Amateur footage produced by George Theaker and Peter Dobing showing the construction of the Cornmill Shopping Centre in Darlington on the site of the historic Darlington Co-Operative Society department store. The film features views inside the store, most likely filmed shortly after its closure in April and May 1986. Demolition and construction work on the new shopping centre began in 1989 and it was officially opened to the public in 1992. The final part of the film gives a brief history of...

Amateur footage produced by George Theaker and Peter Dobing showing the construction of the Cornmill Shopping Centre in Darlington on the site of the historic Darlington Co-Operative Society department store. The film features views inside the store, most likely filmed shortly after its closure in April and May 1986. Demolition and construction work on the new shopping centre began in 1989 and it was officially opened to the public in 1992. The final part of the film gives a brief history of the market town through the use of archival drawing, paintings and photographs. The film opens with a view along Prebend Row in Darlington looking towards Northgate, where a local commuter bus drives past. General views of the construction site for the new Cornmill Shopping Centre  with the silhouette of St Cuthbert’s Church in the background and of shops along Stonebridge, shot from the corner of Crown Street. On the building site in the centre of Darlington a large crane lifts a section of steel girder from the back of a flatbed lorry; Barclay’s Bank on Tubwell Row can be seen in the near distance. General view of the Crown Furniture Centre on Crown Street. Men and machinery are working on the building site, Darlington Clock Tower in the background. From High Row, there's a view looking towards the building site on Prebend Road with St Cuthberts church in the distance. General views follow along Prebend Row, including the clock tower. The film cuts to general views of the Church of St Hilda’s on Parkgate and traffic travelling past along the bypass. A crane is demolishing part of the Darlington Co-Operative department store. Some walls remain standing. Rubble is piled up and a sign attached to a not yet demolished column reads ‘Shoplifting is Theft; Thieves will be Prosecuted’. The film changes to show another building without a roof, possibly also part of the same demolition. Plastic cladding covers the walls of the Co-Operative store entrance along Priestgate . General views of an alleyway between two brick buildings and a Thompson of Prodhoe crane working to demolish a brick building. General views follow of more demolition and the site being cleared. Interior shots of a boardroom in the Co-Operative Society building containing a long curved desk and chairs with a second table standing in front of it. A view of the name plate reads ‘Thomas Robson Elected President 1868’. An old portrait photograph of Thomas Robson follows. General views around the room of other portraits, the final one identified as Sir Edward Daniel Walker. General views of the tables, chairs and portraits in the room as well as the domed glass ceiling. A door with keys in the lock has a sign for ‘Board Room’. An archival photograph of Priestgate fades to show the road at the time of filming with a Mini Metro car parked nearby. A date plaque on a wall reads ‘AD 1928’. The sequence in repeated but this time the Metro car is missing. General views of the exterior of the Co-Operative Society department store along Tubwell Row. Banners in the window promote a closing down sale. The film cuts to show a derelict back alley and brick buildings besides a modern wall. A derelict car is parked in the alleyway. Four people stand chatting in the carpeting department inside the Co-Operative store. Empty racks of carpet samples are set up around the space with posters offering full credit facilities and types of underlay. The film cuts to show a number of now defunct cash registers near to a large set of stairs leading both upstairs and down. General view of the now empty department store space with empty cabinets, some stacked against the wall. A view of a commemorative stone set into a wall relating to the diamond jubilee of the Darlington Co-Operative Society in July 1928. A man carries a carpet down the stairs. General view of Darlington’s covered market and clock tower from the Co-Operative building on Tubwell Row fades to a view of St Cuthbert’s church in the near distance and traffic moving along Tubwell Row below. A view along Church Row shows the Dolphin Leisure Centre in the near distance followed by a view across a roof towards St Cuthbert’s Church and a small courtyard below.   The archive photograph shown previously along Priestgate is repeated, followed again by a contemporary view of the street showing now the closed entrance to the Co-Operative store. More archive photographs along Priestgate and the Co-Operative store follow fading to views showing the same scenes shot by the filmmaker including the King’s Head Hotel.   Construction is in progress for the new shopping centre, a large Sir Robert McAlpine crane dominating the skyline.   A black and white drawing illustrates market day along Tubwell Row in Darlington in 1843. As the narrator gives a history of the town, the camera focuses in on section of the drawing. General views of other historic drawings, paintings and photographs around the town centre follow. A general view of a historic fountain on Bull Wynd and a corresponding archival photograph end the film.