Meeting of the Bleachers and Dyers Section of the Luton Chamber of Commerce. This T. G. Hobbs photograph shows the James Martin and Sons bleaching and dyeing works, Hitchin Road, in 1907.
Approx 1860, street names were painted in Victorian Luton on walls. Manor Path contained some of the poorest housing in Luton, including some of the last remaining wooden facing buildings. After the war the buildings were demolished and the road was renamed "Hibbert Street Passage."
The rear has the cheerful slogan “Drink and Enjoy,” which would not have won the approval of the temperance movement of the time. It’s a shame someone has constructed a window right in the middle of the slogan. Having sold ”eggs, butter and groceries” in Hockliffe of 1890, the 1911 census shows that William Overy worked ...
Two beautifully preserved signs from the turn of the century from a simple corner grocers on Ashton Road. The narrow strip between roofs on the sloping Ashton Road gives space to state “Overy Grocer and Provision Dealer." There are traces of a previous sign as well.
"Number 95" high up at the top of an obscured sign
Perhaps the most unusual business in High Town was that undertaken by Powdrill’s. The founder, George Powdrill, was born in Derbyshire and while still a boy travelled selling crockery in markets but later became an independent carter, hauling goods down a primitive Old Bedford Road. By 1871 he had come to live off the upper part ...
Reginald Street on the boundary of High Town and New Bedford Road was at the heart of the “cottage industry” hat trade as opposed to the factories near the centre of town. Kingham Way (between 67 & 69 Reginald Street) perpetuates the name of G. Kingham, a building firm. The premises at the rear are now ...
