Although shops usually followed rather than predated suburbs, the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society store in Welling High Street dates from well before the huge changes of the 1930s.

It dates from 1918 (not 1868, which is the date of the foundation of the society) when a store was converted from three cottages to serve munition workers employed at the Woolwich Arsenal and living in nearby hutments.

A similar initiative took place at Well Hall, Eltham.