The busy Essex roundabout thousands drive on each day named after a now-closed department store

Wilson's Corner and its dreaded double mini roundabouts
-Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited


There are lots of businesses and stores that brought nothing but sadness upon their locals when they closed down. This is indeed the case for one store in Brentwood, which closed in the 70s' - but its name is remembered by motorists each and every day.

Wilsons Corner is a double mini roundabout in Brentwood, at the junction of the A128 and the A1023 at the very top of Brentwood high street. While many roundabouts are named after pubs, this one is named after Wilsons department store which was on the corner of the junction.

Wilson's "Great Eastern Stores" was founded in Maldon in 1883. It was founded by William Arthur Wilson - he was by profession a draper and had been brought up in Southminster by his uncle, a boot maker, reports Brentwood History.

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Just six years later, in 1889, he bought houses and a large garden on the corner of Ingrave Road and the High Street and built a vast store over several floors. It was a department store offering many different products to the people of Brentwood, who had in previous decades been used to going to different shops to buy different things.

A huge fire devastated the area in the early 1900s, but fortunately the building was insured and they were able to rebuild. In 1910-11 they rebuilt the store on the same plot with a similar outward appearance.

However, internally the large deparment store was replaced with a plan of several smaller shops within a shopping parade. The Wilson's business finally closed in 1978 and the building was bought by Cooper's Furniture.

In 2003 Cooper's closed and the building was converted into many smaller shops. Today, Wilson's Corner is visited by thousands of people visiting Brentwood high street or attending its nearby schools.