Ironmonger Row

Telegraph report

Moving it "to allow retail development in a conservation area" seems a bit like moving it "so people with money can use their money to break the law."

Rob, hope you are OK with me adding this but there is now a petition against moving the cross on the Council website here which I encourage anyone to sign.

Of course Neil, no problem - myself and two colleagues have just signed it! I'll put something on here in a while to make the petition more prominent, too.

Who is breaking the law?

Prof, I remember Alice Middletons very well. Wonder why they crowd round that window, must be something fancy going on!

They all seem to be queuing, rationing maybe ?

Well, certainly not the new whirlpool bras, long before them. Looks about 1949 and the end of clothing coupons/rationing sparked a bit of a boom for women.

In October 1949 the unveiling of the Godiva statue with a civic procession and dignitaries was held and the crowd maybe those waiting for the procession. The cars seem to be the right age.

Might be a sale, Dream, at Alice Middleton? I remember it also and think my mum and grandma may have shopped there.

Argon No, I believe it was the end of clothing coupons. The Owen Owen boarding is down, I think it was down for a very short time, it was dangerous for that deep hollow to be there, and they started the new Owens. The statue was Oct and I was there, and we have a photo of the unveiling on this forum that shows how far the crowd was stretched. Maybe we could ask Annewiggy to look at the CET of March 1949 please.

Kaga, I see your point with the people crowding around Alice Middleton. If the photo is made clearer you can see that around the corner there is a greater crowd. According to the papers Ironmonger Row and surrounding streets were closed to traffic for the event and it does look pretty traffic free.

The photograph was taken by Allan Hailstone from the new Owen Owen building on 12 March 1955