New disaster hits Emmerdale

Not, not really, it is just another bit of my past which is disappearing as part of the meltdown of the traditional high street shopping portfolio. Mothercare are suffering and I know I shopped in there when number one son was on his way, Habitat used to furnish my houses in London, I purchased loads of music from HMV and who did not get kitted out in the underwear department of M & S. The real hit though, has come with the announcement that House Of Fraser are shutting a large number of stores in it's portfolio.

Beattie's in Birkenhead has been a keystone store in the Pyramid Centre for generations. It was purchased by House of Fraser about ten years ago. Birkenhead has already lost the M & S store so with this double whammy the life has been sucked out of the centre. It could very quickly become a ghost town, with charity shops and discount outlets the only surviving stores.

Plymouth, like Birkenhead, will see its store close as well. It used to be called Dingles and was the biggest single shop in the centre of Plymouth. When I was at school in Plymouth,  I was in there all the time, either with my parents buying sensible things, Christmas presents or food in their excellent top floor restaurant. Boy that was a bit treat.

When I and my chums were studying for our O Levels, we would meet at the reference library early in the morning for about 4 hours revision. It was then down to Dingles restaurant for our lunch and home to do a bit more studying. Three of the S-Club were in the group, and when we had sat our final O level examination, we decided to spend the whole day in the Dingles restaurant.

We managed to achieve that, by buying just enough food and drink at intervals which kept the staff from throwing us out!! Dingles was a Plymouth institution, and I remember Stuart, one of the S-Club, meeting some Cornish rugby supporters in Twickenham. 'I guess you can only press your noses against the window of Dingles' he said, intimating they were Country bumpkins and could not afford to shop there. That nearly caused a right to do!!

It suffered in a major fire about ten years ago, which started in the restaurant area, but it was rebuilt to its former standard and will be a sad lost to the Plymouth centre. Initial plans from British Land who own the site, indicate it could be turned into residential units with retail on the ground floor. Time will tell.

Interestingly at the time I was in Plymouth, the 'girl next door' was called Belinda Lee, she is now Belinda Earl OBE, and is style director at M & S. Let's hope her job remains secure in the churning retail marketplace.