The photograph below, from March 1964, was probably taken from the first floor of Welwyn Stores (now John Lewis). It shows the Stores small car park. This was demolished soon after to make way for the roundabout that is still there. The photo was commissioned by the Development Corporation and was probably one of a set taken on the run up to the major changes that would come to the town centre during the mid-sixties.
Shops in Stonehills
The shops on Stonehills can clearly be seen, from the National Provincial Bank at the far right, now Nat West, then Williams Brothers, and obscured behind the tree is The Broadwater Press, which for years printed The Welwyn Times. Then comes Munts, the shop for prams, bikes and fireworks, and lastly Dickinson and Adams’ garage, which would have been on the site now occupied by the multi-storey car park. If I’m wrong then hopefully somebody will correct me.
The hedge on the right hand side probably formed the boundary of the old police station, that was situated opposite the bank, on the site of the gardens adjacent to Sir Theodore Chambers Way.
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The old Dickinson & Motors is where we used to put in two gallons of petrol in our 1939 Ford Prefect every week – it was a quarter of the tank. It cost us 2/2 per gallon.
Dickinson and Adams was a Luton based company that went back to 1911 and had a number of branches around Herts and Beds. When the multi-storey was built they moved to new premises in Fretherne Road, which in turn were replaced by the new Fine Fare supermarket (c.1975). The latter building is now occupied by Iceland and Argos.
Also I recall that the price of petrol at the new Dickinson and Adams was just over 5 shillings a gallon, maybe 5/3 or 5/6. Less than 30p in new money! My dad had an account there, a small yellow card that meant you did not have to pay – I guess a bill came in the post at the end of the month.