Trafalgar Street

James Gray: The premises of the Norwich Clothing Company at 3 Trafalgar Street, about 1900. This was the corner of St. George’s Mews. Although it is a far cry from the days when a youth’s suit cost 6s/10d, it is interesting to note that the shop remained a clothiers, until the late 1960s. jgc_25_129

2018: Gray’s photo of the Norwich Clothing Company is one of the oldest in the collection and it was tantalising to wonder in advance whether 120 years later the building had survived as a shop? In fact the building at 3 Trafalgar Street is still intact and remarkably unchanged and now houses Funeral Directors, Newman & Stringer.

James Gray: The ironmonger’s shop at 11 Trafalgar Street in 1897. Built as a corner private dwelling, it became a shop in the 1850s when William Deane set up as an ironmonger. Adams Bros took over the business in 1893. It is still here in 1967, now known as Adam Bros and Broadbridge Engineers. jgc_25_132

2018: Still a ‘double’ shop (on the corner of Trafalgar Street and Pelham Square). The business at 11-12 Trafalgar Street now trades under the name Circus, selling ladies’ clothes. (Photographer: David Jackson)

James Gray: The date of this photograph is not known, but it is thought that it was taken in the period 1958/61. The corner shop, Eltenton’s Stores, was a very old-established business. Founded in 1868 by E. Hoadley, Grocer and Post Office. The rest of York Place was then all private houses until the Northern Hotel. In the 1880s H. Eltenton took over and the family business survived for many years. However it closed down not long after the photograph was taken. jgc_25_186

James Gray: The Co-operative Clothing Stores at the corner of Sydney Street and Trafalgar Street. Period unknown, but about the turn of the century. The business is said to have started in these premises in the 1860s. It is still carried on here today but its character has changed with its change of name to Smith and Brown Ltd. jgc_25_189

2018: The Co-op shop front as shown in the original photograph has been substantially altered although the basic form of this corner building remains. It now houses Fold, a clothing store. (Photographer: Geoffrey Kavanagh)

James Gray: Photographs of these two substantial houses [98 & 99 Trafalgar Street] taken in 1954, shortly before their demolition. This photograph shows the drab frontage of 98 in Pelham Street. jgc_25_206

2018: Nothing remains. The pedimented side door in Pelham Street is located in almost exactly the same place as the current entrance into the Foyer Housing Trust. This organisation provides help and support for young people between the ages of 16 and 25 and can therefore be seen as a pleasing continuation of the educational philanthropy of the Hack family back in the 19th & 20th centuries. (Photographer: David Jackson)

James Gray: Photographs of these two substantial houses taken in 1954, shortly before their demolition. [Nos] 98 and 99 from within the garden of Pelham Square. jgc_25_208

2018: Nothing remains of these once handsome Victorian houses. The present building houses a defunct ground floor brasserie and upstairs residential accommodation. 64 years on the now sturdy tree is a reminder of the melancholy fate of 98 & 99 Trafalgar Street captured in Gray’s picture. (Photographer: David Jackson)

James Gray: Photographs of these two substantial houses taken in 1954, shortly before their demolition. This view looks at the front and east side of 98 and shows the shops in Trafalgar Street and the entrance to Pelham Street. jgc_25_209

2019: Nothing remains from this picture apart from the Pelham Square tree and the retail premises in the background. (Photographer: David Jackson)

James Gray: Houses and shops on the north side of this street, between Pelham Street and Redcross Street. Although old established drapers, Jarmans, closed down a few years after, this block of buildings still stands. jgc_25_211

2018: Jarmans, the drapers, is long gone but the building that housed it is little changed. Two windows on the Pelham Street side have been installed where there were once blank spaces and the shop fascia has been altered, otherwise the building (including its drainpipe) is unchanged. 

James Gray: Here the view is from empty Redcross Street looking at the backs of the Trafalgar Street houses and at some in Pelham Street. A real eyesore in the centre of town, just being used for car parking. jgc_25_212

2018: 45 years later it’s still a slightly scruffy car park but the tree seems about 25 metres taller. (Photographer: David Jackson)

James Gray: This shows the next block upwards toward the Station between Redcross Street and Whitecross Street. All these have been demolished. jgc_25_213

2018: In the end, this block between Redcross Street and Whitecross Street was not demolished. It still stands. What was Hay and & Electrical shop in 1973 is now – and has been since 2005 – ‘Swag’. It is, according to the owner, ‘one of the few antiques shops left in the North Laine’. (Photographer: David Jackson)

James Gray: [See caption for jgc_25_216 below.] jgc_25_214

2018: The block between Whitecross Street and Blackman Street was demolished and replaced with this three-storey development. Ground floor level is all retail and small businesses and in July 2018 comprised three cafés, a cosmetic surgery, Body & Brain (physical and mental health classes) and a clothes shop. (Photographer: David Jackson)

James Gray: The corner of Trafalgar Street and Pelham Street. Seeing the clearance of buildings in Pelham Street I had this photograph taken on 11 February 1973, in case these premises went also. I need not have bothered as they are still there in 1994. Note the splendid example of a flint and brick cottage in Pelham Street. Long may it remain. jgc_25_215

2018: Jarmans has gone but, 45 years on from James Gray’s picture, the building (including drain pipe) is largely unchanged although two blank windows have been opened up. The flint cottage is intact and so is the tower block, Pelham Tower, looming in the background. (Photographer: David Jackson) 

James Gray: Two photographs taken on 6 December 1987. [Seen above] jgc_25_214 looks up the street from Whitecross Street to the Station while this one shows Nos. 83 and 84 as they face Tidy Street. Many of these old houses in Trafalgar Street were built as private dwellings occupied by self-employed tradesmen. Others were small shops from the start. The coming of the railway accelerated the commercial element and the shops attended to the needs of the populous North Laine area. All the buildings seen on the north side of the street were demolished in 1989. jgc_25_216

James Gray: Trafalgar Court, at the foot of the street, just showing part of the Great Eastern Public House. Next door but one, the dilapidated house, No 6, was still occupied as a private dwelling by an old lady as recently as the late 1960s, but has since been closed. Photographed on 29 April 1976. jgc_25_217

2018: Trafalgar Court is a short cul-de-sac at the eastern end of Trafalgar Street and not a great deal has changed over the past 42 years.

James Gray: What had once been the busy railway goods Yard and Depot, photographed on 29 May 1983. At one time a stream of horses and carts, later lorries, filled with merchandise would enter or leave the wide gateway. Sadly those days have gone. In more recent times national carriers used the premises. All buildings within the yard demolished in 1983. jgc_25_219

2018: Nothing substantial has changed in the foreground of this picture. There is still a phone box (non-functioning) outside The Prince Albert (right) and the round-topped window and door on the front of the station (left) survive despite lack of maintenance.

James Gray: What had once been the busy railway goods Yard and Depot, photographed on 29 May 1983. At one time a stream of horses and carts, later lorries, filled with merchandise would enter or leave the wide gateway. Sadly those days have gone. In more recent times national carriers used the premises. All buildings within the yard demolished in 1983. jgc_25_220

2018: Much has changed although, happily, the elegant ironwork and Italianate windows at the eastern end of Brighton station have survived.

James Gray: Probably one of the oldest public houses still existing in this part of Brighton, it is a listed building dating from the 1840s or 1850s. Standing on the corner of Frederick Place it formerly had a neighbour on the other corner, where the tall commercial is seen. This was the HOLLY BUSH INN, probably of about the same age. Sadly, when I went to photograph it, the building had been demolished and nothing was left of it. One of my few failures! Date of photograph unknown. jgc_25_222

2018: The changes to The Prince Albert Inn are superficial: outdoor seating and more colourful décor replacing the Watneys lettering & insignia of the (perhaps) 1970s or 1980s. The external structure of the pub and also the buildings on either side are unchanged. Even the telephone box (non-functioning in June 2018) is in the same location. (Photographer: David Jackson) 

James Gray: The grocer’s shop at the corner of Kensington Place and Trafalgar Street, in 1906. A copy of an old and much damaged photograph. jgc_25_223

2018: This wonderfully evocative photograph is one of the older ones in the James Gray collection and the site on the corner of Trafalgar Street and Kensington Place has changed little over the past 112 years. Even the windows are the same. It was a grocers in 1906 and is now the Easy News Convenience Store.  

James Gray: A photograph of the jeweller’s shop at 78 Trafalgar Street, a year later in 1907. Note in the window the reflection of the Kensington Place corner shop (previous photograph), just across the street. Additional Information: Perhaps the owner of the shop, James Rich standing in the doorway. jgc_25_224

2018: Another wonderfully evocative photograph of an Edwardian Jeweller/Silversmith/Optician. Perhaps it is James Rich standing in the doorway. This building and the adjacent buildings on the north side of Trafalgar Street were demolished several decades ago. The new number 78 now (May 2018) houses an independent cosmetic surgery clinic. The proprietor very kindly agreed to stand in the doorway of her premises just as James Rich did 111 years earlier. (Photographer: David Jackson)