AN iconic piece of Swindon’s history will be going up for auction next week.

One lucky bidder will be the new owner of an art deco clock that looked out over the town centre above the entrance to McIlroys department store for decades.

The clock was installed into the Regent Street store’s front in the 1960s to replace a famous clock tower which had to be demolished for safety reasons. Kidson-Trigg Auctions will offer the clock and hundreds of other items up for auction at its auction house near Highworth next Tuesday at 10am.

Pippa Kidson-Trigg, director of the the family-run business, said: “This clock is already causing a stir in the auction room as everyone who is Swindon born and bred knows and loves the old department store. It was a part of the town’s social history and culture.

"I remember fondly parking in the McIlroys car park in the 1970s and going shopping there with the family. Members of the public also recall the store as part of their life and regular haunt, and many still call it the McIlroys car park today.

“It would be lovely if a local developer was able to purchase the clock and reinstall it into a project. Many remember famous bands like the Beatles and Rolling Stones playing there. Just think – many a Swindon couple have met up under the famous McIlroys clock, the entrance to a past world that many of us fondly remember.”

McIlroys was a popular landmark for Swindon shoppers. It sold everything from buttons to furnishings for 123 years before Debenhams, House of Fraser and the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet came to town. Competition from the new arrivals was so tough that in 1998 Mackays, the chain that owned McIlroys, closed the store for good. Customers and staff shed tears on its final day.

Though the shop was demolished and replaced by an H&M, it lives on in the memories of many Swindonians.

The catalogue for the auction will be available from Thursday. For more information, call 01793 861000 or visit kidsontrigg.co.uk