Hostelry which never was

The Hatfield Road buildings east of Harlesden Road, with the recreation ground east of the
treeline.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

The image at the top of the blog post on 14th August looking east from Sandfield Road, includes developments which took place east of Harlesden Road, but something seemed to be missing, partly because we think we are looking at the recreation ground in the distance; a point mentioned in that post.  In fact, it is future development land which we will come to shortly; the rec is out of sight in that photo.

By 1964, when this photo was taken, the corner grocery shop had become a bank.  The next shop, 
also a grocery has a house between them.  A short line of fir trees marks where a meeting house was
built.  Beyond is Fleetville's first shop parade.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

But first we will look at the orange block east of Harlesden Road.  There is a detached address which is a shop, on the corner, and a semi-detached pair but both parts now looking very different.  No doubt, when new the semi-detached pair with their little front gardens would have looked smart.  Edward Hanley owned the corner shop  – he also owned and ran a grocery on the south side of Hatfield Road near The Crown. This one at Harlesden Road was managed by James Harrison, baker and confectioner, followed by two more bakers in turn until resumption of peace after World War 1 when Teiji Orihash took over baking and added a grocery.  There are still former residents of the district who recall being taught to play the piano by Mrs Orihash at lessons given on a first floor grand piano.  There is some doubt whether or not Mr Orihash kept his shop open throughout the hostilities after 1939, although the 1942 Kelly's directory still lists the shop.  However, after the war, Mr Orihash thought it prudent to change his name to Hugh Orton in view of potential hostility towards his Japanese origin.  In the mid-fifties number 173 was transferred to Lloyds, the last of the big clearing banks to open in Fleetville.  They had a relatively short presence in Hatfield Road, until the mid-seventies, before the present traders, City Glass, took over, and created another example of additional premises built on the rear garden space.

A snowy scene in the 1930s centred on the house then being occupied by Charles Carter. The
grocery to the right was then under the management of H W Bennett.
COURTESY CAROLYN HAYWARD

The other two premises in the orange block were semi-detached homes until 1911 when the righthand house, number 177, was adapted to become a shop; H W Bennett's grocery, just two doors from the corner shop.  Walter Brooker took over from around 1948, but, as with many other small grocery traders, they suffered from the arrival of the supermarkets.  Brooker's therefore became a television aerials shop, and more recently the latest in trend purchases: vaping.

In the middle there remains one house. Although there have been several occupants, more is known about one of them during the 1930s. Thomas Carter, who had already established himself in the horticultural business, Sear & Carter, near St Paul's Church, encouraged his brother Charles, with an interest in agricultural machinery, to set up business in St Albans.  So, in the early 1930s Charles acquired the house at number 175 and a plot opposite on which he built Carter's Garage.  Later it would became Hobbs' Garage and is now Kwikfit.

Breweries are usually early to lay claim to land in development districts for future public houses.  In 1899 Benskins purchased the red and blue plots in the top picture for a public house, hostelry and carriage yard – presumably similar to The Crown, which was being constructed during the same year.  Directly opposite to Benskins' proposed establishment a competing company, Trust House, acquired a site for a hotel and accommodation for dining and drinking.  This launched a twenty-five year,  acrimonious battle between the two companies and many of the property owners in Fleetville which was only resolved when Benskins transferred its interest to the site on which the Rats' Castle was later built.  But there was no hotel.

In 1924 only the orange block buildings have
been developed. A small and larger plots acquired by
Benskins remain open during the lengthy objections
to the sale of alcohol in the district.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

The line of WW1 troops passing the shops, with the 
smaller open plot behind the leading soldiers.  We can also observe where the righthand former
house has been converted into the shop which one day will be known as Brooker's.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

Benskins land consisted of a small and large plot.  As soon as Benskins felt the opportunity of future trade on this site slipping away, the company was prepared to relinquish the smaller plot, which the Salvation Army purchased.  There are, of course, two possible reasons for this move.  Either the church group wished to construct a citadel, Sunday school or other meetings place, or it was a strategic purchase to squeeze out Benskins.  Well, the Sally Army didn't build, and when the opportunity arose the Mid Herts Bill-Posting Company rented both the small and large sites for advertising.  The small site remained as a poster site until around 1956 when the Plymouth Brethren group, which had previously occupied a small premises in Hedley Road, constructed a meeting house.  When it was no longer required for this purpose c2005 it was replaced by residential accommodation with the design containing echoes of the neighbouring frontages to the east.  Although there had been an option for a ground floor shop in the plan this did not materialise.

The Plymouth Brethren Meeting House built in the mid-fifties on the smaller plot formerly
owned by Benskins and subsequently acquired by the Salvation Army.
COURTESY ROBIN DE SMET

The same smaller plot more recently.  Long gone are the days when the land was used for
displaying large advertising posters.  Unfortunately a photo of that period has not yet been found.

Benskins finally relinquished the large plot (the blue block in the top picture) c1927, and this presented the opportunity for a shop parade of four establishments for the first time in Hatfield Road.  Set further back from the kerb the front elevations were typical of their time, with herringbone brickwork and first floor bay windows.  The original plan was apparently insufficient for the demand even at the time of opening, as the irregular space between the planned development and the boundary with the recreation ground a single floor shop unit was added.  Until the early fifties there were a variety of occupiers, but from 1956 Andrews greengrocery, was opened there.  In 2020 the same family is still trading here.

The five shops shown in 1964 with their frontages and before improvements to the roadway.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

When retail trading returned to normal after WW2 we should remember that the parade was still young.  In the period up to the mid 1970s the first shop was a confectioner (Dorothy Miles and then her son David Miles. Miss Gurney and then Mrs Wright, managed a ladies' hairdresser. In the third shop was Mr Macpherson, chemist, followed by St Albans' Scooters. A butchery run first by Hedley's and then J Johnson was in the fourth unit.  Andrews greengrocery was and is in the lock-up shop at the end.

However, today the former confectionery, has been converted into residential.  The front elevation, though modern, still respects the original design, although the herringbone brickwork was been lost.

This recent view illustrates the grey frontage of the former first shop now converted into
residential.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREETVIEW

In this series of posts we have found many examples of houses converted into shops as Hatfield Road became a true shopping street; in this post, however, we've drawn attention to a rare example of a shop being converted into a house. Next time, in a break from looking at the built Hatfield Road, we'll pause to provide an insight into the origin of the Recreation Ground, sometimes these days referred to as Fleetville Park.