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Talk on history of Peterborough’s bustling major shopping thoroughfare
A photo of Narrow Street in central Peterborough, today known as Bridge Street.
Laura Holdup meets historian Stephen Perry who will be hosting a lively and illustrated talk about Bridge Street, formerly Narrow Street, next week.
BRIDGE Street in Peterborough is the city centre’s major shopping thoroughfare, and there is much more to the bustling street than meets the eye.
Before it became the broad pedestrianised walkway it is now, it was a tiny, narrow road.
In an illustrated talk to be held at Peterborough Central Library on Wednesday, 15 September, local historian Stephen Perry will reveal the developments which transformed the area into the busy shopping street we know today.
Mr Perry explained that the original Narrow Street was laid out in the 12th century as the city’s main route to London and the south.
In places, it was only 20ft wide (hence the name) and was notoriously difficult to negotiate – especially with the introduction of motor transport.
Narrow Street was home to many important businesses in Peterborough, and a weekly market was held at the top of the street, in Cathedral Square, for many years.
It was common to see a vast number of pedestrians and horse and carts up and down the road, but in Victorian times an increase in shops and traffic caused many problems.
When buses were introduced to Peterborough, they were unable to pass side by side, and in the 1870s it was decided the road needed to be widened – but it was another 60 years before this came to fruition.
Overcoming the problem was difficult, and planners came up with various schemes and scenarios.
One was to build a second road to go around Narrow Street and join at the bottom of Broad Street to reach the bridge. The second was to change the area surrounding the cathedral gateway and widen the road.
Eventually, the east side of the street was demolished, and shops were forced to sell off as much of their merchandise as possible before their premises were turned to ruins.
Peterborough lost many interesting Medieval buildings in the demolition, such as the Bishop’s Palace.
All the rubble from the demolition was buried under what is now a car park at the back of the town hall.
In April 1929, the first sod for the new £500,000 town hall was cut by the then Peterborough mayor, Arthur Craig.
Then, in June 1929, HRH Prince George travelled to lay the foundation stone for the building.
And the road, which was widened from 20ft to 75ft, was renamed Bridge Street.
The street was also host to various incidents over the years.
In 1906, when the liberal George Greenwood became the city’s MP, his opponent was so upset he set fire to his cart and sent it down Narrow Street, ripping off shop boards to stoke the fire.
On March 27, 1927, the city’s Picture House was built – a terrifically ornate looking building.
But it did not last long. It was torn down in the late 1950s, and replaced with the Marks and Spencer store we know today.
The original M&S was a few doors down from the building where W H Smith is now.
Before this, the site housed the well-known Angel Hotel.
The hotel, which hosted various events, including cock fighting, was the base for the city’s voluntary fire department.
The City Temperance Hotel was also in the street, but a gas leak in November 1936 caused a massive explosion.
The damage was severe and even though the hotel was repaired, it never fully recovered.
The history of Bridge Street is truly fascinating and tells us much about the development of Peterborough.
Mr Perry’s talk will be held at the John Clare Theatre, at the Central Library and admission is £1.
For more information, call 01733 864278.
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Weather for Peterborough
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North west
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Temperature: 3 C to 7 C
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Impartial Observer
Thursday, September 9, 2010 at 10:45 AMLooks better then than it does now, that's for sure.
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