https://www.watfordfc.com/club/hornets-shop/hornets-shop-new-store-opens-intu Watford have a new shop in Intu. About time really.
I give it a year and only that long because that'll be the minimum term of the lease. I've lost count of the number of places the hornet shop has been. My first visit was when it was hallway down vicarage road and was basically a counter and staff went out back to get what you wanted. That's where my parents bought me my FA Cup final top.
Oh and it's called the Harlequin. Always will be called the Harlequin. Intu is a ****ing stupid name.
Perhaps they should sell cup final tickets from their shop to replace the slow olde-worlde internet shopping experience seen this last week ?
Mine too was halfway down Vicarage Rd (was that part pedestrianised?). Anyhoo it was a proper shop all the same. I remember the first shop in the Harlequin and when the shop moved to the actual ground in front of (or behind of) the Vicarage Rd end. Sad for me I never have even seen let alone been in the sexy looking shop on the corner of Occupation Rd. As an aside, in the late 90s when I was living in Sheffield and working as a courier I had to deliver something to Old Trafford and since I was there anyway decided to check out their shop. Think they have or had two then. Anyways it was like Sports Direct met Budgens. Everything from cat food to cornflakes emblazoned with the Red Devil emblem and probably double the price you would pay in an actual Budgens.
The club shop for most part of the 1980's was at 85 Vicarage Road.. yes the pedestrianised part known as The Vicarage Road Precinct. No-85 is now the Grilled Cottage take away. Here's a couple of links to jog the memory.. from the programme.. https://i0.wp.com/oldwatford.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/scan-84.jpeg?fit=4808,2384&ssl=1 and from the 89-90 season review video (from 46 mins)
With the amount of tourists Harry Potter is bringing to the town centre now it gives the club a more immediate presence I suppose, save trudging along to the ground itself.
Charter place is the bit with C&A in they've now chucked a roof on and tacked on. It was always separate to the Harlequin
When I've used Watford Junction on Sundays there are usually more than one family with the kids (young & teenage) decked out in Potter regalia. A black cape & mortar board seems to be de rigueur, so a bit of yellow piping or red lining and the club will be quids in. (I'll let the more lingually adept to do the quids in / quidditch jokes).
I really hope its a success but looking at the tat in there I don't think they have learnt from the past at all.
Maurice Johnston lived in the flat above the Hornet Shop in the Precinct, but Reilly didn't share it with him. How much time Johnston actually spent there is up for debate though. More than once he went straight to training from a night out.
Yep the location for a second shop should have been Watford Junction. With 8,500,000 entry's and exits a year it's probably busier with passing trade than anywhere else in Watford.
Tbf the new Watford shop at the Vic is pretty much the same as the Utd one but smaller and just as expensive. The one in the Nou Camp is ridiculously big, it's like a Debenhams but with Barcelona everything, over 3 or 4 floors I think.
Mike Ashley has already secured a takeover: https://www.sportsdirect.com/nike-b...wtYYVZSRSENG74jNUsr_D_eUbCd0b2hhoCzRIQAvD_BwE
