Waitrose Temple Fortune has traded from the same site since 1945

A photograph of Waitrose Temple Fortune — The venerable store in 2019. Photo: David Howard used under CC BY-SA 2.0 DEEDhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Waitrose Temple Fortune has just reopened its doors after a six-week closure period following a full refurbishment.

The Waitrose Temple Fortune shop originally opened in 1945 is one of the oldest Waitrose shops to still be trading in the same location as when it first opened.

Since its original opening, the high-end grocer has gone through a number of extensions and expansions. According to the Waitrose & Partners Memory Store website, the shop opened on the site of the former Cope’s stores with staff joining the shop from their previous employer. Refrigeration arrived in 1948 and self service in 1960. The shop was extended a number of times over the decades after challenges with lack of space and storage.

Chris Dey, Branch Manager at Waitrose Temple Fortune, said: “All the Partners here at Temple Fortune were really excited about the reopening of our shop. The shop itself is looking absolutely fantastic, and the customer feedback so far has been brilliant, with many saying that the shop feels so much brighter and bigger thanks to the new layout. We can’t wait to welcome many more customers back over the coming weeks.”

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