Dunstable Yesteryear – Where Peacocks stands today.
The announcement that the Peacocks store in Dunstable would close on November 29 makes this old photo, taken in High Street North circa 1903, quite pertinent today.
The mansion on the left, once a notable landmark, was demolished in the 1960s to make room for a new road known as Queensway.
Today’s Peacocks store is located on the corner of Queensway, on the site of the ancient draper’s shop, W J Knight and Son, whose name is clearly visible in the photo.
Peacocks opened in Dunstable in August 1997, replacing the Co-op department store, which had closed 15 months prior.
The Co-op was the first to occupy the vast new offices on Queensway Corner.
The Co-op was previously located (from 1956) next to the Sugar Loaf hotel in the former Durrant’s furniture store, which eventually became a Pizza Hut restaurant and, more recently, a discount store.
Marshe Dickinson, a member of an influential local family who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1756, lived in the mansion on the left side of the photograph, which has the name North House painted over its portico.
When the photograph was shot, North House was the residence of Albert Gutteridge, a well-known local solicitor. Yesteryear was compiled by John Buckledee, chairman of the Dunstable and District Local History Society.
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