KINDERTON STREET REMODELLING OCTOBER 1974

A view of the remodelling of Kinderton Street in October 1974, showing the drastic way in which the roadway was altered. The Boar's Head is on the extreme left and next to that is the building which is now part of the Kinderton Hotel. Everything from the bungalow by Town Bridge to the junction with King Street was swept away, including the Talbot Hotel, Flag Alley, Costello's and Whittaker's shops,several houses, a chip shop and, as we've seen, Moreton's farm house. Note also, in the background, the array of large buildings in Lewin Street which were also demolished shortly afterwards. Only Victoria Building, just visible above the white 'Kinderton Hotel' building remains. The precarious looking walkway on which the lady in the blue dress is walking was the only pedestrian access to King Street at this time, perched high up on the bank, and with only that rickety wooden fence to stop anyone falling over the edge.


Note: When this slide was first published here, we mistakenly gave the date as '1972' which threw the dates of several other postings out of kilter and led to this nifty piece of detective work on Facebook:

•  Geraldine Williams: A previous page shows Mary Costello standing outside her shop in Kinderton Street and the date shown is 1973.
  

  30 minutes ago · 
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  Dave Roberts Aha! Well spotted. So it looks like the 1972 date on the original view is the incorrect one. Of course, wouldn't you just know it, I can't find the original slide just at the moment...
  

  24 minutes ago · 
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  Dave Roberts I just found a slide dated 1972 (stamped July 1972 by Kodak) which shows St Michael's Way well on its way to completion.It would appear that Kinderton Street and St Michael's Way were separate schemes and that St Michael's Way was completed first.
  

  12 minutes ago · 
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  Dave Roberts 
  
  
  
  

  Mystery solved. I've now found that original slide which is date-stamped OCT 74. So St Michael's Way came first in 1972; I was able to photograph Mary outside the shop in 1973 before it was swept away. the temporary footpath arrangements were in place in the winter of 1974, and the 'new' Kinderton Street was nearing completion in June 1975. Sounds about right. I've altered the date of the original slide on the Diary to 1974. (original comment from Facebook)

(First published on Facebook 14th April 2011)


See also: ALL ROADS LEAD TO KINDERTON STREET JUNE 1975