It all started when Fred Nason began selling linen from his mother’s back street home in the city in 1929.

It was a business he grew over the decades to become a household name in east Kent.

But today the High Street department store shuts up shop for good.

Over the past few weeks, closing down sale goods have been flying off the shelves - but too late to reverse the store’s fortunes.

Bosses say it has been squeezed out by “brutal” trading conditions, ending an era for the retail scene in Canterbury.

From those humble beginnings at his mother’s home, Mr Nason expanded his business using garages for storage until he opened his first shop at 24 Castle Street in 1935.

Then the war intervened and he volunteered for service in the Eighth Army, serving in North Africa with the 2nd Dragoon Guards.

More than six years later he returned to civilian life and his shop in Castle Street, but soon expanded the business to St Margaret’s Street.

He later bought the Foresters’ Hall in the High Street which would become the first part of the present store and its familiar main entrance.

It expanded into other surrounding rear properties and, in 1962, earned a Civic Trust award for the way architects incorporated several older buildings into the new shop premises, eventually creating a 40,000sq ft store with numerous departments.

Customers have been reminiscing and commenting about the department store on the Canterbury Remembering It As It Was Facebook page. Coffee shop customer Phil Johns wrote: “I’ve been a regular user of this place for some 30 years and I’m so sorry to see it go.

"Lovely coffee, unlike the paint stripper you get in Costa, Nero et al.

“The ladies are heartbroken to be losing their jobs and without wishing to be controversial, one can’t help but feel the staff have been treated extremely badly with such an abrupt closure.”

Michael Gillmore wrote: “I worked there for years, started as a Saturday boy then worked all over the store before finishing over at the Wincheap site on flooring.

“Lovely place to work, some great memories of the people and the place - thoughts go out to the current staff and to senior management - won’t be easy times for them at the minute - the building was very quirky and unique”.

Former city council conservation officer Clive Bowley added: “Sad news about Nasons closure.

“This really is the most ancient and fascinating site right at the heart of the old city.

“It is vitally important that the city planners understand the value of this site and don’t just give in to the first developer that comes along to propose a clean sweep and a crude redevelopment.”

The future of the store and site it still unknown but because of its awkward layout, it is expected to be subject to significant redevelopment proposals.