The former Beales Department Store Mansfield was acquired from Anglia Co-operative Society’s ‘Westgate’ chain of department stores.
The Anglia were the successors to a series of merged Co-operative Societies who had been retailing in Mansfield, beginning with the Mansfield Co-operative Society in 1865.
In 1922 A Co-op store was destroyed by fire, The Co-op opened this new store 1938, extended 1960s and it was built to look like one building with the central clock.
The Co-operative Bank occupied the left ground floor, when Beales purchased the store they extended into the nearby shopping centre linked by two foot bridges. Half of the extension is now occupied by a discount junk store.
Mansfield District Council has been planning to do something with this very large building for a number of years.