By the 1930s the traffic down the high street was congested by the charter market, so in 1933, the market was moved to Station Road (now moved back to Market Square so ‘Site A’ can be developed into tower blocks). This widened the ‘new cut’ (from the 1880s) of the High Street to the current width, and the Cole-Childs town hall and island shops demolished, to be replaced by today’s ‘Old English’ Arts and Crafts movement block.
These black and white buildings are not just ‘mock tudor’ buildings from the 1930s. They represent the final product of the Queen Anne architectural movement.
The style is ‘Old English’ invented in the 180s by architect Richard Norman Shaw, glorified at the Start And Garter further up the High Street. This was a very popular style that was adopted in part the 1930s as the main style for the suburban house. A number of original shop fronts remain: Barclays Bank and Chishom Hunter are two.
The TSB and Bon Marche occupy the former ‘Caters’ store built in 1957, one of the first modern self-service shopping supermarkets in the country. The architecture has a ‘Festival of Britain’ feel. Before Caters built their ground-breaking shop, the site was that of the Old Bull Inn which In the 19th century, divided into two: Skilton’s the Butcher and Issards Stores. Some beautiful early 19th century paintings on wood panels from the old Bull Inn can be seen by appointment at Bromley Museum.
Later, the supermarket became Presto’s, before being divided into the two shops we have today.
Well proportioned 3-light windows and charming porthole windows give the ‘Festival of Britain’ feel to the building.
Numbers 6 and 8 Market Square, one of the first Supermarkets to open in the country (September 2019)
Self Service, where you walked around the shop choosing the items you wanted, was an idea that had been slow to cross the Atlantic. It’s advent in America had led to the new crime of shop-lifting, to discourage this, wire shopping baskets were introduced.
“The first supermarket was on the market square, Caters, where the Lloyds Bank is now. no one thought you needed a car park back then, just a good bus service!!. I remember the fish counter wrapped around one of the round pillars on the ground floor. “ Mark on Francis Frith memories.
“Caters was the first supermarket – It felt very wrong to help yourself!” Linda Boyce on Bromley Gloss facebook post.
“Worked there as a Friday night / Saturday boy 1974-5, great times. Sometimes when I wasn’t stacking shelves, they had me in the yard behind the deli counter chucking cardboard boxes in the incinerator. I remember going tin the yard one morning, some of the butchers had a couple of manhole covers up, they got me to push drain rods in one while they hit the rats with spaces as they came of the other manhole. The ones they missed were all over the place for the rest of the day. Very 1970s but great fun at the time.” Brian Cooper on Bromley Gloss.
MacDonalds occupies an 18th century shop which for generations until around 1971 was the Bakery of the Maunders family. Next door, Jessops also occupies a Georgian terrace of similar age and importance.
Market Square, Maunder’s Bakery, in 1972, from the Stanley Hallworth collection. Imagine how much slower you would have to drive to read the road signs!
Wondering what to do with the children this half term? Get them involved in heritage on the Family Heritage Treasure Trail on Friday 21st February from 10am to 4pm. It’s meant for youngsters accompanied by grown ups – but there’s nothing to stop grown ups having a go on their own! It starts and finishes in The Glades and takes about half an hour.
There’ll be guided tours at 11am and 3pm. The meeting place is the upper floor of the Glades, at the north end, by Kuoni and Phase Eight.
Details in the flyer below.
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Built in 1912 for the David Greig chain of supermarkets. It has an orate stone frontage in Neo-Baroque style. It uses pre-fabricated decorative ceramic facings, in this case, terracotta, as used in buildings such as Dulwich College and the Royal Albert Hall. There’s also the monogram of Queen Victoria.
Picture of David Greig’s shopfront in Market Square, from the Stanley Hallworth collection
” From a base established in Brixton, south London, in 1888 David Greig expanded to include around 220 shops. These were located throughout London and the Home Counties, with some scattered at far west as Wales and Torquay.
“… in 1912, settling at The Red House, Southend Road, Beckenham, Kent. This mansion had its own museum and expansive grounds; neighbours included the Robertsons of marmalade fame and the Craddocks, later to excel as TV cooks.” from The Legacy of David Greig pages.
Stone Neo-Baroque ornate frontage of David Greig’s 1912 building
Interestingly, Gordon Dennington says on the David Greig Legacy pages(here)
When I worked in Sainsbury’s Stamford Street Head Office in the late 1950s it was widely believed there was a distant family connection with David Greig’s. Don’t know if true. Rather ironic that under the informal arrangement between them not to compete in the same districts, David Greig living in The Red House, Beckenham (now a nursing home) he was unable to open up in Beckenham itself. Sainsbury’s was there !
The David Greig memorial:
David Greig memorial at Magpie Hall Lane, by Paul Ylaes in July 2019.
The society’s Annual General Meeting took place at the Parish Rooms, Church Street, Bromley. After our formal business our guest speaker Jonathan Clay spoke eloquently about the campaign by Gravesend Civic Society against disastrous local town centre development plans.
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Sunday 29th July 2012: BCS taking part in Bromley Town Centre Festival.
We will be taking part in this important event in Bromley High Street, 11am—5pm. There will be lots of events celebrating local Arts, Sports, Leisure and Heritage. We will be manning a stall, together with the Friends of Bromley Town Parks & Gardens in the pedestrian only part of the High Street. Why not come along and find out more about the local area and what we stand for? We will also be leading walks around the historic town centre.
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As part of the council’s Easter events an heritage trail around Bromley North Village was officially launched in the Market Square. Councillors Morgan & Manning were in attendance. Two separate walks were led by Marc Timlin (BCS).
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BCS was pleased to be invited to the street party organised by the community of people seriously impacted by council plans. Bob Ogley was a guest speaker.
Public Meeting on West Side of High Street, Bromley
About two hundred people attended a public meeting on Thursday 25th July 2013 at Bromley Town Church, to learn more about Bromley Council’s proposals for the west side of the High Street from Churchill Theatre down to Bromley South station. (This is Site G in the Bromley Town AAP): A_Site G Leaflet