IT might seem slightly peculiar to be getting nostalgic about Homebase, a trading name with very modern connections, but believe it or not, the DIY store in Hylton Road, Worcester, opened more than 30 years ago.

Now, as rumours circulate the company may have some plans for the high profile site, it might be a good time to look back at what was there before it arrived.

Those with decent memories may recall the corner of Tybridge Street and Hylton Road, where McDonalds now stands, was once occupied by a food and beverage outlet at almost the opposite end of the spectrum to the Big Mac.

It was a hostelry called The Bear, which dated back to around 1710, a time when America was not so much in short trousers as nappies. It was heavily beamed and oak panelled and was the sort of place that (hopefully) would not be flattened today.

The pub had several reincarnations during its long history until last orders were called in 1968 and it was demolished.

In his excellent book series Worcester Pubs Then and Now, Bob Blandford tells of how in 1850 the Bear’s groom Henry Chambers was robbed of half-a-crown by local prostitute Catherine Egan during a rumbustious session up against a wall on a chilly evening.

She put her hands down his trousers to keep warm and at the same time lifted his loose change. Police found 22s on Cathy, which suggested a busy night.

Almost next door along Hylton Road was another well known local company Worcester Carsales.

This had been opened around 1950 by car dealer Derrick Grieveson, who moved over from his previous pitch in Quay Street in search of more space.

In 1964 Derrick was joined in the business by his son Stuart and it later moved farther down Hylton Road and then over the river to Castle Street to become City and County.

At the rear and set back from the Hylton Road frontage was a huge coal yard servicing Worcester Electricity Works. The fuel was transferred by a conveyor belt gantry over Tybridge Street to the power station in the eastern corner of Cripplegate Park.

The building was a well known landmark with three tall chimneys giving it the outline of a cruise ship. When this was demolished in the mid-Seventies the coal yard too became defunct.

What to make of this prime five acre block of riverside real estate occupied the minds of Worcester City councillors for quite some time and the project hardly got off to a good start when the boss of an Evesham company which submitted plans to develop it for an un-named DIY chain was sent to prison for fraud.

It was in the autumn of 1983 that Sainsburys eventually threw its hat into the ring with plans for one of its growing chain of Homebase gardening and home improvement stores. Even then things didn’t progress smoothly. Worcestershire County Council objected on the basis it would draw too much trade from elsewhere and nearer home others complained it would have a negative effect on smaller businesses in Worcester.

But the City Council pressed ahead and Sainsburys was given the green light.

The £2m Homebase was opened in March, 1987 and the following month electrical retailer Currys announced it was opening a branch in an adjoining section of the building surplus to Homebase’s requirements.

The original plans had included provision for a catering outlet, but Sainsburys didn’t want to go there so eventually the premises at the Tybridge Street/Hylton Road junction, where the Bear had stood all those years before,  were occupied by Sawyers.

Later they were taken over by McDonalds.

The wall where Cathy Egan plied her trade has long gone.