ALMOST 45 years later and a decade after it disappeared from the High Street altogether there will be many that still recall the fire which devastated the Woolworths store in Colchester.

In October 1973 the High Street shop was gutted by a fire which caused damage estimated at £3million, just three years after a modernised frontage had been revealed.

A further £4million was then spent on building a completely new one which opened two years later.

Woolworths itself has, in one way or another, had a presence in Colchester since 1914 with the High Street store opening in 1965l

These images from our archives revisit the 1973 fire which actually broke out while staff were inside the building.

Work began on restoring the devastated building in 1974 and it was eventually re-opened a year later in 1975.

The company stood by the staff who feared losing their jobs whilst the shop was shut.

Instead of make them redundant they paid to have them transported to its other branches across Essex and Suffolk including in Chelmsford, Ipswich, Dovercourt and Romford in order for them to continue working.

This was because only 27 of the workforce, which was in excess of 80 people at the time at the High Street branch along, could be accommodated at the temporary premises the company opened further down the High Street where the kenning’s Car Mart once was.

The blaze itself broke out in a pile of cushions on the shop floor and was investigated as a suspected arson.

The flames were so huge police initially thought they were dealing with a bomb explosion.

Nearly 200 firefighters from all over Essex and Suffolk battled for 12 hours to stop the fire spreading along the High Street, but there was little they could do to save the shop itself.

As these photographs show, the entire stock was destroyed which alone was said to be worth more than £1million despite bosses not wanting to discuss the actual figure.

And in the aftermath Essex Police released several e-fits of men wanted in connection with the fire while the re-building programme, which incorporated a new butcher’s and bakery, got underway.

But economic troubles succeeded where the fire had failed and despite their best efforts to keep all their staff employed in the months while the new shop was built, it closed again a decade after re-launching in January 1985 with the loss of 70 jobs.

It was finally brought back to Colchester by popular demand in 1998, to Culver Square before the company withdrew from high street completely after going into administration in late 2008 with more than £300million of debt.

As well as Colchester, stores in Chelmsford, Sudbury, Halstead, Dovercourt, Clacton and Maldon were all closed.