Into Long Field

Hatfield Road looking west with the cemetery on the left. c1914. The gap at the distant flag at half
mast is where the Social Club is today, and the nearest flag is the final shop before St Paul's Place.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

At the beginning of the previous post is an early 20th century postcard view of the north side of Hatfield Road looking east from Cavendish Road towards St Paul's Church.  Today the first photograph is a similar view but taken from St Paul's Church looking west; again noting the unwidened road.  The subject of the foreground shop on the right will be the topic for the next post, and the space with the flag at half mast will be described later in this post.

As we walk along this section of Hatfield Road we pass an apparently undistinguished row of shops (even more in the days before Tesco Metro arrived).  These are the houses which were planted on the other side of the hedge referred to in the previous post, in Long Field.  But when we look at the aerial photo we can discern a little more order as the separate buildings are more obvious.

Laurel Road is the side road on the far left.  An excellent view of the former rear gardens and part
of the St Paul's Place development.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

Starting from the hedge (to the left of the Jamie Mosque gateway) is a terrace of four homes, the two end ones including carriage drives.  The left drive has first floor accommodation above it, but the one on the right is open.  Although it is not certain who was responsible for building this group in 1898 or 1899, all four were owned by Thomas Martin of Fishpool Street in 1910, according to the Valuation Office records.  Evidence of the original ground floor bay windows is visible, and as with the rest of the properties in this section of the road, the narrow front gardens are now paved.  Brick arched first floor window lintels remain the only form of decoration other than the ground floor bay tops.  These four properties were  converted to shops within two years of occupation: respectively a confectioner, draper, china & glass dealer, and grocer.  They all remained good examples of everyday shops until the 1960s, when trades changed to become "the tyre place", a motorcycle retailer, wholesaler and turf accountant.  With its extensive rear buildings the first two properties are now the Jamie Mosque and Bangladesh Centre.

The four properties beginning with the Jamie Mosque top left.

The gap I referred to in the first photo above comes next in the street, numbers 85, 87 and 89.  The Methodist Mission had been forced to leave the property it shared with Edwin Lee's shoe factory in Cavendish Road, when the latter removed to Grosvenor Road in 1898. At the rear of the mission's newly acquired site it quickly  erected a marquee and then set about putting up a building similar in style to the later Nissen huts made of corrugated iron on hooped frames.  When the church moved again to Glenferrie Road the Camp Liberal Club moved in and within eight years had created the building we see today.  The gap in the top photo indicates it to have been taken before that rebuilding had begun.  The club entrance, now blocked up, was in the centre. Two shop units were incorporated, one on each side of the centre entrance.  These would have been intended to provide income for the club, but from my memory I can only recollect one shop trading from here.

The site of the former Mission.  The present building designed with a central entrance for the rear
and upstairs club, and separate shop units on the left and right.

Numbers 91 and 93 were added to the street in 1900 as a pair of semi-detached homes, called Ashleigh and Lyndhurst; only being converted to shops in c1906.  As shops they are only small units, today specialising in cultural fast foods. But during their time have served the public with shoes, children's clothes, jewellery, dairy products, hire centre and a turf accountant.  George Haines, a gents outfitter, also traded from here before requiring more space and moving a few doors along the road.

Semi-detached pair, remaining as houses until c1906.

Finally, we pass Tesco Express which is identified on the fascia as 95 and 97, but in fact has absorbed the former number 99 as well, all of which was a wide plot purchased and developed by Ben Pelly.  Although he was an ironmonger, he was best known as a household supplier, specialising in wallpapers, glassware and china.  Number 95 on the left began as the family domestic quarters, although they later  removed to Brampton Road and this property became the Fleetville branch of Midland Bank.  The family shop began as a wide single-storey sales area, but was later converted into a full-height building with an impressive recessed frontage.  Pelly's closed in the mid-60s, with Securicor and Coral Press taking over.  

Former Ben Pelly shop, now Tesco Express, and the first accommodation for St Peter's Rural Conservative Club.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREETVIEW

One more building in the row, number 101 and developed by George Hale, was acquired, or rented, by Mrs Pelly and was initially used as a meeting place for the St Peter's Rural Conservative Club, before it moved to a more spacious headquarters nearby.  For a short period Percy Hall used the ground floor as a hairdressing saloon, before George Haines, the gents' outfitter transferred as mentioned above.  In recent times it has been well known as the Pet Shop/Petacare and a charity shop.

So, by breaking down the groups of traders by building, which we have been able to identify in the aerial photo, it has been possible to make sense of this lengthy row of occupants.  Next time we will focus on just one occupant, the one which used to be on the end but has not been present for the past sixty years.