Fine Fare

[Richy G]

Re: Fine Fare i worked in fine fare h/o '78-'88 2 depots u missed weedon and stevena

you missed 2 depots weedon and stevenage .. i worked in warehouse a/cs with steve walters

I worked at the Letchworth / Stevenage / bigglewade branches of shoppers paradise. trying to remember the prices was a nightmare and even worse was we had to ware a badge with "SP" on it and we had the same customers asking if it meant "Silly Pratt" ever single week. does anyone have any pics of the stores ?

[finney]

Re: Fine Fare

Amendment to the above about Fine Fare Bridgwater, My sister in law who worked there when it opened said it was the PG tips monkeys that were at the opening, The DGP did come to town, It may have been for Liptons or Tesco.

[sweep]

Re: Fine Fare

I'm from Marple too, but now live in Stockport.

My Mum used to shop about once a week at Hyde's Fine Fare in the 1980s. Stockport was very slow to have a bit supermarked then in 1986 they opened a Sainsburys & Asda at almost the same time & right next to each other.

I started to look up about Fine Fare after I found a picture of one online: Fare's fair at Fine Fare! on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I still remembered the logo after all these years, one odd thing FF did was have a code number on the sticky labels rather than a price, but it still had to be keyed in, as this was before the days of barcodes.

When I was young Marple had a Dee Discount, which became a Gateway, as did all the Fine Fares due to a merger. I'm surprised that such a big brand was allowed to fall by the wayside.

The same shop went through a few rebrands & changes of owner to became an Iceland.

Liptons became a Hanburys, a local chain which the Co-op I think bought up. This has been empty for a few years, but there have been plans to open a gym or a Weatherspoons in it. When it was a Liptons it had an upstairs cafe which went when they left.

Wasn't Timothy White's part of Boots? My parents got our first barbeque from the Stockport branch in the early 1980s.

Stockport also had a Chelsea Girl in the mid 1980s, not sure what it became.

Regarding the Fine Fare in Hyde half the store was as stated taken over by Gateway the other half became Do It All then later I think Focus, the building remained partitioned for many years until Morrisons took it over. I think it might have been another supermarket after Gateway although I'm not certain of that.

[finney]

Re: Fine Fare

Yes Fine fare was headed by Garfield Weston, We had one in Bridgwater & the opening was before 1965 & they had the Dagenham girl pipers in attendance.

[ayrshireman]

Re: Fine Fare

That was it! Did you remember the advert, or do you know the saying? I can't believe I'm the only one who remembers "Cowley/Hudson" advertising supermarkets?

Both.

[dannyboy]

Re: Fine Fare

'many a mickle makes a muckle'


Which means a lot of small things together make a lot.

That was it! Did you remember the advert, or do you know the saying? I can't believe I'm the only one who remembers "Cowley/Hudson" advertising supermarkets?

[ayrshireman]

Re: Fine Fare

'many a mickle makes a muckle'


Which means a lot of small things together make a lot.

[dannyboy]

Re: Fine Fare

Can anyone remember Gordon Jackson doing the adverts on telly? I reckon he opened with something like "many a muckle..." An old scottish saying apparently? I seem to recall his punchline was "Fine Fare, fair to your family, and you purse". A bit sketchy, but I reckon I'm in the right area? Anybody else out there?

[finney]

Re: Fine Fare

I worked for Dewhurst in the 60,s -70,s & Downsway was part of Union International a group owned by the Vestey family , Downsway were a group of 70 stores based around St Albans i believe, Their numbers were increased by the acquasition of C H Kaye ltd
I am researching the Vestey group & have a pic of one of their lorries on my FLICKR & would like a shop pic, gilliesd is correct Downsway sold out to Fine Fare, Not the best decision by Vestey as they could have moved to the edge of town & put Dewhurst inside.

[finney]

Re: Fine Fare

I remember Fine Fare the first supermarket in Bridgwater, International stores the old Woolworths was classed as self service,I was a butchers boy at the time & remember Fine Fare was opened & the Dagenham Girl Pipers were there.Now a 99p shop.

[memoman]

Re: Fine Fare

I did read all the pages before posting - especially your wiki link .

sorry i misread your post.A funny thing happened at our local branch the pavement slopped down hill towards the road and the trolleys broke free heading for the road.So much for safe storage eh?

Re: Fine Fare

If you go back a couple or three pages you would have seen my earlier post. Fine fare was first brought out by somerfield.Our somerfield stores have closed somerfield did buy Kwiksave.On 16 July 2008, it was announced that Somerfield would be acquired by the Co-Operative Group.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerfield

I did read all the pages before posting - especially your wiki link .

[memoman]

Re: Fine Fare

My parents also used to shop at MackFisheries. Apparently, Fine Fare once was ranked number 3 in terms of market share behind Tesco at 2 and Sainsburys at number 1...amazing how they disappeared.

If you go back a couple or three pages you would have seen my earlier post. Fine fare was first brought out by somerfield.Our somerfield stores have closed somerfield did buy Kwiksave.On 16 July 2008, it was announced that Somerfield would be acquired by the Co-Operative Group.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerfield

Re: Fine Fare

My parents also used to shop at MackFisheries. Apparently, Fine Fare once was ranked number 3 in terms of market share behind Tesco at 2 and Sainsburys at number 1...amazing how they disappeared.

Re: Fine Fare

Love the prices on those vouchers a few pages previous - wish we had prices like that now! Mind you, I did buy a set of 4 Sainsburys Basics Pint Glasses the other day, had them scanned, the til girl said: '£1.25', I'd looked at the gauge of the glass and it was good quality, then she said 'oh, they're actually 37p !!!!'
They'd reduced them, I did pick them off a clearance shelf but they weren't damaged in any way, including the packaging! BARGAIN!