Doggarts Project

The Discovery Centre volunteers have researched the history of Doggarts store in Bishop Auckland.

Doggarts Ltd had a chain of 13 department stores across the north-east, including stores in Darlington, Ashington and Stockton, between the late 1800’s and the 1980’s. The Bishop Auckland branch was the centre of the network from which others ordered their stock.

The Bishop Auckland branch was the final to close in 1981, when the company went into liquidation. People in Bishop Auckland remember the store fondly, and continue to remark the ‘town has not been the same since Doggart’s closed’.

The Doggarts Exhibition has travelled throughtout the North East and is currently at Chester Le Street Library