HISTORY
The High Street of yesteryear
A
s we all emerge from lockdown, we’re becoming reacquainted with our High Street. Here’s a look back at how a much-loved friend has changed over the years.
Bromsgrove’s High Street has received close attention from historians, to the extent that it must be one of the best-documented high streets in the country.
to the town in the fifties). And of course pubs, some of which, such as the Green Dragon, the Roebuck Inn and the Coach & Horses have long since disappeared.
In 1943 a photographic survey of the High Street was undertaken which captured pictures of all the premises from one end to the other. This extremely valuable survey now forms part of the Brotherton Collection and many of the photographs can be seen on the Bromsgrove Society website. Recently, the Society’s Local History Group compiled notes on every property in the High Street from the 18th century to the present day and produced a series of posters. These, too, are available on the Society’s website.
Church Street was mostly offices at that time. These included W.H. Scott & Sons and Thomas Horton & Son (both solicitors), the Halifax Building Society, the Bromsgrove Chamber of Trade, Refuge Assurance Co. and Britannic Assurance Co., and John Yelland & Co. accountants.
Local resident John Pugh wrote a detailed account of the High Street as he remembered it in 1948. At that time Thursday was half-day closing and Saturday was always a full day. Cars could be parked anywhere, but on alternate sides of the road depending on which day of the week it was. Shopkeepers were dismayed when on 1st September 1948 ‘No Waiting’ signs appeared. A huge variety of retail businesses prospered: butchers, bakers, confectioners, drapers, grocers and others. Even in the 1940s some still used a system of wires to transfer money to and from the cashier in little boxes. Favourites included Wilson & Sons grocers, which had several premises, and Brighton’s shoe shop. There were also many banks and financial institutions (though the Westminster Bank, a precursor of Nat West, only came
At the bottom end of the town was Market Place, which was where the High Street met St John Street, George Street and Worcester Street. A popular shop here was Shrimpton and Cooke, a bookseller, stationery shop and post office run by the Cooke sisters. Nextdoor was Bromsgrove’s best known chemist, A. Terence Hall. He had a cure for everything and his ‘mixtures’ were always personally dispensed. Norman Vine’s drapery shop and the George Hotel were other landmarks. At No. 58 High Street was De Grey’s, a café and small hotel. This had a cake and bread counter on the ground floor: Kunzle’s cakes were a favourite at the time, many of them rich in chocolate. Beyond the counter and up a few steps was the café itself, a popular morning coffee venue. The story of De Greys is told in The Dear Watsons, a novel written by Lynne Birch, the granddaughter of the café’s owners, which is based on true events - available from the Bromsgrove Society website: www.bsoc.co.uk
by Mike Sharpe
Photographs courtesy of Brotherton Collection
18 Completely Bromsgrove
