Many readers will fondly remember the days before online shopping when bricks and mortar outlets beckoned us with the merit of their goods and customer service.

But the precincts and malls that now compete with the World Wide Web were once also modern and disruptive, heralding an era of change for the retail sector.

And today we are revisiting Market Gates when it was constructed and in its earliest days with a collection of old photos from the Great Yarmouth Mercury archive.

Construction commenced in 1973 and the first shop in the precinct opened in 1975 - with major expansions and refurbishments in 1993 and 2008.

Built in the heart of the town centre, its modern brickwork sits next to the town's historic walls.

As one of Norfolk's first covered malls, hundreds of stores have called it home – although some of the names might no longer exist outside history books or our memories.

Please enjoy these old photos of Market Gates and we hope they prompt happy recollections of shopping sprees in days gone by.