Staff reflect on 40 years working at store

LONG-SERVING staff at a Tesco store say working there has changed their lives – as it celebrates its 40th anniversary.

Bev Hill, Lindon Griffiths and Sue Forde are the only three members left from when the chain opened its Trent Vale branch 40 years ago.

Now they have marked the anniversary with tales from down the years – including how they found true love and overcame their shyness.

Bev, aged 59, of Chesterton joined Tesco at 16, working in the Chesterton branch.

She remembers her first day: “It was July 16, 1979. I started at 1 o’clock selling yoghurt and there were only about a dozen of us.”

When the Chesterton store closed, Bev moved to the Trent Vale branch on the first day it opened.

During her time she has found love twice at the store, meeting both of her husbands there.

Bev works on the shop floor and has got to know her customers. She said: “You just make friends with the customers. I’ve got customers who come in every week and if you don’t see them you think ‘where are they?’ You worry about your customers – especially after 40 years.”

Bev was one of the thousands of key workers who continued working through the pandemic.

She said: “It was nerve-wracking.

We just came in and worked but everybody was brilliant. You all had your moments but we just came in and carried on as normal as we could be. You took extra time to make sure the older ones were all right.

“If there’s a few of them you really knew, we’d tell them to call if you can’t get out. We told them to ring the store and someone will come to you.”

Lindon, aged 58, is a general assistant at Tesco. He started at the Newcastle branch when he was 17 and moved to Trent Vale at 18.

He said: “I’ve come on a lot. When I first started I was really shy. Now, I don’t let things get to me anymore.”

It was Sue Forde’s last day at Tesco on Friday. She first joined the supermarket’s Newcastle branch at the age of 16 in Newcastle branch, moving to Trent Vale in 1982.

The 66-year-old met her husband Mick at the store. Forty years and more than 20 managers later, she says: “Lots of friends are going to be missed now I’m leaving, but I’ll be popping in to shop.”