
The high street isn't what it used to be, and some closures hit harder than others. Time to rank the losses that still sting when you walk past the empty shop fronts.
Put the items in your preferred order.

Woolworths
Saturday afternoons rummaging through cassettes, school uniforms and a 50p bag of sweets. When it went in 2008, a piece of every British childhood went with it.
BHS
School shoes, Christmas decorations, and that cafΓ© where nan insisted on a jacket potato. Gone in 2016 and weirdly irreplaceable.

Wilko
Where else could you buy a kettle, a garden gnome and a packet of screws in one trip? The 2023 collapse left a Wilko-shaped hole on every high street.

Debenhams
The department store your mum trusted for occasion wear and Blue Cross sales. Closing in 2021 felt like the end of proper shopping.

Blockbuster
Wandering the aisles arguing over which DVD to rent was a genuine British weekend pastime. Netflix just isn't the same, sorry.
Drag the photo to reorder
Which English physician first successfully tested a smallpox vaccine in 1796 using cowpox material?
π©Ί Health Β· 28 votes
Which British debut album announced an artist's arrival most powerfully?
π΅ Music Β· 28 votes
Which British cheese deserves a permanent spot on the nation's cheeseboard?
π½οΈ Food & Drinks Β· 27 votes
Which uniquely British social awkwardness moment is the most painfully relatable?
π³ 25 votes