Allen & Co Store Coin
A photo of an old coin that was used by Allen & Co. of Laygate, South Shields. The coin has a face value of 2 shillings and was used in some cases when you asked for a refund on goods you had bought you did not get your money back in many cases you were giving a token to the value of your goods that then had to be spent in the store. In its heyday Allens store was a huge department store that was on the lines of the old Binns store in Shields, but over the years it went downhill and became one of those cheap shop style stores and that eventually led to it closing down and in the last few years it was totally demolished