‘WH Smith wasn’t just a workplace’: ex-staff and shoppers on the high street chain

WH Smith stores are to be rebranded as TGJones after they were sold to Modella Capital. Photograph: Ben Montgomery/Getty Images

After 233 years, the household name of WH Smith will soon disappear from high streets and the stores will be rebranded under the fictitious “family” brand name TGJones.

The high street business, which employs 5,000 staff, will sell its 480 high street stores to the Hobbycraft owner, Modella Capital, but will retain its brand for travel shops in airports, railway stations and hospitals.