Then and Now

The changing face of the High Street


Some of the old photographs of buildings in the High Street are still recognisable – pubs continue to serve regulars and passers by and other buildings have been adapted to new uses.  The pairs of photos in this selection show some contrasts between past and present, taken from approximately the same viewpoint.


Thatched cottages, near Bowers House and Cock Pond , c.1890. They appear in many old photos of Cock Pond.

Northern end of Bowers Parade, built for Read’s Motors showroom in 1938

Bowers House, with pond and duck-house in front, c.1900

Bowers Parade (built in 1936) and the Sensory Garden, now obscure Bowers House, which still stands behind the shops.


The Foresters’ Arms, c 1905

Strutt & Parker, with Jarvis’s crane constructing “The Foresters” in 2011, on land behind the former pub


Breadcroft cottages, c.1960

 

Breadcroft Lane flats, 2011


St John’s Church – the Paper Church – at the corner of Crabtree Lane c 1900. This burnt down in 1905

 

Jarvis houses at the corner of Crabtree lane and Southdown Road, c 1912


Home Farm, at the bottom of Staker’s Lane, 1880s

Ridleys’ ironmongers c1910 – HSBC bank 2012


Lines Forge – 1880s

Anvil House, Lower High Street


White Lion pub, High Street, 1950s

Perfect Pizza – the bracket has survived

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