Bull regulars buttonholed for charabanc outing photo!

They were off on an outing arranged by the pub landlord, Charles Martin, who is the bowler-hatted gent near the front wheel of the charabanc.

That’s his wife with him and his son, Walter, is the boy in front of the vehicle.

The photo belongs to Charles Martin’s great-grandson, Chris Tombs, of Culcheth, near Warrington.

Charles moved to Dunstable from Kettering, where he had been in the shoe-making trade and was a member of the Kettering Rifles brass band.

He became landlord of the Bull in about 1910, which is the year his first wife died at the young age of 38.

The pub, on the corner of Union Street, has recently been converted into dwellings and renamed Vale Court.

Charles had one of the earliest cars to be owned in Dunstable - possibly a second hand Fiat built in 1912.

Apparently it was used only in fine weather and was driven it quite slowly: Charles would get quite upset when overtaken by cyclists!

The photo has been sent to Yesteryear via the Dunstable history society’s website (www.dunstablehistory.co.uk)

By coincidence, Yesteryear recently featured photos belonging to Renee Adams, of Croft Green, Dunstable.

Renee was born at the Bull and her grandfather was Charles. She remembers his innovation in installing a generator in one of the pub stables to create his own electricity.

The horses in the stable included one which pulled a cart every day to transport girls from the villages to work at Waterlow’s, the printing firm quite close to the Bull. They had to start work at 6 o’clock.

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