WHSmith retail has been sold to Modella Capital who have rebranded the WHSmith website today.

Now while on the TGJones website, the store finder doesn't show the Forest Hill store as one of those they own.

This could mean one of three things.

1. It wasn't included in the sale to Modella Capital, so has been kept as a WHSmith as they're keeping stores at railway stations and airports. Our WHSmith is next door to Forest Hill station on land which I believe is owned by Network Rail.

2. Modella Capital haven't added FH to their store database, yet it shows Lewisham and Brixton.

3. It's closing down which would be a blow as it includes the Post Office which moved from the site in Dartmouth Road now the Sylvan Post bar.

This post was last modified: 30-06-2025 07:51 PM by rbmartin.

I do hope it is'nt closing down.
We've no banks and I use the post office a fair bit and indeed WHSmith
Plus I find all the staff there lovely.

https://www.tgjonesonline.co.uk/stores/f...ion-london

Judging from the new signage outside i would say it is now TG Jones.

I checked the website a few days ago and the WH Smiths adjacent to the railway station is not listed on TGJones's "nearest shop" page.

Seems I was wrong to conclude the WH Smith branding was being retained at that branch as Michael's post appears to confirm.

I saw the new signage which is similar to the old WHSmith one. It seems they're trying to be as business as usual as possible and they still stock some WHSmith stuff as well.

However I'm concerned that as soon as they're able to, Modella Capital/TG Jones will sell off a load of stores to try and make as much money as possible, close a load of stores which would mean we'd lose the PO facility and then put it in administration.

There may not be much value in such a proposal for Modella Capital/TG Jones if that was a proposed course.

I seem to recall that WH Smiths are not the freeholders and only pay a peppercorn rent for the site in Forest Hill.

"WH Smiths are not the freeholders and only pay a peppercorn rent for the site in Forest Hill"

I wonder how such an arrangement would benefit the freeholder? (apart from having a blue chip covenant taking full responsibility for the building's upkeep)

Not at all sure who the freeholder is.

Could be Network Rail - and if it is, they have their own unique and generalised, railway orientated, objectives for the management of their property portfolio.

Discourse Architecture in conjunction with FHSoc, as part of their proposed Town Centre Redevelopment Plan, conducted a comprehensive search of the Land Registry to identify property owners in the vicinity of the station. A quick review of that research may inform us better as to who that freeholder is.

It's likely to be Network Rail as they own the site behind the bookmakers/dentist along with the subway which run parallel to Platform 1.

Network rail may well own the site now, but the site was originally the site of the swing bridge, this land jutting out into the canal from the east side to significantly narrow it so a swing bridge could span it. This plot still juts out really.
So it would not have been owned by the canal company back then, but ~'roads and highways'

Of course there would have been a lot of land swapping hands when the rail came, but unlike buildings that come and go, land ownership is more stable and I think this site like the strangely shaped william hills site on the corner are relics of a much earlier time.

As far as I'm aware Network Rail continue to own the freehold of the TG Jones building and the subway below. The building we constructed to replace the WH Smith branch that was inside the original station building.

The branding of TG Jones suggests to me that the owners are looking for a quick turn around for this business with more permanent branding for the stores once they have time bring in a branding team or potentially merge the store with other offerings in their portfolio (Hobbycraft and potentially Lakeland). They may well look to pull out of unprofitable sites with short leases, but I suspect that the lease from Network Rail is cheap and was renewed a few years ago (replacing on that had been in place for 50 years), possibly for a similarly long-term. Closing any branch that contains a post office would be likely to be resisted by local residents and it is likely that the inclusion of a post office increases footfall.

But the closure of TG Jones in Forest Hill could also present a useful opportunity to demolish the building and begin the reimagining of the town centre. There are a couple of obvious sites where a small post office could be moved to in Forest Hill - Betfred and Boots immediately spring to mind, or one of the smaller grocery stores could take on the sub-post office functions that are probably not too dissimilar from the TG Jones branch.

But apparently the total TG Jones business is profitable and the cost of the purchase was relatively low compared to profits. There is no reason that the owners don't just run the business as a cash cow, adding little investment and just taking a good profit every year, just closing a few branches at a time as high streets across the country gradually die.

Does TG Jones do exactly what WH Smith did, because if that is the case, i cannot see it being a profitable business, based on the state WH Smith was, expensive, lacklustre and unappealing.

TG Jones is a rebadged WHSmith. As the company only sold the retail arm to Modella Capital, the business had to rebrand.

WHSmith continues as a retailer at railway stations, airports and hospitals.

Have not used WH Smith for years as alternatives exist which provide equal and if not better quality and at better prices.

Michael's longer post contains some fairly precise observations.

And the demolition of the building does present an opportunity to kick-off the reimagining of the town centre.

One downside would be the loss of the mural recently commissioned by FHSoc on the gable wall of that building.