George Street in the 1960s
This photograph, taken in 1967, shows a bustling George Street on a sunny September afternoon.
Local families, office workers, and determined shoppers jostle for space on the pavement, while vehicles – including a number 28 bus to Round Green – dominate the road.
Many residents will remember the days before the Arndale Centre was built, and the variety of retailers on offer outside of the Town Hall. Shops shown here include Marks & Spencer, True Form, Meakers, Paige Shops, and Neville Reed. The corner of Blundells can just be seen towards the front of the image.
However, while this snapshot in time suggests a thriving retail sector, in the 1960s there was widespread dissatisfaction with the shops on offer locally. A Luton News article from 1962 reported that, ‘Shopping facilities in the centre of Luton are so inadequate that the town loses considerable trade through people shopping elsewhere’.
While the retail units on the right-hand side of this picture now disguise the town’s shopping centre – which was recently renamed Luton Point – the street scene remains largely unchanged as far as the building facades are concerned.
Today, George Street is a nationally recognised Conservation Area. In 2022 it was added to Historic England’s ‘Heritage at Risk Register’ after it was recognised that the road’s character is at ‘risk of being lost as a result of neglect, decay or inappropriate development’.
- Carly Smith, Luton Heritage Forum