Which defunct shops/restaurants do you miss the most?

[Hairbrush123]

For me, Topshop. Was really gutted when it closed down. Restaurant: Herman ze German. Expensive but always enjoyed the food!

I agree with LostOrFound - all of it, the whole High Street shopping experience, from the days when we used to go out on Saturday morning as teens, to nowadays, when I need to sink into an armchair in a teashop.
Particularly liked old wave Monsoon and Body Shop, Laura Ashley, Warehouse and River Island.
The Pier, Spoils, Habitat, Cargo, Internacionale, Past Times and Athena are also sorely missed.
I mentioned Boodle-Ams in another recent thread, also Biba, and several other long gone independent clothing shops and bookshops.

I guess that sort of High Street trade has gone forever, just as the newspaper industry is going online, particularly local newspapers, and can't help thinking that all those huge empty shops would make great conversions into flats to help the housing shortage

Seconding Borders
Independent book shops in general
Macfisheries
The Danish Food Centre in Manchester!
Giving away my age here.

@Comedycook

La senza

I used to love La Senza so much. Their bras fit my boob shape sp nicely. I used to spend an absolute fortune every time I went in.

Mountstevens bakery, their vanilla slices were the best!

@HollowedOut forgot about la Senza! Loved that shop. They'd wrap your item into pretty white paper, place into a beautiful bag and sprinkle in perfumed beads! Amazing.

Also Wimpy when I was a kid. I always preferred it to McDonald's.

There are still a few around, but not nearly so many.

@Rantypanties

The Pier! I loved all the trinkets in there but at the time was too young to appreciate the furniture they had in there. I wish it would come back!

yes they were brilliant

Woolworths was amazing when I was younger. It closed when I was 18 and up until that point I was able to enjoy going in with friends every weekend, spending what little money we were able to get hold of.. I'm sure it would have held less appeal to me as I got older, but even so, I miss it to this day.. particularly the pick 'n' mix!

Oasis - don’t tell me it’s online now. It is not the same.

Past Times, used to love a look around in there.

Also agree about Woolworths and The Pier.

I mourn the loss of Tammy girl as my daughter would have loved it!

Fine Fare and City Bakery. I still expect both of them to be where they were 50 years ago when I go back to the town I lived in as a child.

I expected to miss Woolworths and BHS more than I did. It was more that the fact that they weren't too big to disappear was a shock, whereas one-garment gimmick shops (Tie Rack, Knickerbox etc.) or tat shops (Past Times, Wax Lyrical) they were always going to be time-limited.

Talking late 80s/early 90s...

Athena
Laura Ashley
Hatchards
Clockhouse at C&A
Saxone because they sold size 9
An alternative clothes shop called London Underground
Used to be an ace teen clothes shop in the Victoria Centre in Crewe, can't remember the name
Chelsea Girl

Used to love Kookai and Cult Clothing too.

@tulippa Yes, Borders - I don’t know if the ones here were exactly the same, but the Singapore Wheelock Place store was absolute heaven... plenty of comfy places to sit and read whilst browsing!

Pilot
Bay Trading
C&A - I liked the Clock Face clothes
Past Times (always got a present for my dad there)
Woolies
Ethel Austin
Internationale (sp?)
BHS for Christmas

I miss the joy of going into the city centre as a teen and browsing

Woolworths

We had a Bewise shop in the local town. Cheap and cheerful but great. I got all my 90s crop tops and wraparound skirts from there back in the day.

Birthdays

Woolworths

Freeman and Hardy Willis for cheap jelly sandals years back

Neal Street East

Another vote for Woolworths. I also liked The Pier and Topshop.
In my youth I liked Chelsea Girl, Miss Selfridge and Warehouse

Food for thought and Wild Oats its Bristol counterpart, both sadly missed.
I didn't do much to shore up BHS but I do miss its one piece swimsuits, plain, comfortable and lasted for ages, also the stretch lace bralettes and knickers. YY too to Laura Ashley in its original format, at its best in the 70's and early 80's.

It’s still around but I miss the old McDonald’s - bright, colourful fittings with a ball-pit/play-area for kids. I’m usually into natural tones for decor but I think Maccas feels grim now.

House of Fraser, when it was a proper department store
Borders

I used to love Snob, Bay Trading and MK One, tbh would still go in even though I'm 47.

Also miss Woolworths and I was gutted when the big Top Shop in Oxford Circus went.

Really hope that New Look doesn't go anywhere, would be so gutted.

All of them. The high street is a depressing ghost town.

@letsbefriends123
I miss earlier White Company too. They did the most lovely empire line jersey dresses in cotton. Now it's viscose sh*t.