WHSmith was one of the UK's most iconic high street brands before a recent change in ownership saw it disappear as we knew it. The chain was sold to Modella Capital, owners of Hobbycraft, in early 2025, meaning 480 UK high street stores were rebranded to TG Jones. WHSmith shops can still be found, however, at airports, railway stations and hospitals.

Growing up, I regularly spent time in Nuneaton town centre with my family at the weekends. My pocket money was spent mostly on books and magazines - some of which I purchased at Waterstones, and others at WHSmith, which was across the road. I became very familiar with the store's layout and what was on offer there. I started with books aimed at younger readers, of course, before moving on to publications for teenagers.

Favourites included Terry Deary's Horrible Histories books, later made into the beloved CBBC sketch series, and the CHERUB series by Robert Muchamore.

A fan of stationery, I also bought notebooks, felt tips and pens.

It felt very satisfying to gather together new things for the start of the school year, with a view to filling out my exercise books with the neatest handwriting I could muster all year round.

This only ever lasted about a week, of course.

I was saddened to learn of the WHSmith name vanishing from Britain's town centres.

It is, of course, not the only one that has gone, with Debenhams, BHS and Wilko also being recent casualties of a hospital environment for shops.

Recently, I went into a TGJones store in Crowborough to see what it was like.

I was greeted by the same things as had always been stocked - books, magazines, stationary, cards and gift packages.

It's good to see that the next generation of children can take advantage of a healthy offering of affordable books, with the number of young people who read for pleasure in worrying decline.

There was a new Toys R Us section, which was pleasing to see. The huge standalone stores it once had were closed in 2018.

It was slightly less packed with different things than I remembered the Nuneaton store being as a kid.

Although that's maybe because I was smaller and more easily impressed.

The branding, as far as I could tell, was the same, apart from the name, obviously.

If one walked into a WHSmith shop, one would find much the same.

So I am somewhat baffled as to why the name was not somehow kept the same, or the new TGJones store was not rebranded completely in order to establish a new, rejuvenated high street presence.

I bet some customers were initially left a tad confused about the change, if they were aware of it at all.

It just seems a bit needless.

The new name is made-up.

"Jones carries the same sense of family and reflects these stores being at the heart of everyone's high street," a spokesperson for Modella said.

"It's obviously based on another familiar surname - Smith, Jones."

Very weird.

Surely Brits would like to see actual family businesses on their streets, rather than invented ones.