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44 High Town Road Luton

44 and 46 High Town Road June 2011
44 and 46 High Town Road June 2011

44 High Town Road has been home to a number of different businesses in its life. For the first three quarters of the 20th century it was owned and run by members of the Blackabey family, first as hairdressers then as tobacconists. At the time of writing [2011] it is a shop selling Eastern European products.

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 44 High Town Road [DV1/R59/39] found it owned by Frank T. Blackabey and occupied by Mrs. Naomi Blackabey, a hairdresser.

Her accommodation comprised a shop measuring 17 feet by 14 feet and a back salon measuring 10 feet by 13 feet and a kitchen on the ground floor with three bedrooms above. A cellar beneath the ground floor measured 16 feet by 14 feet.

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.

  • 1890: Alfred Pridmore, watchmaker;
  • 1894: William Taylor, provision dealer;
  • 1898: Frederick Hudgell, provision dealer and beer retailer;
  • 1903: Frank T. Blackabey, hairdresser, tobacco dealer and beer retailer [also at 46 High Town Road];
  • 1906: Frank T. Blackabey, hairdresser and tobacconist;
  • 1910: Frank T. Blackabey, hairdresser;
  • 1914: Frank T. Blackabey, hairdresser;
  • 1920: Frank T. Blackabey, hairdresser;
  • 1924: Frank T. Blackabey, hairdresser;
  • 1928: Mrs. Naomi Blackabey, hairdresser;
  • 1931: Mrs. Naomi Blackabey, hairdresser;
  • 1936: Mrs. Naomi Blackabey, hairdresser;
  • 1939: Mrs. N. Blackabey;
  • 1940: Mrs. Naomi Blackabey, hairdresser;
  • 1950: Mrs. N. Blackabey;
  • 1960: T. R. Blackabey, newsagent;
  • 1965: T. R. & E. G. Blackabey, newsagent;
  • 1968: T. R. & E. G. Blackabey, newsagent;
  • 1972: E. G. Blackabey, newsagent;
  • 1974: Grange Flooring, flooring contractors; George E. Salter;
  • 1975: Grange Flooring, flooring contractors;
  • 2011: Supersam.