Hertford Street

It says "?0th BIRTHDAY" - no, that's not a typo, I cannot read the first digit

Well spotted, I didn't see anything at first. Adjusting the contrast and brightness, it looks like a 2 at the front.

That would fit. They celebrated their 20th Birthday in September 1957 so they counted the date from the original store opening. The newspaper is advertising sales and competitions including guessing how many pieces of birthday cake wrapped in serviettes there are to win a prize, and a display of the first dining room suite sold in the store on HP in 1937. They are also advertising that the restaurant is "now open".

That makes total sense Anne, well done. I hadn't noticed the "Birthday" sign originally either, but looking on the original photo it's not much clearer to be honest, as the background of the scene is not in focus - but it's just enough to be able to agree that it looks a lot like "20th". We also know that it couldn't be the 20th year of the current store, as Hertford Street had been already been pedestrianised for about 6 years in 1974. Great work by all !

I have a feeling that these are of Hertford St. I've just had a pile of old negatives scanned and these were included. Taken by me but I don't think I ever printed them.

They certainly are, Davey - thanks for sharing them. They're great photos, sadly not so the subject (except for those who prefer the Hertford Street of today as opposed to the busy, bustling road in and out of Broadgate that it used to be).

Love the photos. Can you remember roughly when they were taken? Peter.

I think the lady holding an umbrella is looking at the cakes and pastries in Elizabeth the Chef! To the left is an entry that leads to Ford's Hospital.

Wow Davey, what year would you say these were taken? On the right in your first pic is Chas B Odell, Estate Agents. I worked there in the late 80's for their Financial Services side. This was around the time it was fashionable for estate agents to be taken over by financial institutions - and Odell's were no different, they were swallowed up by the TSB Bank.

Referring to the newspaper archives again Hertford Street was closed to traffic in 1969, the work to convert it into a precinct was carried out in 1970 with a plan to open it in 1971

My guess would be 1970, I think my pic of the derelict cinema was taken at the same time, so it's whenever the Empire closed (post no. 142 in More mystery photos).

16th September 1971

In 1862 there was a nice red effigy of a lion over the gateway of the Red Lion Inn stables in Hertford Street, but some youths decided to paint it white. The figure of the lion had originally been over the archway of the White Lion pub in Smithford Street, but as the proprietor had money troubles it was sold to the Red Lion. That arose some people to give it back its right colour. When the landlord went to bed it was a beautiful hide of red, as blood, but next morning was as white as snow. A year later the landlord feared the same people on the same night might come back and do the same. He posted guards. The result was three people, one carrying the ladder, one assisting and one with the pot of paint - they placed the ladder against the wall, were about to ascend when the guards appeared. They raced off in to the darkness, leaving the ladder and paint-pot full of black paint behind.

He was lucky they only did the sign! Ledbury pub gets a pink make-over. Peter.

Apologies if this has previously been posted (I thought it had, but couldn't find it) - my image from today