IT is now 10 years since the doors were closed to shoppers and the fittings thrown in a skip as High Street giant Woolworths ceased trading — with the loss in Barrow of 18 jobs and 82 years of history.

The Mail, on Tuesday, January 6, in 2009, noted: "More than 80 years of retail history will come to an end tomorrow when remaining Woolworths staff walk out of the store for the last time.

"The company has been in Barrow for 82 years, 50 of them at the present site in Dalton Road.

"Hundreds of bargain hunters crammed into Woolworths on its last trading day on Saturday.

"Thousands of items went at 80 per cent off and, finally, 90 per cent off.

"Large queues snaked around the inside of the store."

Heidi Hughes,who was the longest serving member of staff with 45 years’ service, said: “I feel very sad that the name Woolworths has gone.

"I never ever thought I would see that happen.

“I would like to say I am proud to have worked at Woolworths, because it was a people’s store."

Mrs Hughes, who started at the Dalton Road store in 1963 when Beatlemania swept the world, said: “The comments we are getting from the customers and their children and their parents is that they were brought up with Woolworths and that they have very happy memories of it.

"People round here really loved Woolworths.

"That is why I am really proud to have worked here.

“We have had lovely customers and I would like to thank them all for their support all the time that we have been here.

“The customers are very sad themselves.

"They can’t believe the store is actually going.

“I think the tears will come when we walk out of the door for the last time, because we have been so busy over Christmas and no-one can really get their head round it yet.”

Like the other staff, Mrs Hughes will receive money from the government’s insolvency redundancy scheme and is hoping to find another job.

Her friend, Janice Walker, had been a sales assistant at the store for the last 25 years.

She said: “To be perfectly honest I am 60 shortly, and I was going to retire.

"I just didn’t want to go like this.”

The first she heard of the company’s fate was on November 19 when she saw a television news bulletin.

Mrs Walker said she was angered by some of the last day customers who she said were “professionals”, going from one closing Woolworths to another.”

She said: “It was a case of ‘you’re losing your job, what a shame, now how much is this’ which made me angry.

“A lot of our older customers would have been really upset.”

Employee Kathryn Johnston, 25, of Walney, said: “I feel gutted. I love the job because of all the people who work here.”

Margaret Bewley, 66, who has totted up more than 40 years with breaks in service at the store said: “It was a shock when we found out.

"I am going to really miss the staff. I always enjoyed my job. It’s heartbreaking, really.”

Staff cleared out the store on the last day and loaded old fixtures and fittings into a skip outside.

The keys were due to be handed over to representatives of the administrators on January 7 by Woolworths manager for the last five years, Adam Plevin.

Mr Plevin, of Askam, took the 18 staff to Salvana’s in Cavendish Street for lunch at his own expense.

He said: “It is very sad. I’ve had a great team working for me for the last five years.

"For it to come to a halt, not through the staff’s fault but through higher management, I feel is quite sad because there are 18 members of staff who have got to find jobs.

"If you look down the street you can see a lot of ‘to let’ signs, and I feel it is very sad for the town.”

More than 800 Woolworths stores were shut nationally, with a loss of 27,000 jobs.