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59 High Town Road Luton

59 and 59a High Town Road June 2011
59 and 59a High Town Road June 2011

For much of their life 59 and 59a were separate businesses. At the time of writing [2011] both properties are used as a hairdresser's salon.

The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 specified that every building and piece of land in the country was to be assessed to determine its rateable value. The valuer visiting 59 and 59a High Town Road [DV1/R59/19] found them both owned by Edwin Oakley. 59 was occupied by William Henry Parrott who paid rent of £60 per annum. Parrott may have had private living quarters. Kellys Directory for Bedfordshire for 1928 has both 59 and 59a occupied by Madame Elsie Daniels, blouse maker.

The ground floor shop comprised two areas measuring, respectively, 12 feet by 16 feet and 10 feet by 14 feet. A kitchen and scullery also lay on the ground floor. A workroom, a bedroom, a reception room and a bathroom lay on the first floor with two bedrooms above that. A later hand has annotated the entry: “Whole requisitioned”, this, clearly, would have been during World War Two.

Number 59a was occupied by Alice M. Daniels, a blouse maker. She paid rent of £46/16/- per annum for a shop measuring 12 feet 3 inches by 15 feet, a kitchen and a scullery, a first floor reception room and bedroom and two more bedrooms on the second floor.

Directories for Bedfordshire were published every few years from 1839, for example, the beginning of the 20th century has directories for 1903, 1906, 1910 and 1914. Countywide directories ceased to be published during the Second World War, the last for Bedfordshire being in 1940. Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service has directories just for Luton for 1939, 1950, 1960, 1965, 1968, 1972, 1974 and 1975. The first street numbers in High Town Road begin to appear in directories in 1885 but it looks as if there was some renumbering of properties on the odd side of the road between 1890 and 1894.

  • 1898: 59 – Frederick William Carrington, pork butcher; George Sims, baker;
  • 1903: 59 – Frederick William Carrington, pork butcher; 59a – George Burr, fried fish dealer;
  • 1906: 59 – Saxby Brothers, pork butchers; 59a – George Alfred Yirrell, draper;
  • 1910: 59 - Saxby Brothers, ham and beef dealers and pork butchers;
  • 1914: 59 - Saxby Brothers, ham and beef dealers and pork butchers;
  • 1920: 59 – Madame Elsie Daniels, blouse maker; 59a – Mrs. Alice Maud Daniels, corset maker;
  • 1924: 59 – Madame Elsie Daniels, blouse maker; 59a – Mrs. Alice Maud Daniels, corset maker;
  • 1928: Madame Elsie Daniels, blouse maker;
  • 1931: Madame Elsie Daniels, blouse maker;
  • 1936: 59 - Madame Elsie Daniels, blouse maker; 59a – H. Flatua, grocer;
  • 1939: 59 - Mrs. E. M. Parrott; 59a – F. J. Pollard;
  • 1940: 59 - Madame Elsie Daniels, blouse maker; 59a – J. W. Green Limited, grocers and tea dealers;
  • 1950: J. Graham & Company; G. C. Skelton;
  • 1960: 59 – High Town Launderette Limited, self-service laundry; 59a – Stan’s delicatessen stores;
  • 1965: 59 – High Town Launderette Limited, self-service laundry; 59a – Stan’s delicatessen stores;
  • 1968: 59 – High Town Launderette Limited, self-service laundry; Donald Barker; 59a – Henry A. Young;
  • 1972: 59 - Darryl S. J. Lartin=Scarader; High Town Launderette Limited, self-service laundry; 59a – Harold A. Young; Stan’s delicatessen stores;
  • 1974: 59 - Darryl S. J. Lartin=Scarader; High Town Launderette Limited, self-service laundry; 59a – Gabriel Carty; Stan’s delicatessen stores;
  • 1975: 59 - High Town Launderette Limited, self-service laundry; 59a – Stan’s delicatessen stores;
  • 2011: Amazing Grace, hair designs.