Parade photo memories of long-gone Dunstable businesses

High Street North, Dunstable, was closed to traffic for this Remembrance Day parade outside the old town hall in the 1950s.

In the foreground are members of the Dunstable Grammar School Combined Cadet Force, seen behind their commanding officer Captain Broadfoot.

High Street North paradeplaceholder image
High Street North parade

The photo is particularly interesting today because it shows the Confectionary Bazaar, once famous for its Kunzle Cakes, as well as the White Hart pub and the Chas Allcorn auctioner’s office, which were among the businesses demolished to make way for the Quadrant.

One building which survived was Charlie Cole’s cycle shop, now the home of the Nationwide Building Society.

The building, originally a pub which was also called the White Hart, dates back to at least 1600, although its façade is more modern.

It included some Tudor or Jacobean wall paintings which are now preserved in Priory House.

The murals were the subject of a talk by Sue Turner to Dunstable Local History Society last week, which will be reported in the Clubs And Community columns of next Wednesday’s Dunstable Gazette.

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

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