With the annual Christmas dash around the shops well under way I have found photographs to remind us of some of the stores in the centre of Ipswich from our past.

Ipswich Star: DK Gainsborough14 (4) Edgar Hitching (right) with David (Diddy) Fairs and Donny Slapp (left). Enjoying a joke at the Duke of Gloucester in May 1974.DK Gainsborough14 (4) Edgar Hitching (right) with David (Diddy) Fairs and Donny Slapp (left). Enjoying a joke at the Duke of Gloucester in May 1974.

Most of the pictures were taken before giant superstores opened on the edge of town the internet was beyond imagination. Black Friday and Cyber Monday sounded like something from science fiction.

Gone are names like: Corders, Cowells, Martin and Newby, J. H. Grimwade and Son, Woolworths, Croydons, Edwards and Ridleys.

Which were your favourite shops and department stores? Share your memories by emailing David KindredSee more old photos of Ipswich here