The end of an era - Woolworth demolition

The demolition of Woolworths, Castleton commences

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For the past week demolition contractors have been preparing the massive office building, which until closure in 2009 served as the Woolworth call centre, for the wrecking ball to move in and start to demolish the building - today the 'wrecking ball' began its destructive work and the shell of the building began to crumble.

The red neon sign spelling out 'Woolworths' once graced the High Street of over 800 towns and cities in the UK. At its peak, Woolworth's Group PLC, the listed British company that owned the high-street retail chain, employed over 30,000 people.

Whilst the first UK Woolworths store was in Liverpool, opened in 1909, the head office and distribution centre, on Royle Barn Road, Castleton, was a major employer in Rochdale.

Woolworths Group PLC originally was the British unit of F.W. Woolworths, of America, but operated independently as a separate company from 1982, running the high-street retail chain, Woolworths, in the UK, Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey as well as other brands such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK and book and resource distributor Bertram Books.

The Woolworths store chain was the main enterprise of the group, selling many goods and having its own LadyBird children's clothing ranges, Chad Valley toys and the WorthIt! value ranges. The chain was the UK's leading supplier of Candyking "pick 'n' mix" sweets. It was also sometimes referred to as "Woolies" by the UK media and the general public.

On 26 November 2008 Woolworths Group PLC announced that they were in too much debt to maintain their outgoing payments. The remaining British Woolworths stores closed by 6 January 2009 with the loss of almost 30,000 jobs, 600 of them in Rochdale in what was a major blow for the town.

On 2 February 2009 it was announced that the Shop Direct Group had purchased the Woolworths and Ladybird names and these would survive as a brand within the internet based shopping company.

The Royle Barn Road site, once cleared, will be re-developed with 40,000 sq ft of retail space including a food store, 300 residential units and 70,000 sq ft of employment space.

Outline planning permission for mixed use was approved in March this year. At the time, Councillor Peter Williams, Rochdale Borough Council Cabinet Member for Corporate Management and Economic Regeneration, said: “It was an incredible blow to Rochdale when Woolworths closed down but this shows that with the right team in place, different uses can be found for key sites.

"In March planning permission was given for 40,000 sq ft of retail space including a food store, 300 residential units and 70,000 sq ft of employment space on the site which is great news for Castleton and the borough."

Castleton resident Kathrine Brice welcomed the development in the hope it will bring jobs into Castleton. Ms Brice is also a former Woolworths employee, she said: “I think it will be fine if in the long run it creates some jobs as the main issue is employment. The closure of the site has had a knock on affect on Castleton because the people who worked here would go out for their dinner or to get their hair done in the local shops.”