ONE of the nation’s favourite shops was reborn today in Didcot a the opening of the first Alworths.

Dubbed “son-of-Woolworths”, the new store is run by an ex-Woolworths executive, on a former Woolworths site and staffed by ex-Woolworths employees, many of whom have been out of work since the firm went bust last year.

On the 100th anniversary of Woolworths opening, and exactly 11 months since the Didcot store closed, the doors opened at 10am yesterday for hundreds of shoppers to discover the new Orchard Centre shop.

Alworths want to open 21 more stores in the next year. Didcot’s branch has already given jobs back to 13 former employees, and up to 50 jobs are set to be created in the run-up to Christmas.

First in the line to collect his free helping of pick ‘n’ mix was Kieran Beech, 12, from Ladygrove.

He said: “There’s lots of new sweets to choose from, and it’s better than Woolworths was. I used to come here at least once a week, and I’ll definitely be coming back after school today.”