Roland Perry wrote:

Aviation is part of the John Menzies group that runs the newsagents /
press distribution.

I haven't seen a john menzies for years.

There's probably more of them north of Watford Gap.

No the shops were sold off to Smiths and rebranded in the late 1990s.

The ones I think I remember in the south were on run-down council estates.

They were more diverse than that. I grew up in Epsom which had a Menzies and
either a tiny Smiths or none at all until c1999.

From what I understand the English Menzies branches tended to be in small
towns and suburbs and there were very few of the large multi-levelled ones
that Smiths have. (I think Shrewsbury had a big one from visits to
grandparents but I may be confusing a Smiths with the one in Edinbugh.)

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