Not many retail rebrands will have used a 1980s British sketch comedy series for inspiration.

But maybe marketing men at Modella Capital thought of Alas Smith and Jones when turning their newly-acquired WH Smith high street stores into the TG Jones chain.

While WH Smith was real, TG Jones is a fictional name dreamed up to continue the family feel of a business begun in 1792.

Modella Capital had to change the brand because WH Smith is keeping its more lucrative stores in airports, railway stations and hospitals.

Hence an application for advertisement consent to change the signs at WH Smith in Alton has been made to East Hampshire District Council, signalling the disappearance of Westbrook Walk’s last original tenant.

The application reference number is EHDC-25-0596-ADV