IN 2011 the Central Library was given copies of a set of scale drawings showing every building along the main streets of the town as they would have appeared in the 1880s.

They were the work of James Gafford, a retirement hobby and a real labour of love, and they had somehow got into the hands of the History of Reading Society which had decided to pass them to the library.

I made them the subject of an exhibition in the library, enlarging them and putting them side by side in two long strips, showing the whole of the north and south sides of Broad Street. The captions said what each building was being used for, whether it was still there, and what was on the site in 2011.

An interesting comparison emerged – in Victorian times there were 13 public houses in the street, and in 2011 there were 13 mobile phone shops, and only one pub.

Mr Gafford covered not only Broad Street in his project, but also most of Friar Street, and parts of the Market Place and St Mary’s Butts.

I’ve chosen this drawing representing the part of Friar Street from the corner of Greyfriars Road to about where Sainsbury’s is now.

This is really my excuse to let you know that all the drawings are now catalogued and scanned, and can be seen on the library website – www.readinglibraries.org.uk

On the catalogue you can search for them under the artist’s name, and the names of businesses, institutions and pubs. I’ve found it interesting to compare the drawings with Victorian photographs of the same area, which are also on the website.

On this drawing, left to right, you can see the Turkish Baths, Ye Olde Friars public house, the baker’s shop of Frederick Fulbrook, the Victoria Arms beer shop, and the edge of Blagrave Buildings, which were in their day considered to be ‘model’ flats.

When I first saw these buildings in the 1960s, Drew’s the ironmongers were on the corner (they’re now in Caversham Road), Ye Olde Friars was still there, the baker was now R. W. Alder, and then came the premises of W. R. J. Renshaw, optician.

Ye Olde Friars still had a sign advertising Blatch’s Theale ales, and Blagrave Buildings had been replaced by J. Sainsbury.

At the time of writing, I see that the rather plain building which replaced most of these premises is itself under demolition after only 30-odd years of existence.

Let’s hope it will be replaced with something more pleasant to look at!

DAVID CLIFFE