James Gray: Mr. Taylor’s grocery shop at the corner of Albion Hill and Belgrave Street. Period about 1880. This is a good example of the general stores of the period. The building was erected early in the 1850s and was occupied as a shop from the start. jgc_27_046
2018: No trace of this building remains. It was demolished and replaced by a car park many years ago. (Photographer: Simon Cooper)
James Gray: Two more [jgc_27_074 and 075] of the dingy streets in this area. Photographed in April 1956, they were swept away in the general clearance of December 1958. A typical mid-Victorian working class street, with nothing to distinguish it from many other similar streets in this hilly area. Looking South from the Albion Hill end to Richmond Street School in the distance. jgc_27_075
James Gray: The view up Albion Hill, from the corner of Albion Street, on 19 April 1956. On the right is the very narrow entrance to Albion Cottages. jgc_27_085
2018: The right (southern) side of the view remains substantially unchanged although Albion Cottages were demolished during the slum clearances of the 1960s.
James Gray: Redevelopment of the area in full swing. Blocks of flats being built – period about 1960 or 1961. jgc_27_098
2018: Brighton’s first tower block flats were erected on Albion Hill in 1961 and the area is now dominated by seven 11-storey blocks. ‘Highleigh’ was the first to be opened by the mayor, Alan Johnson, in May 1961. (Photographer: Ron Fitton)
James Gray: The Good Intent public house, at 4 Albion Hill, showing the cobbled entry to the large yard of nearby Tamplins Brewery. The premises were delicensed in 1937. Additional Information: The pub, The Good Intent, was sometimes called 4 Albion Place. The alley at the side was, in fact, Albion Place. Apparently, there were houses, 1-3, in Albion Place (according to the census). The women in the doorway are Harriet Elizabeth Burtenshaw, née Todd, born 5/11/1868, Brighton, and who married Richard Burtenshaw, 12/5/1890, St Peters, Brighton. She is there with her daughter Gladys Kathleen Burtenshaw, known as Kath, born 10/7/1911. The photograph is c1925, as Kathleen looks about 15 years old. jgc_27_100
2019: The corner where the Good Intent once stood. The area was subsequently redeveloped as the Phoenix Estate between 1998 and 2002. Albion Place, mentioned in the Additional Information above, was actually the road above the pub, now redeveloped and called Phoenix Rise. Below the pub was, as James Gray states, the cobbled entrance to the brewery. (Photographer: Ron Fitton)
James Gray: 4/4 photographs [jgc_027_086 to jgc_027_089] taken in 1960 as this vast area was being cleared so that several blocks of high rise flats could replace the many worn out mean streets in this area. jgc_027_089