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ROADS AND STREETS

BEDFORD STREET

Updated:  02 April 2012
National Grid Reference: SX 000 000

 
Location of Bedford Street

Bedford Street ran from the southern end of Old Town Street, outside St Andrew's Church, to the junction of Frankfort Street, Russell Street and Cornwall Street.

Origin of the name, Bedford Street

It is no coincidence that one of the adjoining roads is called Russell Street, as that was the family name of the Dukes of Bedford, from which Bedford Street took its name.  It was just a fashionable name to use at the time, following the completion of Bedford Square in London in 1785.

 

History of Bedford Street

What later became Bedford Street is shown on Benjamin Donn's 1765 Plan of Plymouth Towna nd Citadel as "Pig Market".

What we know as Bedford Street was named as "Pig Market" on Benjamin Donn's map of Plymouth of 1765  [1].  At the western end of it was the Frankfort Gate, also known as the West Gate.  Beyond the Gate, in the V of a major junction, stood the Globe Hotel, which after the demolition of Frankfort Gate in 1783 formed part of the new Bedford Street.  The road to the left (later known as Frankfort Street) went to Stonehouse and Plymouth Dock, while the road to the right went up what later became Russell Street in to Mill Lane.  [1]

Cooke's Pocket Plan of the Three Towns, published in 1827, shows the highway between Westwell Street and Russell Street as being named Frankfort Place  [2].  This is confirmed by Whitfeld  [3].

As a result there were no occupants listed for Bedford Street in 1812 but Frankfort Place was recorded [4].

What later became Bedford Street is shown on Benjamin Donn's 1765 Plan of Plymouth Town and Citadel as "Pig Market".
©  Devon & Cornwall Record Society.

Saffron Row, a row of small tenements in Bedford Street adjoining Saint Andrew's Churchyard, were demolished in April 1849 by Mr W Skardon at a cost to the Corporation of £21.  The site of these tenements used to be the Fish Market until the Pannier Market was opened in September 1807.  By demolishing them the Corporation was set to lose an annual income of £90 in rents but as result of their removal Bedford Street could be widened.  Other improvement work was to be undertaken in Saint Andrew's Street and at the junction of Southside Street and Notte Street.  [5]

In 1903 the Globe Hotel was replaced by the Prudential Building, which is seen in the photographs on this page.

Bateman's, the opticians, was on the site of Plymouth's other but less famous "Island House".

Messrs J Lyons and Company formally opened their tea shop at number 18 Bedford Street at 11.30am on Thursday October 18th 1934.  Alderman Solomon Stephens, a local baker and confectioner and president of the National Association of Master Bakers, performed the opening ceremony in the presence of the Mayor of Plymouth, Mr E Stanley Leatherby, and Mr I M Gluckstein, the son of the founder and a director of Messrs J Lyons.  'The shop front attracted considerable interest with its gold and silver finish of opal glass and gilded lettering' reported the Western Morning News, telling also that the interior consisted of marble, peach-tinted mirros, rose aurora panels, golden Travaline marble, and wainscoting of black, Belgian marble.  There was seating capacity for 300 people and it was expected to serve each customer in an average time of just 3 minutes.  The "Nippies" were all local girls but the majority had been trained in London, which for many of them was their first visit to the Capital.  A luncheon was then provided at the Duke of Cornwall Hotel and the tea shop opened to the public at 12.30pm.  [6]

Bedford Street was destroyed in the Second World War and is now remembered only in Bedford Way, which runs from Royal Parade to New George Street, roughly on the line of the old Market Alley, which later became the Bedford Arcade.

Some Views of Bedford Street

Bedford Street, Plymouth, looking west.

Bedford Street, Plymouth, looking west to Prudential Building.

Bedford Street, looking west to the Prudential Building.
Note John Yeo's, the Devon & Cornwall Bank and the

Borough Coffee Tavern on the right (north) side.

Bedford Street looking west into Frankfort Street
The
Borough House Coffee Tavern building is on the extreme right.

   

Bedford Street, Plymouth, looking east from the Prudential Building.

Bedford Street, Plymouth, looking east.

Bedford Street looking eastwards from the Prudential
Building.  Note Dingle's premises on the left.
Westwell Street curves off to the right-hand side.

A ground level view of Bedford Street, looking east
towards Old Town Street.  The cart (right) is on the
corner with George Street.

   

Bedford Street, Plymouth, and the Municipal Offices, looking west towards the Prudential Building.

Looking westwards along Bedford Street, with Bateman's premises on the left and the Prudential Building in the distance.

Looking from Old Town Street westwards towards the
Guildhall (left), Municipal Office, Basket Street, and
on the extreme right, Bedford Street.

Looking westwards along Bedford Street,
with Bateman's premises on the left and the
Prudential Building in the distance.
©  Devon & Cornwall Police Museum.

Occupants of Bedford Street, Plymouth


Sources:

[1]  Donn, Benjamin, "A Map of the County of Devon 1765", facsimile, Devon and Cornwall Record Society and the University of Exeter, Exeter, 1965.

[2]  "Cooke's Stranger's Guide or Pocket Plan of the Three Towns of Plymouth, Devonport, and Stonehouse", Published October 1st 1827 by John Cooke, 82 Union Street, Stonehouse, Plymouth, 1827.

[3]  Whitfeld. Henry Francis, "Plymouth and Devonport: In Times of War and Peace", E Chapple, Plymouth, and Hiorns & Miller, Devonport, Second Edition, 1900.

[4]  "The Picture of Plymouth", Rees and Curtis, Plymouth, 1812.

[5]  "Public Improvement - Bedford Street", Plymouth & Devonport Weekly Journal, Plymouth, April 5th 1849.

[6]  "New Catering Facilities: Firm's Enterprise at Plymouth", Western Morning News, Plymouth, October 19th 1934.

©  Brian Moseley, Plymouth, UK

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