7 places in Great Yarmouth we still call by their old names

The former BHS store in Great Yarmouth. Photo: George Ryan (Image: Archant)

Among the members of a certain generation, the building on King Street in Great Yarmouth due to be taken over next year by Sports Direct will forever be known as M&S.

Here are some examples in the town of where the business disappears but people still use the old name:

1. BHS

It was a big shock when BHS closed in late 2016 after the company went into administration.

Ethel Austin clothes & homeware store in the Market Place, Great Yarmouth. The store opened recently on the site of the former Woolworths store. Picture: James Bass (Image: Archant Norfolk Photographic © 2010)

The premises was empty for a year before it was bought by Poundstretcher.

2. Woolworths

Woolworths closed just after Christmas in 2008.

Shortly after, fashion retailer Ethel Austin move in until the company ceased trading in 2013.

Plattens, Broad Row, Great Yarmouth in the 1980s. (Image: Archant)

Now it is Poundland.

3. Co-op

This building was empty for four and a half years before being sold in 2015 to the Edinburgh Mill Group, which opened the fashion chain Peacocks, Ponden Home Interiors and Edinburgh Woollen Mill.

Co-op had begun trading in 1935 on the site on Great Yarmouth's market place.

Harold McMillan canvassing for votes outside Great Yarmouth Co-op.

After the closure, Great Yarmouth Borough Council planned to turn to the premises into an indoor market but the plan stalled after a bid for £2m of government funding was turned down.

4. Plattens

A family department store trading for more than a century on Broad Row, Plattens was launched in 1876 on King Street before relocating to Broad Row in 1889.

It was the first shop to switch from gas to electric lighting.

People from all over the borough would buy school uniforms in the store during the August rush.

The business closed in 1998.

5. Debenham's Corner

The former department store on King Street now houses River Island.

6. Divers Pub

The pub itself might not exist anymore, but its name still proves useful when getting your bearings.

"I'm parked out the back of Divers," you'll sometimes hear people say.

It had opened on King Street in 1973.

7. M&S

And back where we started...

The recent announcement the premises will be taken over next year by Sports Direct probably won't be enough to shake off the old name, which has clung to the building despite it being empty now for four years.

- Is there anywhere in Great Yarmouth that you still refer to by its old name? Let us know in the comments below.