Bedford
High Street History
Places > Bedford > Streets > High Street
Dudeney and Johnston and Dujon Restauarant
Grocers, Bakers, Confectioners, Wine, Spirit and Beer Merchants
34/36 High Street from c.1938
Home | A Memory of Dudeney and Johnston in the 1950s | Timeline | Sources | Images
A Memory of Dudeney and Johnston in the 1950s
It
was started in 1893 by George Dudeney and George Johnston trading as a small
grocery business which then grew into Bedfords first supermarket with 24
branches in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. At the High Street
shop there was a dance hall which held regular Saturday night dances in the
1950s where a lot of Bedford residents met their partners. A regular band there
was Lew Keay, the leading band of the time locally. The dance hall could hold
200 people and was also used for wedding receptions. It is now Lloyds Bank but I
have been informed that the dance hall is still there but used as open-plan
office space. There was also a banqueting room which could cater for up to 100
people.
The coffee bar like the dance hall was reached by some stairs to the right of the shop, this was a regular meeting place on a Saturday morning where husbands would meet their wives to help them carry the shopping home. In the 1950s not everyone had a car. It was also where any rugby players who were in town and looking for a game would be: a team secretarys delight.
Also there was a bakery to the rear of the premises where bread and confectionery were not only sold in the shops but deliveries were made to customers in Bedford.
The business was sold in c.1977.
Terry Darlow 2011
Timeline
Dudeney and Johnston in Bedford High Street
| 1893 | 33 High Street |
| c.1900 | 33 and 100 High Street |
| c.1903 and up to 1936 | 33,34 and 100 High Street |
| c.1938 | 34/36 High Street |
| c.1977 | The business was sold |
Source: Bedford Directories
Further Sources
Bedford Local Studies Library & Heritage Library (HL)
- Bedford Directories. HL
- George Dudeney, Founder of Well-known County Firm Dies. Bedfordshire Times 22.1.1932 p.7
- Still Going Strong: a grocery service 80 years old. Bedfordshire Times 1.10.1971
- John Dudeney, Family Firm Man Dies. Bedford Record 25.7.1972 p.3
- Takeover bid for Bedford Grocery Chain. Bedford Journal 21.5.1977
- Margaret Dudeney What memories do you have of Dudeney and Johnston? Bedfordshire Libraries Housebound Special, Library Link Magazine, Spring 1998 p.4-5
- The Dudeney and Johnston saga continues.. memory from Mrs P. Barnard. Bedfordshire Libraries Housebound Special, Library Link Magazine, Christmas 1998 p.15
Images
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Page last updated: 16th February 2017