There was a Co-op shop on Ditchling Road near the junction with Preston Drove. My grandmother bought just about everything she could including coal from the Co-op. I think they had some sort of coupon system which could be given in for goods. They certainly were a shop for people on a tight budget. The Co-op had a Christmas Club which allowed customers to save a little each week. Our Christmas's would have not been so special without the Co-op.

When I was a kid in the 40s and 50s our local Co-op was in Whitehawk Road on the corner of Henley Road. I can still remember my Mum's divi number which was drilled into us as kids. I was always fascinated by the wires overhead which carried the little cannisters from the counters to the cashiers desk and back again with change and a receipt. The Co-op had a milk depot as well on the same premises. Every Saturday the Co-op milkman came round to the house to collect the money for the weeks milk. He wore a cap with half a dozen pencils sticking out of it.

As a very young child I remember my mum and dad taking me to the Co-op in London Road at Christmas. It was so lovely seeing Father Christmas. I knew he was a fake because about a hour later he was on the next floor selling shirts and ties .

Yes, was good old days at Whitehawk. Co-op tea in red packets, butter patted with a pattern on it. The baker with the bread van pulled by the old horse that knew all the houses to go to. Every year my mother would order a birthday cake from the baker, pink for my sister blue or yellow for the boys. My sister worked for some time at London Road, in the office. Her name was Peggy.

Can anybody remember the Co-op that used to be on the junction of Bristol Road and St. Georges Road, at the end of St. Georges Terrace. It was called the Kingscliffe Branch.
I used to go there when I was a child in the 1950s. I used to do my Grandmother's shopping and I can still remember my Grandmother's Dividend number.

I worked in the London Road branch when I first left school in 1990, but was sadly made redundant after about two years. I then re-joined the Co-op a few years later again working in London Road. I then left and was very very sad when I heard about the closure as I had made many friends and did go to the shop a few days before it closed just to have one last look around and say goodbye to the peolpe I knew. I am back working for the Co-op again and have been for just over a year.

I remember several of the stores mentioned above - and have similar memories. Is anyone compiling a history of the people involved? We come from a long line of cooperators from the very early days (pre-World War II - through to the 1970s). Members of Co-op Youth, Woodcraft Folk etc. My father worked for the Cooperative Insurance Society and was the President of their Trade Union.  My grandmother and my mother were both members of the Board at the London Road store - I'd love to hear from anyone who is interested.

My Great Grandmother, Elizabeth Steer was supposed, according to family folklore, to have been involved with the Brighton Co-op in the early years of the 20th Century. Certainly she was instrumental in one of my Uncles working in the Haywards Heath Co-op before World War 2. He was, briefly, manager of the Littlehampton Branch, until called up in 1940. After the war he went into the Co-op Insurance, in the Lancing area. One of his brothers also worked in Co-op Insurance. Their name was Heavens.
Is there an archive where I can look all this up?

My grandfather, Harry Charles Kille, served on the committee of the Brighton Co-operative Society from 1893 to 1914 and was chairman for several years. He opened the first Portslade co-op shop with a ceremonial key which I loaned indefinitely to the society. I hope they haven't lost it!