Martyn Taylor, local author and Chairman of the Bury Society, was our speaker at the March meeting and his talk was entitled Lost Bury St Edmunds. We were treated to many old photographs of the streets of Bury and there were gasps of recognition as we saw the many shops and pubs no longer there. From the Victorian town with its butchers, bakers and greengrocers where people shopped every day, to the more recent losses of Laura Ashley and Woolworths, there was a lot of nostalgia felt in the room.
So much to talk about and remember!
-There were six pubs in Southgate Street
– There was a lido near the centre of the town
-There was a flax factory in the town
-The first estate to be built outside the medieval boundary was the Mildenhall estate
– Comprehensive education led to the demise of the Convent, Silver Jubilee School and East Anglian Girls’ School
– The Corn Exchange, Gasworks, Everards Hotel, the Suffolk Hotel, the Manor House Museum, Smiths Row Art Gallery – all loved and lost
– The King William , the Merry Go Round ,The Priors, The Rising Sun, The Minden Rose and the Olde White Hart are just some of the pubs lost to time and modern life.
We very much enjoyed this trip through time.
Our next meeting is on Tuesday 16th April at 7pm for the AGM and at 7.30pm, Captain Karl Lumbers will talk on the Trinity House Story, our lighthouses and their history.