A YEAR ago, JJB – once the biggest sports retailer in Britain – collapsed with the loss of 2,000 jobs during a dreadful spell for shopworkers as scores of famous names succumbed to the high street slump.

Past Times, La Senza, Peacocks, Peters Bakery, Clinton Cards, Ethel Austin, and Comet were among the chains that failed to survive.

Some of the stores were bought out of administration. Hundreds of JJB staff, for example, were welcomed into the zero hours contract empire of Sports Direct.

But the period from 2007 to 2012 seriously undermined the perception of Britain as a nation of shopkeepers.

A staggering 200,000 jobs were lost during the six-year spell when it seemed only administrators and the makers of To Let signs were profiting.

The low point came in 2008, when 74,539 jobs were axed and 5,793 shops closed, while last year claimed 3,951 stores and 48,142 jobs.

The CBI will report this morning that retail sales grew strongly in the year to August, at the fastest pace since last November.

Sales are expected to grow robustly again next month, the survey will report. This is undeniably good news, but do not be fooled by any reports which claim this is a sign that everything is rosy.

Already this year 21,095 retail jobs and 2,153 stores have gone, as everything from luxury fashion retailer Nicole Farhi to budget chain Internacionale have closed. Yesterday, administrators confirmed the 18 Modelzone stores, which survived the firm’s collapse in June, will shut in the next few weeks with the loss of a further 126 jobs on top of nearly 400 already gone.

The seller of Hornby train sets and Scalextric, which can trace its roots back to 1937, struggled in recent years after a disastrous expansion plan left it with a hefty rent bill that it could not afford.

It is a timely reminder that, despite the summer boost in trade, confidence is unlikely to bounce back until family finances improve and pay increases keep pace with rising costs.

CONGRATULATIONS to Christopher Willoughby and the 125 staff at Cummins Emissions Solutions Plant, in Darlington.

Cummins’ Yarm Road engine factory has hogged the headlines in recent years following a number of production landmarks and some high-profile orders.

Production of its 100,000th exhaust has given the emissions team some welldeserved time in the spotlight.

GOOD luck to Dave Allison, who today retires from his role at engineering apprentice centre South West Durham Training (SWDT), in Newton Aycliffe.

His inbox has been deluged with goodwill messages from former apprentices who cut their teeth at SWDT.

Dave sent me what he called a brief account of his 46-year association with the centre. It ran to 21 pages and the list of tributes is almost as lengthy. There is a book in there somewhere Dave and you now have the time to write it.