For around a hundred years of its life this property was a butcher's shop. At the time of writing [2011] it is a shop selling secondhand goods.

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 102 and 103 High Town Road [DV1/R59/33] found them owned and occupied by Thomas Henry Durant. The premises is listed in Kelly’s Directory for Bedfordshire for 1928 as Thomas Henry Durrant, butcher. He also had premises at 121 Wellington Street and 34 Ashton Road. 102 High Town Road was a butcher’s shop and 104 was a pork butcher’s shop.

The two shops each measured 11 feet by 15 feet. The cold store measured 9 feet by 16 feet and the cook house 22 feet by 12 feet. The latter was probably for curing bacon as well as preparing other cooked meats. The rest of the premises was taken up with five store rooms and a kitchen. There was no living accommodation. To power the cold room and the cook house Durant had four motors, three were rated at four horsepower and the other at one horsepower. There was also ten feet of 1¼ inch shafting.

Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service has a Borough of Luton Public Health Department Shops Act 1934 Section 10 inspection book [BorL/EH/14/1]. This book reveals that on 16th November 1936 Number 102 was unheated. It had a men’s toilet in the yard. The premises had good natural lighting and electric light was provided. The shop was closed for dinner and tea was taken in an unheated messroom or in the meat cookhouse. Staff comprised five men.

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: 102 – Daniel Bird, butcher;
• 1894: 102 – Daniel Bird, butcher;
• 1898: 102 – Daniel Bird, butcher; 104 – Amos Frederick Impey, hosier;
• 1903: 102 - Edward John Bird, butcher; 104 – Mrs. Emily Mann, china and glass dealer;
• 1906: 102 – Edward John Bird, butcher; 104 – Oliver Goldsmith, china and glass dealer;
• 1910: 102 – Edward John Bird, butcher;
• 1910: 104 – John Burnet, hairdresser; 104a – Robert Winup, fishmonger;
• 1914: 104 – Durrant Brothers, butchers and pork butchers; 104a – Robert Winup, fishmonger;
• 1920: Thomas Henry Durrant, butcher and pork butcher;
• 1924: Thomas Henry Durrant, butcher and pork butcher;
• 1928: Thomas Henry Durrant, butcher and pork butcher;
• 1931: Thomas Henry Durrant, butcher and pork butcher;
• 1936: Thomas Henry Durrant, butcher and pork butcher;
• 1939: T. H. Durrant;
• 1940: 102 – Charles Henry Dayus, shopkeeper; 102 and 104: Thomas Henry Durrant, butcher and pork butcher;
• 1950: T. H. Durrant;
• 1960: T. H. Durrant Limited, butchers;
• 1965: T. H. Durrant Limited, butchers;
• 1968: T. H. Durrant, butcher;
• 1972: T. H. Durrant, butcher;
• 1974: T. H. Durrant, butcher;
• 1975: T. H. Durrant, butcher;
• 2011: Danny’s Secondhand Shop.