2 and 4 Dudley Street Luton Grace Fellowship June 2001

At the time of writing [2011] 2 and 4 Dudley Street is a church – home of the Luton Grace Fellowship. Sadly, Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service does not have any archives relating to this church. For the first part of its life the building was used as a hat factory, becoming a wholesale electrical goods merchant in the 1950s which it remained until at least the late 1990s.

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 4 Dudley Street found it owned and occupied by the Dudley Hat Manufacturing Company Limited. At that time the Dudley Street frontage was described as “old”. The valuer noted: “Runs thro’ to Albion Street where there is a good Outlet”. He also commented: “This is a long inconveniently arranged factory”.

The front block was made of brick and slate and comprised an office measuring 12 feet by 10 feet and a store measuring 10 feet by 11 feet on the ground floor with two stores on the first floor measuring 12 feet by 10 feet and 10 feet by 11 feet. A middle block contained a ground floor with: a sweating room measuring 17 feet 6 inches by 36 feet; a stiffening room measuring 11 feet by 29 feet; a steam room measuring 12 feet by 15 feet; a block room measuring 27 feet by 19 feet and a drying room measuring 12 feet by 8 feet. The first floor comprised: a steam room measuring 25 feet by 18 feet 6 inches; a machine room measuring 25 feet by 12 feet; a machine room measuring 33 feet by 12 feet with a two horsepower motor and fifteen feet of 1¼ inch shafting and a second machine room measuring 12 feet by 37 feet. A second floor comprised a steaming room measuring 25 feet by 18 feet 6 inches with a two horsepower motor and twenty five feet of 1½ inch shafting.

A back block on Albion Street had a general office measuring 11 feet by 16 feet and another office measuring 11 feet square, a despatch room measuring 12 feet by 13 feet, two blocking rooms measuring 57 feet by 15 feet 6 inches and 30 feet by 13 feet 6 inches respectively and a further room measuring 12 feet by 12 feet 6 inches. The first floor comprised a trimming room measuring 25 feet by 13 feet 6 inches with a one horsepower motor and ten feet of 1¼ inch shafting, a trimming room measuring 21 feet by 12 feet and a final room measuring 26 feet by 25 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 Dudley Street begin to appear in directories in 1885.

• 1903: 4a – George Roe, straw hat manufacturer;
• 1914: 4 – Dudley Hat Manufacturing Company Limited;
• 1920: 4 – Dudley Hat Manufacturing Company Limited;
• 1924: 4 - Dudley Hat Manufacturing Company Limited;
• 1928: 2 – Charles E. Cooper, tailor;  4 – Bousted & Company (Luton) Limited, straw hat manufacturers; Andrew Boynton, straw hat manufacturer;
• 1931: 4 - Andrew Boynton, straw hat manufacturer;
• 1936: 4 - Andrew Boynton, straw hat manufacturer;
• 1939: 2-4: A. Boynton Limited;
• 1940: 4 - Andrew Boynton, straw hat manufacturer;
• 1950: A. Boynton Limited;
• 1960: London Electrical Company (Blackfriars) Limited, wholesale electrical goods merchants;
• 1965: London Electrical Company (Blackfriars) Limited, wholesale electrical goods merchants;
• 1968: London Electrical Company (Blackfriars) Limited, wholesale electrical goods merchants;
• 1972: London Electrical Company (Blackfriars) Limited, wholesale electrical goods merchants;
• 1974: London Electrical Company (Blackfriars) Limited, wholesale electrical goods merchants;
• 1975: London Electrical Company (Blackfriars) Limited, wholesale electrical goods merchants;
• 1998: Luton Domestic Appliance Centre;
• 2011: Luton Grace Fellowship.