6 The Square July 2010

6 The Square was one of Aspley Guise's shops, serving the needs of villagers, all of which have now disappeared as the village has changed from a working village to a largely middle class dormitory community. The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 specified that every building and piece of land in the country was to be assessed as to its rateable value. Aspley Guise was assessed in 1927. The valuer visiting 6 The Square found it owned by Charles Denton and occupied by William John Watson, a baker, at a rent of £30 per annum [DV1/C138/35].

The brick and slate property comprised a living room measuring 9 feet 6 inches by 13 feet 6 inches, a kitchen measuring 7 feet 6 inches by 11 feet 6 inches and shop measuring 11 feet by 13 feet 6 inches downstairs with bedrooms measuring, respectively, 9 feet 6 inches by 13 feet 6 inches, 7 feet 6 inches by 11 feet 6 inches and 11 feet by 13 feet 6 inches above.

A barn and w. c. stood outside as did a bakehouse measuring 12 feet by 15 feet with two ovens taking sixty two pound loaves of 1½ bushels each. A flour store lay over the bakehouse. The valuer noted: "Watson here 3 years. Previous man paid same rent, he thinks. Cramped for space and no outbuildings". Mains water, drainage and gas was laid on. Watson is still listed as a baker in the last Kelly's Directory for Bedfordshire, that of 1940.