IT had stood in the very heart of the town since 1936, but on Tuesday the Woolworths store in Beccles was among branches all over the country which closed their doors for the very last time.

IT had stood in the very heart of the town since 1936, but on Tuesday the Woolworths store in Beccles was among branches all over the country which closed their doors for the very last time.

Despite being one of the very top performing stores in the country, the Beccles Woolworths in New Market was forced to close along with 815 outlets in the UK after the company went into administration in November.

There were 30 staff employed at the store, who will now be forced to look for work elsewhere.

Dave Wilkinson, who had been manager at the Beccles store for four years and worked for Woolworths for 13 years, said: “It's going to be a great loss to Beccles because Woolworths is the heart of the town. The staff here are fantastic and we've got really lovely customers. We know them by their first names and we've had so many cards, flowers, wine, sweets…We were forced to get a tip jar because so many customers said 'can we give you this money to get the girls a drink!'

“It just shows the local feeling about this store. There was one family with three generations who came in to say 'we're really going to miss you.'”

He added that he and the rest of the staff would be enjoying a drink together tonight with the donations received from the customers.