THE news that catalogue giant Kays wants to quit Worcester has come like a shot to the heart of the city.

For generation after generation it provided a constant in an ever-changing business world and touched the lives of most people in one way or another, be it as a customer, through working at one of the company's many buildings in the area, its popular social club, sports teams or drama group.

Kays pantomime played to capacity audiences every Christmas at the Swan Theatre and Kays fete and sports day on the pretty Cinderella Ground in Bransford Road was one of the social events of the year.

It was one big, happy family. But not any more.

Now Kay & Co Ltd seems destined to join famous names like Heenan and Froude, Meco, Archdales and Wards, to name just a few, in the Worcester employment cemetery.

In truth, things have been on a steady downhill run since the hey-days of the early 1970s and the closure of the huge warehouse operation on its site sandwiched between Bransford Road and Bromyard Road in the St John's area of Worcester, would represent the final nail in the coffin.

Once, the company operated from a series of high profile buildings in the city. There was the flagship office in The Tything, from which people streamed in their hundreds every lunch hour, the somewhat inelegant Elgar House on its prominent site at Shrub Hill and the imposing former clothing factory in Northwick Avenue, Barbourne.

One by one they were evacuated, as Kays drew its commercial wagons into a circle on the western outskirts of the city. Now that last outpost is likely to surrender to market forces, too.

It all began in 1794, in the reign of King George III, with the opening of a modest watchmakers shop in Goose Lane, Worcester.

However, the mail order operation for which Kays was to become famous only got going in the 1880s.

That was founded by William Kilbourne Kay, who was born in Market Harborough but moved to Worcester in 1886 to take over the jewellers and watchmakers shop.

Kay hit on the idea of producing a catalogue of his wares so customers unable to travel to his shop could make purchases. The catalogues were circulated among the population by a network of agents and the system proved so successful by the turn of the century Kays had 6,000 agents and a quarter of a million customers.

In 1895, Kays Universal Stores of Worcester was registered at Companies House as Kay & Co. Ltd.

During 1907-08, the company negotiated the purchase of land next to St Oswald's Hospital in The Tything, Worcester for £620.

The site was redeveloped into the offices that were to be the firm's home for the next 94 years.

Now sold off, the building has been converted into luxury apartments.

Clothing was soon introduced into the Kays catalogue and remains a cornerstone of the operation even today. However, probably the greatest advantage the company offered the public was access to a whole range of relatively expensive labour-saving gadgets through its weekly payment system.

Many households can thank Kays for their first ownership of a sewing machine, tape recorder or record player.

W Kilbourne Kay died in 1929 and in 1936 Great Universal Stores bought the majority of the company's shareholding from the family.

Through the GUS connection, Kays became involved in the former Cinderella shoe factory site in Watery Lane, St John's and the Cinderella sports ground in the adjoining Bransford Road, once the home of Worcestershire County Cricket Club.

The last major expansion of Kays in Worcester came in 1970 with the opening of its 430,000 sq ft, six storey warehouse, which dominates the skyline on the approach to the city along Bromyard Road.

At its height, in the late 60s and early 70s, through its catalogue, printing and distribution arms, Kays employed nearly 6,000 people in Worcester.

Those days are long ago now.

Memorable milestones

Kays sports ground, which had once been the home of Worcestershire County Cricket club, was renowned as one of the city's best amateur sporting venues, with cricket and football pitches, bowling greens and tennis courts.

MEMORABLE MILESTONES IN HISTORY

1794 - Kays starts life as small watchmaker's shop in Worcester.

1880s - Mail order business begins.

1900 - Kays now receiving up to 400 letters and packets a day.

1912 - Catalogue increased to 470 pages.

1929 - Death of W Kilbourne Kay, aged 74.

1953 - Opening of Northern office in Leeds and Scottish office in Glasgow.

1960 - Office for Welsh customers opened in Newtown.

1970 - 430,000 sq ft warehouse opens in Worcester.

1974 - Catalogue reached 1,000 pages.

1982 - K-Phone launched.

1992 - Every week around 400,000 parcels sent out from Kays warehouses.