Hanging on . . .

The last "real" shop in New Road. Fifty years ago Edwards & Hope was next door to Christ Church   down at the other end of the road,  and elsewhere there was a florist, a gun shop, a milliner, a confectioner, a paint manufacturer, an off-licence, a tobacconist, a baker and an art/antique dealer.

Today the road is almost entirely given over to the leisure industry; restaurants, bars and entertainment, and, with Edwards & Hope, the only properties still serving their original purpose seem to be the Theatre Royal, the Colonnade Bar and the Mash Tun, formerly the Apple Tree Cider Bar.

The photograph shows an attractive variety of bow windows and all these houses are listed. The colonnade to the left has been restored in recent years, that to the right is original. One hopes that one day they will be joined up.