IT HAS been a labour of love for a former Southampton institution.

A group of retired workers from the much missed Southampton store Tyrrell and Green have spent the past three years producing a tribute to their former workplace.

The 8ft by 4ft embroidered quilt was made at monthly get-togethers, with 24 sewers pitching in to design 53 squares depicting the different departments – from electricals to nursery furniture, through hairdressing and haberdashery.

Group chairman Rachael Holding, who worked as a catering manager at the firm for nearly 20 years, said: “We thought it would be a nice idea to remember Tyrrell and Green as part of the heritage of Southampton.

“We had to work out the size of the squares, and asked people to do designs for each one, based on photographs of the different departments.

“The central piece is the frontage of the shop.”

It was in 1897 that Reginald Tyrrell and William Green opened their first shop as a “drapers, milliners, and ladies and children’s outfitters”.

It must have been successful because the next year they moved to premises in Above Bar, Southampton, and from the beginning Tyrrell and Green was considered a high-class shop, renowned for its two commissionaires, page boys and Italian chef.

In 1920 Mr Tyrrell decided to leave, leaving Mr Green and his wife to run the business and, 12 years later, when the couple retired, the shop was sold to Barkers of Mile End Road, London.

However just 12 months later Mr and Mrs Green returned and bought back the shop and in 1934 it was again sold, this time to the John Lewis Partnership but the name Tyrrell and Green lived on.

During the Second World War the shop was completely destroyed by enemy action and the shop and staff transferred to Winchester.

In 1956 a new building, on the same Above Bar site, was officially opened with a third floor added two years later and in the years that followed Tyrrell and Green became a local landmark.

By the mid-1990s plans were announced for a new store and in September, 2000 under its new name, John Lewis Southampton, opened in the WestQuay shopping complex.

The group met every two months in each other’s houses, and sometimes at John Lewis. The framed masterpiece, which is made from applique, tapestry, cross stitch and fabric paint, will be hung at the John Lewis Southampton store.