When Bourne End became a shopping centre - how many of these stores do you remember?

Taken in about 1975 this picture shows the shops on the northern side of The Parade, which was built in the 1950s. The area was rather stark at that time, it is now much improved by the planting of trees either side of the main road:

BFP_28/05/2021_31_Page leader RHW50563_16

Here we see the shops in the Royalty Parade in 1970, with the confectionery shop Donald in the foreground next to the premises formerly the Royalty cinema. Here these premises are occupied by a furniture store:

BFP_28/05/2021_31_Page leader RHW50561_16

Here we see the petrol station and garage of Bourne End Motors not long after it opened, 1936. At the time the Bucks Free Press commented “its lawns and gravel paths do much to dispel the impression that garages are of necessity unsightly”:

BFP_28/05/2021_31_Page leader BFP06527_08

On the southern side of The Parade, this is the butcher’s shop of E.Colliass in the 1920s, which is still serving customers today, nearly 100 years later:

BFP_28/05/2021_31_Page leader RHW50662_08

For many years one of the most iconic shops in Bourne End was the ladies and men’s outfitters Arthur Shortland on the southern side of The Parade, here seen in the 1980s:

BFP_28/05/2021_31_Page leader RHW50659_08