THERE was shock and disbelief when the closure plan was announced.

People who, as children, had been taken shopping at McIlroys by their mothers and grannies couldn't imagine what Swindon's shopping centre would be like without the imposing department store which had stood in Regent Street for 123 years.

And when its doors were shut for the last time 10 years ago today, many of its staff and old customers actually shed tears.

The store, with its landmark clock tower and majestic wrought iron metal staircase, was opened by Swindon man William McIlroy in a building that had been erected by a local firm headed by John Norman, who gave his name to Norman Road.

McIlroys was an institution. On its last day Ann Whitbread, who managed its Viyella fashion concession, said: "A lot of staff feel they are losing family."

Among those to go was Malcolm Spencer whose first job there was creating window displays. He worked there for a total of 35 years, finally as promotions manager.

"This," he said on closing day, "might be the end of the Are You Being Served type of store in Swindon."

It was. Swindon shoppers knew they could buy anything from a reel of cotton to an Axminster carpet there. But in the end McIlroys, owned during its last few years by Courtaulds and then Mackays, was beaten by competition from the Designer Outlet Centre, House of Fraser and Debenhams.

Its closure meant the loss of 181 jobs.

Chief executive Martin Cryer had the grim job of announcing that after 123 years of unbrokenrade the end had come.

Gerald and Betty Harris of Charterhouse Road, Wroughton, recalled how they met as members of McIlroys' staff.

Gerald, 82, left in 1941 when he was called up for war service in the Royal Navy. Betty, 80, worked in the millinery, wools, haberdashery and cosmetics departments before leaving in 1946.

"Miss Lilian Baker was in charge of millinery and every day I had to brush all the hats that were on display," she recalled. "It was almost a full morning's work.

"I think my basic pay was 9s7d (less than 50p) a week."

Theirs were just a few of the stories that staff and customers recalled when closure came on April 30, 1998.

Many recalled visits to Santa's grotto which each Christmas was a thrill for thousands of Swindon youngsters.

Others talked of how they heard the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Freddie and the Dreamers, the Barron Knights, Joe Brown, Shane Fenton and the Fentones and other glittering names from the music scene play in the ballroom which doubled as the store's restaurant.

Their memories will be shared again at a McIlroys staff reunion which will mark the 10th anniversary of the store's closure. It's due to take place at Colebrook Community Centre on May 17.