Dunstable High Street, without the traffic!

This postcard view of High Street South, Dunstable, was published by the Phonochrome Company of Tunbridge Wells, perhaps in the 1920s.

It belonged to a man who lived in Flint Cottages, which are on the left of the picture.

The cottages are listed in old Dunstable street directories as standing between 76 and 72 High Street South, which is where Scotson Chambers are today.

In fact, Miss Christina Scott remembers very well how the area was developed.

The cottages, alongside the yard which now has the Wrigglies reptile shop on the other corner, belonged to her father, Councillor Ben Scott.

He owned the Scott and Sons garage and engineering works which operated on both sides of the high street.

The cottages had to be pulled down in 1938 because they were not up to the standards of the time (they had outside toilets, for instance) and Councillor Scott replaced them with purpose-built offices which he named after his firm.

There was a shortage of office space in Dunstable at the time. A firm of solicitors is now based there.

The photo shows the familiar spire of the Methodist Church in the distance, and the railings for the old cattle market are visible on The Square.

An old gas lamp can be seen on the corner of Wood Lane, near the Saracen’s Head Hotel.

The first electric street lamps in the town were erected in High Street North in 1933 so this photo was taken before that.

Flint Cottages should not be confused with Flinte House, a stone-clad building which stood on the corner of Ashton Road and High Street North, where Queen’s Court is today.

New flats called Flint Court are on the OPPOSITE side of the road.

The postcard has been loaned to Yesteryear by its present owner, Andy Wilson, of Half Moon Lane.

The Yesteryear feature two weeks ago on Wellington Terrace was based on research carried out by Christine Harrison of Priory Academy. The photo was supplied by Sue Neal.

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