THE MYSTERY over whether the new Marks and Spencer store’s escalators are the first in Aberystwyth rumbles on this week.

The Cambrian News appealed to readers for help to dispel or confirm the possibility that there was an escalator at the Woolworths store in Great Darkgate Street in the 1960s or 1970s.

But judging from the response we had, this seems highly unlikely.

Ginnette Brookes (born Urry) wrote in saying: “My dad, John Urry, was Woolworths store manager from 1973 to 1986 and there was definitely no escalator! I can’t imagine there was one before as the second floor was offices, canteens and the stockroom.”

And John Hepworth said: “I remember Woolies from 1966 onwards and there was no escalator!

“There was a goods lift at the back of the store and a back entrance onto Queen Street, (just across the road from the then Cambrian News editorial and printing works).”

While there might not have been an escalator at the Woolworths store, was there an escalator at another store in the town?

Dave Price wrote in to say: “The old escalator in a shop on Great Darkgate Street was not in Woolworths it was in a Co-op store that was a few doors higher up the street but the same side as Woolworths.”

If any readers can shed more light on the Co-op escalator mystery, contact Simon Middlehurst on [email protected].

See this week’s south editions for the full story, in shops and online now