King St - Upper section - 1963

Two shots of the top part of King St. 

The upper photo is looking down the street from Astley Gate, with Mincing Lane going off to the left and the lower photo is looking up the street towards Astley Gate.

Fine three and four storey Georgian buildings on view and thankfully, the ones on the right of the street, in the upper shot, are still standing, but sadly all of the properties seen on the left in the same photo are long gone.

Both photos courtesy of John Eddleston

Market St Lane viewed from Mincing Lane - 1963

This is Market St Lane viewed from the Mincing Lane end, where the Dun Horse pub is (it would be to the right, just out of shot) and we're looking towards Darwen St in the distance. You can see the upper two storeys of the Legs 'O' Man pub at the far end.

Towards the bottom of the street, on the left hand side, are the rounded bays of the Castle Hotel, a pub remembered by many as the Dirty Duck in the 1970's and later as Mr G's nightclub in the 80's. Both of which I visited frequently during those decades, as well as the 'Millstone' venue which was upstairs for a few years (1974 - 1976/7 approximately) and the disco they had in the cellar in the mid 70's.

Sadly this fine old hostelry, which had stood there for close on 200 years or so, was demolished a few years ago and as with other parts of the town centre, sweet Fanny Adams has been put in its place. Progress? I don't see it that way personally.

This 1963 view would have looked exactly the same to our Victorian and possibly even our Georgian ancestors and still looked more or less the same until the mid 70's when the properties on Darwen St went. But the biggest change to this scene came at the start of the current century, when a local businesswoman decided we needed town centre apartments and the stupid council agreed. A failed development that has left us with nothing more than a folly, a blot on the landscape. All parties involved should hang their heads in shame for allowing such destruction.

Photo courtesy of John Eddleston 

Astley Gate viewed from Cardwell Place - 1963

This is Astley Gate viewed from Cardwell Place. The street to the left where the light coloured car is, is Corporation St which is still with us. A little further on, beyond the line of cars, is the corner of Northgate and Higher Church St. 

On the right is The Swan Hotel and the premises next door to it (where the William Younger's advertisement is), was for many years I believe a tripe dealers.

If today you stood where the photographer was standing, you wouldn't see any of the above. The ramp up to the Mall car-park would be where the car and building to the left are, that corner beyond the cars is where Debenhams' store and the pedestrian walkway up to the shopping centre is now. The Swan disappeared a few years ago, replaced by a three or four storey glass and brick folly and the tripe shop and adjoining buildings went a few decades ago (early - mid 1970's?).

You would still see cars driving down the street though. Traffic of one sort or another has passed through there for centuries, along the ancient route from Blackburn centre to Preston.

Photo courtesy of John Eddleston.