Dunstable Yesteryear - Changing face of the high street

The picture on the top left shows the original Lombardo’s grocery store which opened in High Street North in about 1988. Alex Lombardo, now running the family business now based in West Street, remembers that their high street shop stood next to the old College Christmas Cracker factory. When this picture was taken a block of flats named Christchurch Court had just been built on the factory site.

Alldays convenience store bought the Lombardo premises in about 1995 and proudly advertised that it would be open for 24 hours a day. A “Welcome” branch of the Co-op followed on the site and then the Dunstable Food and Wine shop arrived. Today, it is called Dunstable Superstore.

This montage of pictures is possible as the result of decades of work by history society member Joan Schneider who has tried to make a photo record of all the changes in High Street North.

One small feature which has remained in place is a blue plaque marking the address where the future film star Gary Cooper lived, from 1909 to 1912, while he attended Dunstable Grammar School. The cottage, which was later converted into a shop, was the home of the Barton family, who were related to the Coopers. For many years there had been some confusion about the precise address but the Lombardo family took the trouble to retrieve the deeds of their property which proved their building’s claim to fame.

Yesteryear is compiled by John Buckledee, chairman of Dunstable and District Local History Society.