Queens Road Hastings
This first appeared as a series of three articles in "Hastings Town" magazine in February, March and April 2009
Queens Road Hastings. Ion Castro takes a quick look at the changing face of Queens Road. Queens Road is actually quite unusual in the way that the properties that line the road are numbered; most roads have odd numbers on one side and even numbers on the other to make life easy for the postman, but not Queens Road; if you stand with your back to where the Memorial used to be then number one is on the right hand side – No one is the Halifax Bank, (formerly Wards Outfitters and before that the General Post Office) the numbers run consecutively on that side all the way to number 130 on the corner of Stonefield Road and the short terrace just before the railway bridge (built to replace St.Andrews Arch in1898) that includes Bathroom Shop is actually nos. 130a – 130d Number 131 is on the other side of the road where the numbers run back down the road to no. 213 with the opticians on your left if you are still standing with your back to the Memorial. In 1901 the York Hotel on the corner was listed as 1a Queens Road but after it was demolished the replacement building, Clarks Shoes, was listed as 14-15 York Buildings, Wellington Place. Queens Road was so named to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887, it had previously been called Meadow Road at the Memorial end becoming St Andrews Road around the St Andrews Church area (now Morrison’s Filling Station), but we’re going to concentrate on the lower end of Queens Road as far as South Terrace. Apart from the shopping centre this immediate area has changed remarkably little in the last 100 years particularly the streetscape from the Memorial (demolished 1972) to the Town Hall (built in 1880) – An invoice from Lewis Hyland in 1910 shows a shop easily identifiable today. Have a look at No’s 2, 3 and 4 Queens Road, these were formerly ‘Meadow Cottages’ and you can see that they follow a slightly different road alignment, there’s also an iron fixing ‘rose’ on the side wall of the Halifax, (to the right of the downpipes) this would have been used to secure one end of a span wire for the trams and trolleybuses to save erecting a traction pole. A hundred years ago the building to the right of the entrance to Queens Avenue “The Arcade” was The Globe Hotel and at this time Moda’s would have been the Central Hotel later to appear in the Guinness Book of Records as the ‘GI’ – one of the shortest pub names in the country. This pub has been renamed several times since its GI days, including ‘The New Central’ and ‘The Town Crier’. The Gaiety Theatre’s original entrance has disappeared into ‘Atos Healthcare’ and a new entrance is on the corner which was once the Gaiety pub. The wonderfully baroque ‘Albert Temperance Hotel’ occupied the opposite corner and was demolished to make way for the widening of Albert Road. Foord the Goldsmith and watchmaker was at No 14 and Atkins the bakers occupied No 16 in the 1890’s but gave way to Randle’s the printers who also had No 15 by the turn of the century. No 22 was occupied by Wilshins the drapers. In 1885 No 28 was run W.E.Wells as a ‘Housekeepers Bazaar’ by 1939 Marks & Spencer were occupying the corner up to Russell Street and have given way to Peacocks. The shops on this end of the terrace were built in the front gardens of the houses that backed on to Russell Street and they can still be seen behind the shops. The photograph ref: 1668 was taken around 1865, before the shops were built and shows the houses still quite clearly identifiable behind the shops today. |
|
Queens Road Hastings. Ion Castro takes another quick look at the changing face of Queens Road. Last month we looked at the lower end of Queens Road remembering that the numbering of that road is a little unusual in that it goes up one side of the road to No 130D near the railway bridge and then back down again to No 213 which is opposite No 1, unlike most roads which are numbered even on one side and odd on the other. We’ll move on to the “middle” bit, where the road goes uphill from the traffic lights. On our right is the Building Society (that moved from Queens Parade when it was demolished to make way for the Priory Meadow Shopping Centre), to the former ‘Fludes Carpets’ site, itself replacing the bombed ‘Bedford Hotel’ at the bottom of Bedford Hill. Another public house, ‘The Pilot’ (No 51) – famous for its rough cider was superseded with an electrical shop but the frame of the pub sign can still be seen on the side wall. In 1907 Watkinson’s Boot and Shoe shop was on the opposite corner. In more recent years this was Jack London’s amazing record shop. And on the other side of Queens Road, just up from the Dorset Laundry at No 193 was FJ &C Goffin, (no183) selling corsets from 2/11½d (less than 15p) to 21/- (£1.05). In May 1902 Mr Emary paid £3/7/6 to C Pearce, Surgeon Dentist who occupied rooms upstairs. The road levels out and picture 510, Empire Day in May 1911 gives a good view of the scene before St Andrews Church and the Gas Showrooms were demolished. The tower of Hastings Grammar School can be seen in the distance, to the right of the Gas Showrooms Tower which is to the right of St Andrews Steeple. Robert Tressell, the author of ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’ decorated the interior of this church and a fragment is displayed in Hastings Museum. The tram driver is showing St Helens as a destination but it looks as if he’s heading in the opposite direction. The 1970’s were a time of change and the gasworks and showroom (gas 06) along with most of the terrace of houses further north were demolished and replaced with Safeways (now Morrison’s) supermarket and one does wonder how much gas was supplied for £1/12/10 (one pound twelve and tenpence = £1.69) in May 1895. The engraving (PG p045) of St Andrews Church dates from the mid 1880’s.This church was replaced with a petrol station in the 1970’s. number 168, the Chinese Takeaway, was a Fried Fish shop back in 1939. and it’s all that’s left of a terrace that once included, in 1939, May Norton, Ladies’ Hairdresser at No 166, Butler’s Radio Supplies at 163 – ( that’s where you would get your lead-acid accumulator batteries charged up for your valve radio) and the NSPCC inspector at No 159. They were all swept away to make room for a supermarket car park. We can only speculate why the takeaway, No 168, and the Appliance Repair Centre remained. In 1913, on the opposite side of the road Turner & Co, Housekeepers Stores occupied No 71 on the corner of Elford Street. Behind No 71, at No 2 Elford Street was a public house, ‘The Privateer Inn’, now a car park. A couple of doors up at No 75 Queens Road was another public house, the ‘Palmerstone’, de-licensed in the 1920’s and now a Tandoori Restaurant, but the outline of the pub architecture can still be plainly seen. ‘The Fountain’ pub shown in picture 1533 is still there on the corner and ‘The Imperial’ can still be found on the corner of Nelson Road. Notice the beautifully ornate bracket work on the traction pole for the tram overhead wiring. Beyond Stonefield Place the terrace is mostly residential, the car showroom occupies the site of six houses – Nos 110 to 115 which were bombed during the war and the damage extended to the other side of the road which has remained undeveloped for the past 65 years – probably something of a record! . The bills, by the way, were all addressed to a Mr Emary of ‘The Cedars’, 8 Elphinstone Road and the discolouration in the middle is where they were ‘filed’ on a rusty spike. There’s more about Queens Road on the internet - www.1066.net/queensroad.htm |
|
Queens Road Hastings. Ion Castro takes a final quick look at the changing face of Queens Road. In previous editions we looked at the lower end and middle of Queens Road remembering that the numbering of that road is a little unusual in that it goes up one side of the road to No 130D near the railway bridge and then back down again to No 213 which is opposite No 1, unlike most roads which are numbered even on one side and odd on the other. Proceeding towards the railway bridge, (which doesn’t appear to have an official name although Judge’s, the postcard people called it ‘St.Andrews Arch’ after the tunnel it replaced.) No 158, in splendid isolation is where, in 1919 petrol could be bought from Frank Wheeler – previously it had to be ordered in advance and bought from a chemist!. Next to 158 is the site of No’s 155 – 157, probably Hastings’ last remaining bomb site, and the location of Frank Slack’s Tailors shop in 1907. The Bed Centre was previously Shoesmith & Etheridge, wholesale stationers and postcard publishers but a hundred years ago it was Dennett & Huskins General and Fancy Drapery Establishment with J Apps, wholesale and family butcher next door at No 152. 152’s owners changed over the years but this shop remained a butchers (E Humphreys) until it was finally converted into flats in the last few years. No 151 was , in 1892, S Warner & Co, Tailors, later on to become the Co-op and then lying empty for a few years in the 1960’s until acquired by the Liberals, later the Liberal Democrats. The former sweetshop at 150 appears to have ‘benefitted’ from a new frontage. Numbers 149 and 148 were demolished to allow for the widening of Waterworks Road so that large vehicles could service Safeways (now Morrisons). Wilson’s magnificent building in Waterworks Road was, a hundred years ago, Tapner & Co’s steam works and warehouse. Tapners were upholsterers, undertakers, builders, furniture removers, dealers and shopfitters with a shop at 20 Queens Road and a further works behind that at 21 Russell Street. The Clock House still occupies the northern corner of Waterworks Road and was for many, many years an off-licence that even bottled its own beer in its works not far away but now demolished to build Morrison’s car park. Number 144 was a chemist and nearly all traces of the shop have now gone except the tell-tale ‘wings’ of the former shop sign either side of the rebuilt bay windows. Lappy’s Bicycle stores, saviour of may a Grammar School Boy’s preferred mode of transport, occupied No 133 but has now been converted into flats after having been a brasserie. In 1916 it was two shops, 133a being Park Cycle Stores and before that it was the Park Dairy with a greengrocer at 133. The Gas Testing Station was the last building on that side of the road, apart from the gents’ open to the air public conveniences. The classically styled iron railway bridge with its cast iron Corinthian columns celebrated its centenary in 1998 when the uplighting was installed, it had replaced a miserable dark tunnel which collapsed on 4th November 1898 and was due for replacement anyway because it was considered that it was hindering the expansion of Hastings. Hastings Bathrooms Ltd at 132 Queens Road was originally four shops, 132a to 132d with Crowthers Newsagents the last to be absorbed. A small fountain adorned the railway embankment next to 132d – it can just be seen in picture 9943m. The sepia print ‘bridge’ shows the last remains of the old arch prior whilst a train passes overhead on the new bridge. The bills, by the way, were all addressed to a Mr Emary of ‘The Cedars’, 8 Elphinstone Road and the discolouration in the middle is where they were ‘filed’ on a rusty spike. There’s more about Queens Road on the internet - www.1066.net/queensroad.htm and more about the bridge at www.1066.net/bridge. |
|
XL(2000)Ltd operates