Brewers Hill Road

The cleared land in the foreground is now occupied by Dunstable Fire Station so that is Brewers Hill Road on the left. The building with the tall chimneys and large fenced rear garden is the Mulberry Bush in High Street North, in the days before the public house was extended and was called the Bird In Hand. In the distance are the tall white factory buildings of the cement works, now demolished, down Houghton Road. The town's fire station was formally opened on September 2 1965. Older Dunstable people remember that this land was once used as the winter quarters for a travelling fair. This photo was taken in July or early August 1948, according to the negative number given to it by the photographer who took the picture for the Dunstable Gazette. A replacement fire station is being built at present (2007) just behind where the photographer was standing. The two buildings towards the left of the picture would have been on the west side of the crossroads, facing what is now the National Tye depot, and have now been pulled down. On the other side of the high street can be seen a flat-roofed building which now houses the Coconut Garden restaurant with, next door, a shop (now empty) next to the present Cafe de Coral.