The current refurbishment of the old Ernest Jones premises in Northbrook Street has prompted me to think of other famous fires in Newbury.
Probably the most memorable for me was the House of Toomer fire in 1961, when the whole building was destroyed.
Other fires include:
The Carlton cinema in Cheap Street (Before my time, but it was in the early fifties) The old mill in West Mills (1965) More recently, we have had Downs Carpets, Uncle Henry's and the Motorparts shop in the Broadway.
There was a major fire in Newbury in the latter 60's. It encompassed Bartholowew Street from the Bricklayers Arms to the alleyway through to Market Place, and spread right through to Cheap Street by the launderette, which was next to the Catherine Wheel pub, almost opposite the P.O. There were many old cottages and buildings between Bartholomew Street and Cheap Street, behind the shops. The fire was on a Monday afternoon, and it is thought that people got into an empty ironmongery/builders building to watch the carnival and dropped cigarettes on the floor.
I recall there were at least 8 fire appliances in Bartholomew Street at the time.
2005 saw a major fire at Turnpike Industrial Estate, at P.C.Cox.
The current refurbishment of the old Ernest Jones premises in Northbrook Street has prompted me to think of other famous fires in Newbury.
Probably the most memorable for me was the House of Toomer fire in 1961, when the whole building was destroyed.
Other fires include:
The Carlton cinema in Cheap Street (Before my time, but it was in the early fifties) The old mill in West Mills (1965) More recently, we have had Downs Carpets, Uncle Henry's and the Motorparts shop in the Broadway.
There was another in Bart St in the 50's? a corn and agricultral seed mechant-named 'News or New Bros' almost opposite the Market St junction
There was a major fire in Newbury in the latter 60's. It encompassed Bartholowew Street from the Bricklayers Arms to the alleyway through to Market Place, and spread right through to Cheap Street by the launderette, which was next to the Catherine Wheel pub, almost opposite the P.O. There were many old cottages and buildings between Bartholomew Street and Cheap Street, behind the shops. The fire was on a Monday afternoon, and it is thought that people got into an empty ironmongery/builders building to watch the carnival and dropped cigarettes on the floor.
I recall there were at least 8 fire appliances in Bartholomew Street at the time.
2005 saw a major fire at Turnpike Industrial Estate, at P.C.Cox.
An update on the fire in Bart street: It was on Tuesday 31st September 1969. There were three fires started, one in the unoccupied ex tobacconists next to the launderette in Cheap street, one in cottages between cheap St and Bart St., and one in disused buildings ajoining, and between The Bricklayers nd the Co-Op, in Bart Street. There were appliances from Newbury, Kingsclere, Hungerford, Whitchurch, Lambourn and Reading in attendance, and two firemen wre injured. It is reported in the NWN 2nd Oct 1969 (found while researching something else)
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