historic street on the site of Churchill Square: 1 North – South section
Comparison map: Historic streets alongside 2019 layout of Churchill Square
James Gray: Bert Bassett’s Butchers shop at 48/49 Grenville Place where it joined Upper Russell Street. Exact year not known but probably about 1960/2. Demolished in the mid-1960s for Churchill Square. jgc_29_205
2018: In the 2018 image, the tall wall with the two long windows was built over the north part of Upper Russell Street where it crossed Cranbourne Street. On the left is Crown’s pub (formerly the Lamb and Flag). The land on which Churchill Square was constructed (to the right/west) has been built up and steps now rise steeply from Cranbourne Street to the former Grenville Place (see jgc_29_160, 224 and 225). Bassett’s Butchers would have stood approximately in the bushes on the right (west) of the 2018 image but more or less on the same level as Crown’s. (Photographer: Suzanne Hinton)
James Gray: This was taken in 1931 soon after the buildings at West Street end had been removed for the erection of Bostel House. The Lamb and Flag Inn, which bore the date 1885, replaced an earlier Inn of the same name opened in 1855. It was reconstructed in its present form in 1935. jgc_07_065
2020: The basic shape of the pub remains but it has been changed over the years. It is now a busy pub serving food and drink called Crown’s Brighton. The wall to the right of the pub in the 2020 image is an outside wall of Churchill Square. (Photographer: Clare Hughes)
James Gray: Three small photographs [jgc_29_131, 132 and 133], taken by an amateur, of the Lamb and Flag Inn, at the corner of Cranbourne Street and Upper Russell Street, 1935. The inn built in 1885 was then about to be reconstructed. jgc_29_131
James Gray: See caption for jgc_29_131 above. jgc_29_132
2018: The Lamb and Flag stood at the junction of Cranbourne Street and Upper Russell Street. The pub is now called Crown’s. (Photographer: Suzanne Hinton)
James Gray: See caption for jgc_29_131 above. jgc_29_133
2018: The Lamb and Flag (now Crown’s) stood at the south-west corner of Cranbourne Street at its junction with Upper Russell Street. The buildings to the right (west) of the pub in the James Gray image have now disappeared under the massive wall of the Churchill Square shopping mall. (Photographer: Suzanne Hinton)
James Gray: Four more photographs [jgc_29_150, jgc_29_148 and 149 below and jgc_29_151 on the Cranbourne Street page] by the same amateur photographer, and doubtless of the same year, 1965. One, of course, is of Cranbourne Street, with its fairly neat frontage, but the others, showing the clearance in Upper Russell Street, also reveal that the backs of the houses in Cranbourne Street were a jumble of nondescript architectural features, jgc_29_150
2018: No comment. (Photographer: Suzanne Hinton)
James Gray: At first glance these photographs [jgc_29_154, 155, 156 and 157] look exactly similar, but look at the NO WAITING sign at the entrance to Bostel Bros. premises. In the two lower photographs it has been changed to NO SMOKING, an April Fool’s Day joke by Mr. Ron Bostel, which of course had speedily to be removed and the original sign replaced. The year is unknown. Probably the late 1950s or early 1960s, as the buildings were removed about 1965. jgc_29_ 154
James Gray: See caption for jgc_29_154 above. jgc_29_155
James Gray: See caption for jgc_29_154 above. jgc_29_156
James Gray: See caption for jgc_29_154 above. jgc_29_157
James Gray: View of the west side from No. 26 to Western Road, before the extensive clearance of old streets in this area and the establishment of the Corporation car park on the vacant site. jgc_29_109
James Gray: In this photograph can be seen Nos. 48, 52 and 53, shortly before their demolition when Regency Road was projected. Between the two adjacent houses was the dingy entrance to Kent’s Court. This flight of steps remains to this day as a rather forlorn relic of former slumdom. jgc_29_110
James Gray: Old houses in Upper Russell Street. 47-49 boarded up and awaiting demolition. Although the date of the photograph was 25 October 1956, the building stood for another 2 years being demolished in December 1958. 47 was a very narrow building which always gave me the impression of being built as an afterthought. jgc_29_127
James Gray: A photograph of 1895, showing the Central Zinc Works and retail shops of W. Gooding, at 43 and 44, Upper Russell Street. The business continued here in this family until the late 1950s and after being empty for some years was swept away in the Churchill Square scheme of redevelopment. jgc_29_134
James Gray: Looking north towards Western Road, in 1947. Some of the buildings went in 1958 but the others, though empty, were not removed until 1965 for the large West Street redevelopment scheme. Additional Information: Three small children waiting for Bardsley’s fish and chip shop to open. jgc_29_135
James Gray: See caption for jgc_29_150 above. jgc_29_148
James Gray: See caption for jgc_29_150 above. jgc_29_149
James Gray: When these photographs were taken in 1954, the old buildings seen were approaching the end of their long life. As the houses came down so the Russell Street car park was extended, but the end came in 1965 when the whole area was handed over to the developers of the West Street site. Upper Russell Street itself has completely vanished. jgc_29_153