please empty your brain below
A piece of history, becoming history. My grandmother worked here during the 50’s and/or 60’s. She would be sad to hear it is closing, as she spoke many times of her time there in the China department. As a kid, the corner in the picture always struck me because of the curved slope of the pavement.

Am amazed it has lasted this long

Tim Burns | 16.02.18 - 7:38 a.m. | #

When the doors are closed for the last time, what happens to any unsold stock?
Are there firms who will 'give them a price' for all and everything that remains? And what do they do with it?

RayL | 16.02.18 - 7:51 a.m. | #

RayL there are firms that keep department stores stocked while they close down. I thought one was Vergo Retail but it seems not. Anyway the firm will just move the stock on to the next site.

Richard | Homepage | 16.02.18 - 8:29 a.m. | #

I’ll remember this place, because as a child you’re told not to touch anything in shops, so it was always terrifying being taken upstairs to the glassware section and hearing everything clink loudly due to the vibrations as an express train ran past...

Like Fairheads it’s a shame it’s going, a relic of a bygone Ilford retail past, where low profits prevented investment which in turn gaves shoppers reason to move away from the outdated cramped local department store trying to do too much to the new shiny malls.

Kevin S | 16.02.18 - 8:55 a.m. | #

For info, Bodgers is part of the Morley Stores Group, which owns a number of traditional London department stores: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morleys_Stores

Iain | 16.02.18 - 9:49 a.m. | #

Shame. Everything is becoming so generic - or worse - gone completely. I fear soon there will be nothing left but coffee shops and food outlets, and any other shopping will be online unless one is "blessed" to have a shopping centre nearby.

Cornish Cockney | 16.02.18 - 10:00 a.m. | #

I had forgotten it was closing...and have long ago stopped going to Ilford. I used to make a point of going to Ilford because of the pedestrianized shopping street and variety of large shops (in the mall and out). One too many incidents of minor crime directed at me whilst there means I'll likely never go back.

B | 16.02.18 - 10:07 a.m. | #

I fondly recall the toy dept and also the man with an accordion who used to play it outside on Saturdays.

| 16.02.18 - 10:46 a.m. | #

Another sad milestone in the blandification of retail.

David | 16.02.18 - 11:50 a.m. | #

Anyone that used Ilford for shopping is now going to Westfield instead. I’ll look out for last minute bargains there.

Mark | 16.02.18 - 12:56 p.m. | #

Easy to blame Westfield for Bodgers decline.
Truth is it was tired and worn out 20 years ago, so remarkable that it has lasted so long.

scrumpy | 16.02.18 - 2:11 p.m. | #

Change is always a bit upsetting. But it happens.

A good set of pictures though, I can almost feel the nostalgia coming through. I am wondering what fancy picture-classifying search engines will make of your nude mannequins - you may get some unexpected (electronic) visitors.

Malcolm | 16.02.18 - 4:55 p.m. | #

I seem to recall an architect called John Bodger who featured in an episode of Grand Designs. Credit to anyone who achieves credibility in their chosen profession when given a name so off-message.

Having said that, I think a 'Bodger' was someone who made chairs.

#randomRamblings

drD | Homepage | 16.02.18 - 7:08 p.m. | #

I thought there was something invincible about the store. It had been there for many years. The flagship at the Ilford Mall was once C&A. When that went it was a branch of Woolworths. It is now a branch of Wilkinsons.

kissenme | 16.02.18 - 7:31 p.m. | #

Loved Bodgers. I bought a warm jacket, a piece of grey felt for a photo background, and a cup of tea, all without traipsing very far, then straight back down to the train. I first went there back in the Stone Age. Thanks for your photo tour - nostalgia is still what it used to be, then.

Ian Mercer | 16.02.18 - 8:52 p.m. | #

Reminds me of going round Debenhams in my hometown of Sheffield when I revisit. Stuck in the 1980's. Young people don't shop in big department stores so they just tend to fade away. A shop in Bolton recently closed which had been there over 100 years.

Rick | 16.02.18 - 9:28 p.m. | #

Have known Bodgers since the fifties, we used to shop here regularly. Was always fascinated how the store front sloped around from Cranbrook Road into Station Road.

In the sixties Bodgers was touted as being the first store in Ilford to have an escalator.It was a novelty. The one at C & A came later.

Few will have heard of it but another major Ilford store (closed I think early 1980s) was Wests, just up the road from Bodgers. It was a favourite of mine too, had a cranky lift serving all floors, lever control & trellis gates.

Rog | Homepage | 24.02.18 - 9:03 p.m. | #











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