Down at the business end of Northgate

Afew weeks ago, I featured the lost residential houses of Northgate, in the 1960s. This week, I am considering the commercial end of that thoroughfare, nearer the city centre. It is a part of Northgate that has changed very little over the decades.

Although many of these old buildings still appear as they did 50 years ago, the occupants of the various shops and pubs certainly have.

The first picture, from a round 1965, shows The Victoria public house at No. 71 Northgate, standing at the junction with St. Radigund’s Street. Street directories of the early 1960s do not give a proprietor’s name.

However, in the 1950s, the pub was run by George Frost. The inn closed in 1966 and is now in residential use. As to the building itself: the upperstorey jettied gables indicate a late 17th century date, although the pub frontage and ground-floor plaster work originates from the early 19th century.

Next door to the pub, in the first picture, is Walker and Harris, chemists, at No. 70 Northgate.

The second photo features an interesting section of the east side of Northgate in the early 1960s, from the junction with High Street, St. Gregory’s (far left) right up to Broad Street.

This section of the street, on both sides, is largely characterised by three storey buildings, with 18th or 19th century facades, which mostly hide older timber-framed structures behind.

The photographer is standing outside the Model Tavern, which is another lost pub of Northgate but, in this case, one that closed during the 1980s.

A little changed section of Northgate from 50 years ago

The Victoria Inn during the mid 1960s