Scenes at HMV in Worthing when boy band opened the store 17 years ago

Excited fans flocked to the Montague Centre to see Max George, Andy Brown, Scott Clarke, Ross Candy and Jonny Lloyd perform.

The band Avenue, famous for being booted out of the third series of The X Factor in 2006 but going on to sign a record deal anyway, were invited to officially launch what HMV described as its 'next generation' Worthing store on Thursday, September 25, 2008.

The lads were met with cheers and screams from excited fans and the store was packed full with people eager to catch a glimpse. Avenue performed their debut single Last Goodbye before singing copies.

HMV moved into the unit that was previously occupied by Music Zone and before that, MVC, so it had long been known as a music store.

The company said it had been looking at Worthing for a long time with the view to opening an HMV and this was the right site, so when it came up, they took it.

It brought Worthing in line with Brighton and Chichester, as they already had HMV stores. With about 4,000 sq ft of floor space, the store stocked CDs, DVDs and games as well as technology products, books, calendars and posters.