3 and 4a Station Square Flitwick

3 to 6 Station Square about 1950 [Z1130/50/59]

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 the building today known as 3 and 4a Station Square [DV1/C130/76] found that it was owned by W F Cole of Priestley Farm and leased to baker Wilfred G Mead for £65 per annum. Directories for Bedfordshire were not published every year but every few years from the early to mid-19th century until 1940. Wilfred Mead is listed only in the directory for 1928.

Accommodation comprised a reception room, a kitchen and an office. The shop measured 14 feet 9 inches by 12 feet 3 inches and the window measured 7 feet by 3 feet 6 inches. Upstairs were four bedrooms and a box room. The valuer noted that there were two bays, up and down.

Outside was the bakehouse which contained a five bushel oven and had a loft over. The valuer noted: “Makes six bushels of bread”. There was also a weather-boarded two-stall stable and coachhouse with a loft over both. The valuer commented: “L Foster rents office but is leaving at Christmas”. This was Leonard Foster who was, so Kelly’s Directory for 1924 tells us: “sanitary surveyor and inspector to Ampthill Rural District Council and surveyor under the Building bye-laws”. In the 1928 volume of Kelly’s he is listed at Steppingley Road.

It seems likely that Cole bought the shop in 1924 as sale particulars for that year [HN7/1/AMP18] dsecribe Lot 15 as a shop and house at Station Square, Flitwick. “A baker’s and confectioner’s business has been carried in on the premises for many years past and they are at present in the occupation of Mr Frederick T Bell. Rental £40 per annum”. Frederick Bell is listed in directories from 1914 to 1924.

Dirctories from 1931 to 1940 list Charles Cousins as a baker at 3 Station Square. Bedfordshire Archive and Record Service has a leasing agreement [Z908/6/2] between Walter Frederick Cole of Priestly Farm, Flitwick, landlord, and Charles Cousins and Leslie Dennis Cousins, tenants of the dwelling house, shop, premises and garden in Station Square, Flitwick. Photographs show a baker still at the premises in the 1950s.

3 and 4a Station Square September 2017