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Bedford High Street Memories

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Bedford Borough Council

High Street

c.1944

I recall that my mother would take me shopping and we would visit Sell & Wilshaws fishmongers and also Fishers the butcher, who were in a very ancient building near E.P. Rose (now Debenhams). Mr Fisher was the butcher - his wife the cashier, there was often a queue to be served. On the floor of the shop was a thick layer of sawdust. My mother would use the meat ration coupon on such cuts as: neck of mutton for Irish Stew, or stewing beef and get some suet for dumplings, suet pudding, jam roll etc. Cholesterol had not been invented so my parents lived to be 93 and 101 years old. From the fishmonger we would have sprats and fishcakes. On a cold day we would go to J. Lyons caf, upstairs on the corner of High Street and Silver Street where the fare would be tomato soup and a crusty roll delicious!

1952

I remember buying fresh, wet fish on the High Street (between E.P Rose and Dudeney and Johnston). The customers paid by cash no chip and pins in those days!! A female assistant seated in a glass kiosk took the money. Male assistants only touched the fish and served the customers. Smoked Haddock was my favourite.

Mid 20^th century

I have lived in and around Bedford for 70 years so my recollection of the High St. in those early days are sketchy. I remember on the left hand side starting from St Peters end, a food shop, 2 banks, a chemist on the corner of Mill Street followed by the Cross Keys pub, then Currys, a sweet shop, jewellers and a dress shop. On the right side, Eves dress shop where I bought my wedding dress for 25, a tobacconist and the Cadena tea shop. On the corner, the 50 Shilling Tailors where I was a cashier (opposite was Roses dress shop) then Dudeney & Johnstons with the Dujon on the next floor where we used to go dancing, then a pub and the Market Place.

Mid 20^th century

As a child I remember being with my father and looking at the stairs, at the brass handrails leading up to what was then the Palace Theatre on the corner of High Street and Silver Street. And during the wartime years, American trucks parked on the High Street, the East side, waiting to take local girls for dancing at the American airfields: Thurleigh, Molesworth and Poddington.

Toy Shop

In 1984 there was a toy shop on the High Street that sold Star Wars figures. They cost an insane 7 odd each! It took me weeks of saving (I got a pound a week pocket money). When I finally had enough I went shopping. When I got there we found that so many parents had complained about the exorbitant prices that the owner had reduced them to a pound each! Its still the best day of my life! Period!!!

Henry Bacchus, 1940s

There was a mock invasion of Bedford on a Sunday morning during the war. If you were above 16 you had to go to work. I worked at Henry Bacchus, 35 High Street. I went up onto the roof, near the plough, with my friends. We could see the girls from E.P Rose on their roof [this was not allowed] so they were sent home in disgrace and declared to have been killed by enemy aircraft.

Belfast Linen Warehouse

The Belfast Linen Warehouse was a very well used and popular shop that we used regularly. They had an excellent variety of household linens at very reasonable prices. I left Bedford in the early fifties but on return visits when much of the High Street had closed and changed, Belfast Linen traded on in the same shop and with quality items. I remember buying items for presents I remember buying themed tea towels. I even took one on the theme of John Bunyan out to West Africa where I worked. My friends there felt that I didnt know enough about the man but he was before my time.

Cadena Caf

We arrived in Bedford from Halifax, Yorkshire on 4^th June 1940. My husband came to work at W.H. Allens, Queens Park. One of my earliest memories from that time is having afternoon tea at the Cadena Restaurant, Bedford High St. on Wednesday afternoons.

Arthur Day

1950s

Frock from Arthur Day's, 1984 Arthur Days was the shop to visit especially for wedding outfits. One was greeted at the door and then taken through the shop and fitted for dress, coat, hats, gloves a special memory. Mrs Day always dressed immaculately.

1980s

I bought my wedding dress from Arthur Days in Bedford High Street in 1984. I remember the shop as very elegant, day wear was downstairs, bridal wear, evening gowns and posh frocks upstairs. The assistants were all ladies, very polite and kind. They even offered alterations to ensure your chosen outfit/dress fitted perfectly. I fell in love with my posh frock immediately not at all traditional wedding attire deep blue velvet with diamante shoulder straps and a satin ribbon around the waist. I think that it cost me about 80 which was a fortune to me in those days.

Midland Bank

The building now occupied by The Bankers Draft on Bedford High Street was for many years the Midland Bank, where my late father, Eric Mortimer, worked throughout the 1950s and until his retirement in 1968, although he also served at the sub branches in St Johns Street and at Sandy. He finished work at lunchtime on Saturdays and he quite often brought home for me a colouring book, which he had purchased at Hockliffes across the road. This probably cost six pence, nine pence or a shilling. Our childhood pleasures were simple in those days. According to the Bankers Draft website, the Midland Bank was established in Birmingham during 1836 and the bank opened a branch in Bedford High Street in the 1890s. Around the time of the First World War, it was transferred to 115 High Street and remained at that address until the mid 1990s.

E.P.Rose

Before it was Debenhams, the store was called E.P. Rose and a friend of my fathers, Walter Fensom, helped to install its first lift, I think this was sometime in the 1930s.

As a child in the 1950s, I loved to watch the beautician in the store mix the face powders. Each client had their own recipe, this included green, blue, pink and white powders and I could never understand how all these colours would mix together and become the usual face powder colour that every woman used.

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