Woolworth’s, has hit back after Association of Colleges’ chief executive David Gibson doubted the wonder of Woolies.

At a conference last month, the AOC boss said colleges were like “the shop that never shuts”. But he added: “If there is any residual feeling that colleges are the Woolies of British education then we intend to eliminate that.”

AOC press officer Linda Butler denied that his comments were a slur on the riginal purveyors of pick ‘n’ mix. “They are a dependable, reliable, high-street store.

Everybody uses them and that’s just how colleges are.”

Mike McGann, PR manager for Woolworth’s, admitted that some people had an old-fashioned image of the chain. But compared to FE’s 4 million students, he said that Woolies had 1m customers a day. “Seventy-five per cent of the population shop with us. Lots of people would kill for our customer base.”