boots and M&S.

Laura Ashley used to do brilliant sales. I remember taking my three children to the Oxford store on the first day of the sale and sitting them on a sofa while I shopped. Does anyone remember Fenwicks? I remember having a £5 perm in their Newcastle shop. I loved East. They did something a bit different for a posh do. Currently I still love John Lewis and over the last months have bought a lot on line! I miss bookshops, especially when they have a cafe. Someone mentioned Snob. When my daughter was around four, I bought her the most amazing patterned black dress. My mother was horrified and thought black wasn’t suitable, but she looked lovely in it. Now, nearly 40 years later I am buying my granddaughter black dresses and cardigans and she loves them.

Etam

M&S closed down their store in the centre of our little market town. It took the heart out of shopping there. I loved being able to pop in there for basic clothes and nice food.

East, Jaeger and Country Casuals.

Just Woolies and more recently BHS

Macfisheries was great, a national chain I think. Any local reasonably priced fishmonger would be great, though Morrisons is OK. One of my neighbours organises a joint Saturday delivery from a fishmonger which he then drops off to us, but its really pretty expensive.

BHS did lovely hats when friends in my age group were busy getting married — lots of choice and very reasonable.

C&A, I found it still operating in Switzerland. Still a good variety of choice. BATA shoes as well.
A trip down memory lane.

I don't really miss any of the big chains. I did like Woollies when I was young and it sold every little thing you might want, but it went gradually downhill. My DH was a manager there during its death throes, and the people who ran the company were constantly struggling to define its place in the market. It was no longer the cheapest or had the widest range of goods. You could no longer think "Oh, Woollies will have it!" because the chances were that they wouldn't. Basically, its major selling point had been reduced to pick 'n' mix.

I do miss some of the independent shops which have disappeared. There was a department store in my city, for instance, where we always shopped when I was young. There was also a rather posh shop, Simpkin & James, which was too expensive for regular shopping but their cakes were a special treat and their iced shortbread was fab. I miss them.

C&A I still have boots i bought there that are older than my children and they are 40 and 36!

Ladyleftfieldlover

Laura Ashley used to do brilliant sales. I remember taking my three children to the Oxford store on the first day of the sale and sitting them on a sofa while I shopped. Does anyone remember Fenwicks? I remember having a £5 perm in their Newcastle shop. I loved East. They did something a bit different for a posh do. Currently I still love John Lewis and over the last months have bought a lot on line! I miss bookshops, especially when they have a cafe. Someone mentioned Snob. When my daughter was around four, I bought her the most amazing patterned black dress. My mother was horrified and thought black wasn’t suitable, but she looked lovely in it. Now, nearly 40 years later I am buying my granddaughter black dresses and cardigans and she loves them.

Fenwick are still in Newcastle and York

There was a Bus Stop shop in Manchester. Got many outfits from there in the 70s. Also loved Chelsea Girl. The joy of finding an outfit to wear on nights out with the girls.

I miss Marks & Spencers for their underclothes. British Home Stores and C & A.

British Home Stores for their great range of lighting and Laura Ashley for lovely clothes ,which were beautifully finished on the inside too, for affordable prices.

I miss the factory shops too selling top quality curtain fabric , clothes and jeans . You only miss things when they re gone!

We had both a Littlewoods and M&S shop in the village many moons ago and it was years before I got used to them not being there. It was the death knell of the village when the two shops went. Never been the same since.

M&S, as the one in our town closed down a couple of years ago. Now have to travel miles to the nearset, and haven't been for well over a year.

Not a High St. shop but how I miss Tommy Ball's shoes and clothes in Blackburn. Floors of Clarks seconds shoes, from baby's to adult's at rock bottom prices. Being able to buy my four children new school and best shoes there saved me a fortune and I always had the latest shoes for next to nothing.
And well known outdoor branded clothes at ridiculous prices,
£4 for full length down filled coat! Still wearing 30 years later!

I Had a lovely navy blue box bag.

Wish I still had it. Would love to find another one.

Junie

Judy257, I'd forgot about Chelsea Girl and yes brill for discos at the weekend in the 80s. They have all changed now too, clubs with bump bump music. Yes I've turned into my mother.

From my youth Chelsea Girl, Biba, Etam, C&A, Littlewoods.
Going even further back, anyone remember Home & Colonial, lovely fresh foods.
More recently British Home Stores, Laura Ashley, Bon Marche and Edinburgh Woollen Mills.
Small independent hardware stores that sold screws and nails in small quantities (even just one!), and really knew about the things they sold.
Wet fish shops and proper butchers shops, there seem to be fewer and fewer of them about now.

Definitely, Woolworths and BHS. Especially BHS.
I absolutely loved that shop and used it a lot.

Primark replaced it, but not the same quality or styles I am used to.

And Tunbridge Wells! But gone much more upmarket! Our Woolies became Topshop - wonder how long that will last?