Farewell to Somerfield

Published: 28 October, 2010

Today (Thursday) the familiar fascia on the shop-front of Somerfield’s has disappeared from our (Camden) High Street and has been replaced by the Co-op insignia, just as 20 years ago Somerfield gobbled up the low-price Gateway chain-store. 

Now itself a victim of spiralling costs, with increasing prices, diminishing staff and lengthening queues of late, it could no longer compete with its rivals /the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury.

A sign of our financially-straitened times? Perhaps. But with a low-price Lidl store also opening up today further down the High Street, perhaps we should ask if this is a symptom or a cause of our current economic malaise.

We should, of course, welcome the appearance of an ethical fair-trade retailer like the Co-op on our High Street.

But I for one will be sad to see that bright fluorescent green and yellow logo disappear – though its distinctive sight and legacy may not be entirely lost...

Because a scene from a script I once wrote was set in Somerfield’s, and because it may be the subject of a future film shoot, I asked the store manager, Mr Sadik, if I could capture the place on camera. 

He not only very obligingly allowed me to take internal and external photos of the store but also gave me a classic Somerfield fleece jacket and badges as mementos!  

So many thanks to him for helping me to preserve its memory. 

And many thanks are also due to shopfloor supervisor, Cannon, who has been a dedicated and integral part of the shopfloor team for many years.  

We may lose them all as they change their identity from Somerfield to Co-operative personnel, but at least they won’t lose their jobs.  

Which is important in the present economic climate, as the other Somerfield stores are gradually transformed and also lose their trademark name.

And this is something to be thankful for.

NICK GORDON
Highgate Road, NW5