Dunstable Yesteryear: A vanished hat factory, demolished in 1909
The once-famous Dunstable hat-making factory of Munt and Brown is seen in this hand-coloured photo of High Street South taken in early Edwardian times.
It’s the three-storey building with the white frontage near the right of the picture, which is looking towards the town centre crossroads. Middle Row is on the left and the clock tower of the old town hall in the background.
The Munt & Brown name is just visible above the archway entrance to the building, where around 450 people were once employed. The factory closed in 1908 and was almost completely pulled down the following year. The wide entrance to Priory Gardens is there now.
The historic Priory House, seen alongside, is currently being extensively renovated with work expected to be completed in October this year.
Fascinatingly, part of a huge rooftop sign marking The Traveller Cycle and Motor Works can be glimpsed above the building partly shown on the right. This was the name chosen by former blacksmith William Scott when he set up in business making cycles in Dunstable.
This became the famous Scott’s garage, and then Scott and Sons as Ben and Albert Scott joined their dad. Ben eventually became Mayor of Dunstable and Ben’s daughter Christina became headmistress of Queen Eleanor’s School, now Queensbury.
The smaller building alongside the hat factory is the Fowler grocery shop whose site is now the KFC fast-food outlet.
Yesteryear is compiled by John Buckledee, chairman of Dunstable and District Local History Society.