James Gray: One of Brighton’s less pretentious streets, probably its chief claim to fame is its long-established Saturday morning market, at which almost every conceivable article can be bought. Built in the 1830s, it consisted of small dwellings, an occasional shop and, at its North Road end, the National Infants School and the large Durtnall’s Depository. With the passage of time the buildings deteriorated and by the time these photographs were taken on 9 September 1973, many were boarded up. Since then several have been demolished, and now (1981) new houses are being erected on both sides of the road. The school building still stands however. jgc_25_156
James Gray: See jgc_25_156 above. jgc_25_158
2018: The south end of the road has some of the original buildings now used as shops or retail outlets. The houses in the foreground of the picture have been rebuilt. Upper Gardner Street still has a functioning Saturday street market. (Photographer: Alice Jackson)
James Gray: See jgc_25_156 above. jgc_25_157
2018: The property on the corner of Upper Gardner Street and Gloucester Road is now Cuttlefish Eco Salon, a well-established hairdressers. (Photographer: Nick Pannett)
James Gray: Nature returns to this little street! Let property remain empty and open to the elements for a year or two and the ground soon returns to the wild. Compare this photograph of 5 April 1981, with those on previous pages, taken only eight years before. The two end houses, 38 and 39, had been derelict for some time, so a tree had sent its branches through the top window space. jgc_25_159
2018: The 2 ‘botanical’ houses since demolished and rebuilt. (Photographer: Nick Pannett)
James Gray: Nature returns to this little street! Let property remain empty and open to the elements for a year or two and the ground soon returns to the wild. Compare this photograph of 5 April 1981, with those on previous pages, taken only eight years before. The two end houses, 38 and 39, had been derelict for some time, so a tree had sent its branches through the top window space. Here the area has been cleared for a much longer period. In the late 1950s the houses, 6 to 14, had been demolished and since then some rebuilding been done. On the land adjoining No.15 bushes and trees had taken root and reached this height by 5 April 1981. New small houses are to be built on both of these sites. jgc_25_160
2018: Red-brick houses of similar scale but more contemporary fenestration have filled most of the vacant site adjacent to those in the James Gray image. (Photographer: Nick Pannett)