122 High Street
John Behr, pastry chef and confectioner, ran a business here from the 1850s to the 1880s, when he moved to premises on St Thomas Street. In 1932 Frederick Hall and his wife Victoria acquired the building from Mr Gauntlett who was a bookmaker. The site was taken over by Aldridge’s Dairy in 1939. It is now Lounges.
123 High Street
Dressmakers, milliners, bootmakers and china sellers were some of the businesses here before HE Figgures set up a hardware, china, glass, ‘talking machines’ and record store in about 1913. He also took over the adjoining building, No 124, and by the 1950s had moved into No 122 as well and was selling radios, TVs and bikes
124 High Street
For a few decades in the mid to late 1800s, ownership of this building switched between the Elgar and Lobb families, before the arrival of Henry Figgures in the 1910s. It is now Saltrock.
125 High Street
Silas Dore, landlord of the Bugle Inn, owned or resided in this property in the 1860s. In later years No 125 housed a tailor, bootmaker, butcher and building society. It is now Fells Gulliver.
Figgures’ shop window, selling miscellaneous goods including china, glass, rifles and ammunition.
Herbert Figgures set up as an ironmonger at No 123 in 1904 and a year later purchased No 124 as well where he ran a bicycle sale and repair business. He took over No 122 in the 1930s and was a well-known figure in the local community, frequently featuring in amateur dramatics. This photo shows his cycle shop decorated for the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935. Herbert’s daughter Joan and her husband Ian took over the business and in 1947 also rented No 121 for a baby clothes and wool shop. Their daughter Sue took over the business in 1991, which now comprises a craft shop at No 121 and a toy shop at No 123. The cycle business is run by Sue’s husband John to the rear of these shops, in Henderson Court.
