It is fair to say that Peterborough has seen more than its fair share of significant building projects over the years.
Indeed, the city has changed so much that a time-travelling visitor from a hundred years ago might well struggle to recognise some parts of it from how it looked in their own time.
One place they definitely would not recognise is Bridge Street; wide and clear and traffic-free.
A hundred years ago, this thoroughfare was completely different: busy, congested and incredibly narrow.
At just over 20 feet at its widest point and wending down to just 15 feet at its narrowest, it’s name was very apt indeed – Narrow Street. While Narrow Street was perhaps less problematic in the 19th century, the introduction of motor vehicles throughout the early decades of the 20th century made navigating the road a nightmare at times in the 1910s and ‘20s.
Indeed, it was observed that the road would come to a complete standstill whenever two buses tried to pass at the same time.
Inevitably, the decision to widen Bridge Street was made in December 1926. However, with reputedly more than sixty architects submitting tenders for the work, it wasn’t until well into 1927 that work started.
Work to level the existing buildings on the eastern side of the road cracked on apace and, by April 1929, the foundations were being dug for the new Town Hall. In June 1929, the foundation stone was laid by the Duke of Kent (then Prince George).
Happily, many of the shop owners who had owned businesses on Narrow Street were offered premises on the new Bridge Street, and so they simply moved back a few yards.
This period marked a significant turning point on the city’s central infrastructure, as the opening of the new Town Bridge a few years later in 1934 allowed Peterborough to at last realise its ambitions to have a clear accessway from the river along Bridge Street to Market Place and beyond. The irony is of course, that the Bridge Street we know today is pedestrianised. Just think how charming Narrow Street might have been if it had survived to enjoy the same fate... All images provided by the ever-generous folk over at Peterborough Images Archive.
1. When Bridge Street was Narrow Street
Bridge Steet was known as Narrow Street a hundred years ago. Photo: Peterborough Images Archive
2. When Bridge Street was Narrow Street
A classic view of Narrow Street with little more than the Midland Bank building to recognise today. Photo: Peterborough Images Archive
3. When Bridge Street was Narrow Street
Peterborians taking a leisurely stroll along Narrow Street around 1902. On the left is the Angel Hotel which would be pretty much on the site of TGJones today Photo: Peterborough Images Archive
4. When Bridge Street was Narrow Street
Hard to believe that the entire left side of Narrow Street had to be wiped off the map but with a maximum width only just exceeding 20 feet, something had to give. The distance between the bank and the tree in this shot is roughly equal to the width of the old thoroughfare Photo: Peterborough Images Archive