The Three Towns in old directories

[down south]

Fortunately this familiar picture of Old Saltcoats is still readily available online:

We're at the junction of Windmill Street now, with Hamilton's grocery on the corner to our left . Beyond it you can just make out the sign for Stark's tobacconists; not in the 1903 list, but a business that began around then or not long after. One other famous Windmill Street landmark is now in the directory though, for John Robertson, hamcurer, is there...and apparently not the only one either at that date to scent the street with that unforgettable aroma, for one James Cummings is mentioned too.Further down the street on the other side, the building on the Eglinton Street corner ( as already mentioned earlier ) is in 1903 still the local registry office, under the charge of Archibald Ritchie.

On the Hamilton Street corner at the right meanwhile is Holly House. For many years it was ( another ) Temperance Hotel;and it looks as though by the time of the picture, that this role had already begun, going by the presence of the signs. But in the 1903 directory No 1 Windmill Street is still occupied by Dr Turner, physician , surgeon, and medical officer for Ardrossan. It was he, at just after this date ( see here ), who had constructed for his use as a surgery, the house at No 61 Hamilton Street which most of us knew as " Dr Rankin's ", and which disappeared some years ago to make way for an extension of the supermarket; and that will have led to Holly House becoming vacant.

It occurs to me that it's the existence of the original grounds of Holly House, that will have led to there being a vacant space at the bottom of Hamilton Street here, on which the Kemp family later built first the Casino cinema, and then replaced it with the Regal. And it also explains why No 2 Hamilton Street is well up the street at the building now occupied by the Kandy Bar.

It was on the other side of the street of course that George Kemp built his first Saltcoats cinema, the La Scala, in 1913, and it certainly looks as though there may have been a fair bit of empty space available there too, with nothing listed between Nos 1 and 3, and No 15. Not entirely though, because according to the history of the Brown family of photographers here , Andrew Brown had his first Studio on that site from 1900 till 1912, before his son R V Brown resurrected the business in Manse Street after WW1. That first Studio wasn't listed in the 1903 directory, but here's an advert for it from 1909:

Susan

[down south]

Moving further up Hamilton Street, we come to a familiar business at No 6; a cycle shop , as it would be still in the 1960s. But it wasn't Baillie's in 1903, but the home of John Pringle, cycle maker. And if you're wondering if that is the founder of the famous garage business, later to be found in Glencairn Street, this advert from a few years later in 1909 confirms that is indeed the case:

Further up we have Ardrossan Co-op at No 24, and next door to it at No 26 another familiar name in an unfamiliar place: Hugh Howie, baker. Though it's a familiar trade in that location, because No 26 was still a bakery up till the 1960s.

At No 42 is William Verrier's recently-built Fancy Repository, as discussed in some detail on a previous occasion here. You can see that as the tall building in the middle distance on the right-hand side, in this 1913 postcard of Georgersweir's, which is looking back from further up the street:

https://personal.cis.strath.ac.uk/georg ... milton.jpg

And the shop to this side of it will be the other branch of Orr the grocer's, at No 44/6 ( Angus Mc Nicoll's grocery in the 1960s ).

A pity we can't make out any of the shop signs, even of the ones nearest us. Of those , the only one listed in 1903 is John Fullarton the cabinetmaker at No 52. But one of them by 1913 will certainly be this one: Miss Neilson's fancy drapery, advertising here in 1909 .

That was the ancestor surely of this Neilson's drapery, though it apparently moved at some point to next door; this advert shows it still going up till 1956, when it changed hands to become J L Porter's :

And moving out of the picture now, here finally is what in 1903 occupied the little shop at No 68 that would become Cavani's: the Misses Campbell, milliners.






Susan

[down south]

And now at long last let's turn (more briefly )to Stevenston. Probably better give a reminder of the link again :

http://digital.nls.uk/directories/brows ... d=90674581

Its population has grown most of all in the years since the previous directory , having almost doubled since the 1881 figure given there, from three-and-a-half thousand to six-and-a-half; but you don't see as much sign of it as you might in the 1903 Slater's listings, for most of that growth will have been in workers at the factory and the collieries, and the list of middle-class Residents is fairly short. Unlike in Ardrossan and Saltcoats, where there was quite a growth in the middle-class area between the towns around the new stations in the years just after they were built, Stevenston didn't have the same attractions as a home for commuters to Glasgow.

A better idea of the general picture comes from a look at the old maps. The town straddles several of them unfortunately, but comparing these ones gives the best view of just how much development there has been down New Street and at Ardeer between the 1850s and the 1890s:

http://maps.nls.uk/view/74937989

http://maps.nls.uk/view/82863081

Interested to notice though that Ardeer Square already existed back in the 1850s.

There's also beginning to be a bit of development of new houses along the Old High Road, though that's more visible in the 1909 map than the 1895 one. This can't be long after the houses were built:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nayesterd ... 2752963661

Quite a few of the senior staff at the Nobel factory are listed, from Carl Olof Lundholm at Nobel House down. I also see that well-known name, the Rev Morris Moodie; while the head teacher of the Stevenston Public School is living on site, at " The School House. " And here's a figure obviously worthy of note: Henry Miller Roberts, physician and surgeon , parochial medical officer, and , as a specific role, public vaccinator, of Ardeer.

In the world of Stevenston commerce I notice the first Italian names in the town; there's Mrs Mary Rossi, of Boglemart Street, and George Martinelli, confectioner, of both Shore Road and Carment Drive; there are several other shops listed in Carment Drive, which is one of the newest streets and getting its first mention here.

As you'd expect, I can spot a few Saltcoats connections; here is one of the Herdman family with a bakery on Shore Road; and James Walker the chemist in New Street is probably a branch of the Saltcoats one. But I also see first mention of a well-known purely Stevenston business even I recognise, that of Banks the grocer: " TC Banks, grocer and Italian warehouseman " was still a familiar feature on Main Street in the sixties, next to Morrisons the bakers. Opposite in this early view you can also see Wylie the painter, another listed here.

http://www.ayrshireroots.co.uk/Towns/St ... t%20St.jpg

This great view of the top end of New street also looks like it comes from the early 1900s, and shows several businesses listed in the 1903 directory. And quite a few of the shopkeepers themselves proudly posing for the camera, by the looks of it....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nayesterd ... 752963661/

On our right is Alex Thom's Thistle and Rose Hotel; the shop next door, No 14, " Ho.... " doesn't appear to be listed unfortunately. At near left is Thomas Orr, draper and clothier of No 17, while the stationers next door will probably be that of the Greenland family listed at No 13. And down at the far end of the street on the main road, we can see the Cross Keys, whose 1903 proprietor Frederick Small duly has his name above the door .

Susan

[down south]

A few more pictures here of Stevenston businesses that appear in the 1903 directory. Here is Donald Sinclair, butcher and grocer, of New Street:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nayesterd ... 2752963661

And Winning's Tea Rooms in Shore Road:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nayesterd ... 2752963661

( I wonder slightly whether the name here has been written on the postcard to show where it was, rather than appearing on the wall in real life ?...because there's an identical copy of that view, but without the name, also on the Flickr site, and it has a look somehow of hand-printing rather than signwriting. )

And this picture shows Stevenston Post Office , among other shops.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nayesterd ... 2752963661

It actually dates to a few years earlier, around 1890, at which date I would guess that row would have been pretty new; something of a contrast to the old cottages up the hill beyond, not to mention the road, primitive and unsufaced here at this date even on the main street ! Of the other shop names readable there, Miss Mary Babington was a baker, listed in the 1880s and 1890s directories, and D Thomson may well be Donald Thomson, flesher, who was also listed around those dates as being in Main Street ( and with a branch also in Saltcoats at that time. ) Unlike so much else of Stevenston town centre, the building still seems to be there today, with the addition at some point of a top storey :

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.64046 ... aKICWQ!2e0


As to the Post Office, Matthew Orr, bookseller and stationer, was in charge there in the 1880s and 1890s; by 1903 Mrs Catherine Wishart had taken over, and the address was now given as Alexander Place. Is that a familiar name still to Stinsonians ?; and will it have been the same location, or had the Post Office moved ?

Susan

PS I've now discovered thanks to a post here the exact location of Alexander Place; the Post Office clearly had moved, because it's on the other side of the road.

[down south]

And so we've come to the end of our exploration of the 1903 directory, and it's time to move on; to the directory from 1921.

The First World War has come and gone, and Slater's directory has been taken over and is now Kelly's. But not much about the format has changed, though there are a few new features. The new phenomenon of Early Closing Days has been instituted ( according to Wikipedia they came in as part of the Shops Act of 1911, to give shopworkers the chance of some time off ) and these are now listed ; and there are complete lists not only of the post offices in each town, but even all the postboxes. Here are the links for the individual towns:

Ardrossan entry: https://archive.org/stream/slatersroyal ... 9/mode/2up

Saltcoats entry: https://archive.org/stream/slatersroyal ... 5/mode/2up

Stevenston entry: https://archive.org/stream/slatersroyal ... 7/mode/2up


And we might as well continue looking at Stevenston, since I've been reviewing the available old photos so recently.

The main Post Office has moved to New Street ; possibly quite recently, since the listing for postmaster has been left blank. It wasn't until the 1930s that the familiar one on Townhead Street was built.

Also in New Street we find a branch of the Buttercup Dairy, a chain that has arrived in all three towns; and so too has Greenlees and Sons the shoe store, whose Stevenston branch is on Fullarton Place. There's a good view of it in this picture, next to Morrison's and Banks'...and you can see too in the background that Frederick Small is still the proprietor of the Cross Keys:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nayesterd ... 752963661/

Further up the hill, we have Hugh McKechan the tailor listed at No 23 Main Street; I would guess that that address is likely to be a match for this picture:

http://www.mylargs.com/Stevenston/pages/image0.html

rather than this one, which must show another incarnation of the business; presumably at an earlier rather than a later date, since the address was still No 23 in the 1930s directory.

http://i.imgur.com/XBdmgw8.jpg

And there are a number of further Italian businesses now in the town, including the first of the Stevenston Cavanis, " Lewis " ( surely Louis ? ) at 29 Boglemart Street; Archioni Celso, with refreshment rooms in Shore Road; Serafino Togneri in New Street, and several confectioners' shops of the Suffredini family.

Susan

[down south]

It's only just struck me now that Frederick Small of the Cross Keys in Stevenston must be the same Frederick Small who was the proprietor of the Rabbie Burns in Saltcoats at the same directory date...and whose descendants were still in the local pub trade in our day.

And what a good excuse to move on now to Saltcoats in 1921. Where better to start, than with this picture which is so close to that date, showing Dockhead Street in about 1919 :

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nayesterd ... 752946059/

Not the first time we've seen it, and our earlier discussions of it can be found here .

Right in the centre of the view is the Saltcoats branch of the Buttercup Dairy, listed at No 61 Dockhead Street in the 1921 directory; and next to it is the shop of William McGavin the painter at No 63. This business had been there or thereabouts for quite some years, having first been mentioned in the directories as far back as 1886; and so too had other businesses of the McGavin/MacGavin family ( the directories vary in the spellings they give ); at various times from the 1890s on, ladies of the family were advertised as stationers and newsagents, and then as fruiterers, either at the same or a nearby address as McGavin the painters...and even in the 1935 directory, where Isabella McGavin, widow, was now at No 63, Isabel and Jean McGavin, confectioners, are listed at No 65.

On the right of the picture meanwhile we can see the bakery of Thomas Nelson at No 58; while the gable-end in the distance in the middle of the picture advertises both Breckenridge the hairdresser and McLachlan the photographer. This is the earliest mention of Breckenridge's, well-known as a Hamilton Street business in later days; the directory reveals that William Breckenridge had replaced Adam Dunlop's barbers shop ( mentioned, and pictured, earlier in this topic ) at No 39.

But the appearance of McLachlan the photographers suggests this picture might after all be a few years later than 1919, because in 1921 the photographer at No 41 is listed as Robert Turnbull; and the McLachlans definitely were there for many years after, as evidenced both by the 1935 directory and Mike McCann's memories of them here.

Susan

[down south]

McLachlans' advert is also centre stage in this other near-contemporary picture from 1926 taken from a little further up Dockhead Street. Though it's hardly the first thing you'll notice about the view, which dates from one of those rare but memorable occasions when Saltcoats could have been twinned with Venice:

http://i.imgur.com/5aQVIqz.jpg

I've chosen this version of the picture, rather than the higher-quality one on North Ayrshire Yesterdays, because more shops are visible; and one of them at least, on the right-hand side, is highly recognisable...I don't think Taylor's the chemists, with the signs for " Chemist "and " Kodak " hanging outside, had really changed much at all by the time I knew it in the sixties. Rather different with the shop just to its right; owners of a copy of the McSherrys' " Old Saltcoats ", where a better-quality copy of this version of the picture appears, will be able to see that is Gibson's bakery: No 98 both in 1921 and the 1960s , but by the latter date it had been considerably enlarged and modernised.

Another shop name readable in even this version of the picture is M S Allison on the left-hand side, which the1921 directory tells us was a fruiterer's. These are buildings that will have been swept away a few years later to make way for what became the RBS Bank.

The address listed for Miss Allison's shop is No 93 : which is interesting, because we saw a few posts ago here that in earlier days there was no No 93, with the shop that was later Fleming's, on the corner of Chapelwell Street, being numbered 89. And sure enough, Miss Maggie Arnott's greengrocery, No 89 in 1903, still exists in 1921 but is now listed at No 1 Chapelwell Street; while Hugh Campbell the stationer, No 1 in 1903, is now No 3. It's clear evidence there that there has been some renumbering at this end of the street. And ( as I anticipated in that post ) it's happened on the other side too, with Hamilton's grocery on the corner now No 114, while the ironmonger's and the butcher's have moved up to No 110 and No 112.

Susan

[down south]

What else is new in Saltcoats town centre in 1921 ? As well as the Buttercup Dairy, a few other chain stores have arrived. Greenlees shoes has taken over the existing shoeshop at No 23 Dockhead Street; a couple of doors along at No 27, we find the British and Argentine Meat Company . Buttercup also have a notable rival nearby, with the Maypole Dairy having opened their shop at No 49; there's a great picture of this shop in its early days on the front cover of " Old Saltcoats ". And it's interesting to see that the Singer Sewing Machine Company thought it worthwhile to have a store in Saltcoats; this time in Countess Street. But there's no sign of Woolworths' yet.

There is one big store in Saltcoats now though, for Ardrossan Co-op now occupies its extensive range of buildings from Green Street round to Vernon Street. And Stevenston Co-op of course is in Bradshaw Street; but the address given , No 25, suggests that in fact they weren't yet in their later shop on the corner, but much further up the street.

A few more of the familiar shop names have arrived: Wilkie's, of course, is now there in Dockhead Street ( but the corner shop they also had in Springvale Street before WW1 seems to have been short-lived ). Baillie the butcher, already of long standing in Dockhead Street, now have their Raise Street branch. Countess Street is taking on a distinctly familiar look: we now have William Anderson the tailor at No 4, M&B Muir the newsagent and tobacconist at No 6, and Gordon's fish shop at No 23, while the Lannis have moved across the street to their rightful home at No 3. No 7 isn't quite fulfilling its usual function as a bakery, though: instead it's listed as a dairy run by the Saltcoats Food Committee....an organisation which had in fact just ceased to exist ( see here ) but had been supervising local food supplies during WW1.

While we're mentioning the Italian families, the town is full of other familiar Italian names now. Archimede Pellegrini is to be found in Bradshaw Street; Tranquillo Piacentini ( wonderful names these ! ) is at both No 39 Countess Street ( the future Regal Cafe and Garden Grill ) and No 42 Hamilton Street ( the Cafe Colette ). The Cavanis, as mentioned earlier, are at No 17 Dockhead Street , and at No 13 Chapelwell Street too. And in Windmill Street the Bonaldis have arrived .

The authorities locally, it seems, were quite exercised in those days about the proliferation of these cafes and chippies; invaluable maybe for serving all those summer visitors, but viewed as dens of temptation for local youth, particularly when open on a Sunday . The article below, where proposals were being discussed for the relaxation of byelaws forbidding Sunday opening, gives a flavour of the attitudes expressed at the time; it's one of those from the early 1970s where the A&S Herald took a look back in their archives. Oh for the days when the worst that local lads got up to was domino-playing late on a Sunday evening at the local Italian cafes !

THE " PURITANICAL TIMES " OF 1922

When Saltcoats Town Council applied for confirmation of by-laws permitting places of public ( temperance ) refreshment to open for a short time on Sundays, 50 years ago, they had a hard time to win their case; the sheriff was not really in favour.

An agent for the objectors commented that some people were against anything for the convenience of the public, and wanted to go back to puritanical times, and the sheriff replied: " I am all for the puritanical times and should like to see clergymen preach more practical sermons on Sundays. "

In 1922 the council drew up by-laws regulating hours of opening of shops, and patted themselves on the back for their progressive outlook: they wanted to allow ice-cream and fish and chip shops to open on Sundays from 8 to 10 am and from 3 to 6 pm. Ten years before, the by-laws had provided for total closing on Sundays.

The provost said in evidence that there was no demand for later opening than the hours proposed and he had heard a number of complaints about these shops owing to large crowds of young people who congregated on the streets and were a nuisance to pedestrians.

In answer to one of the agents, the provost added that the complaints he had heard about these shops was that the shops kept young people hanging about at night and inside playing dominoes when they might be at home.

The sheriff: " You will never remedy that with by-laws; you have got to try some other method. "

The council, said the provost, did not consider that the fact that these shops were open late at night was conducive to the good morals of the people.

A Saltcoats minister said he was in favour of total closing on Sundays, but they wanted some sort of control over these shops.

The sheriff said: " You have police control already. If these shops attract young people it means that you and other clergymen have failed in your duty and failed to look after the young people properly. "

The minister: " That is begging the question. "

The sheriff: " The control of young people is a matter for their parents and the Church. "

The police superintendent told the sheriff that in Troon where he had been stationed before coming to Saltcoats, he found that after the by-laws were passed they had a good effect on the peace of the burgh, especially on Sundays.

The sheriff: " The difference between Saltcoats and Troon is that Troon has licensed hotels and Saltcoats has none. "

The superintendent continued, saying that Sunday trading was a disturbing element at any time. In the case of excursion parties visiting the town on Sundays the magistrates had power to grant a permit at any time to enable these parties to be catered for. His experience was that these by-laws " struck at Italian traders to the advantage of our own traders. " If these ice-cream shops did not open on Sundays, the British trader would not open.

The sheriff remarked that the magistrates seemed obsessed with the question of ice-cream shops and he questioned if anyone really wanted ice-cream or fish and chips at eight o'clock on a Sunday morning, getting no very clear answer from any witnesses.

The police superintendent said he had not had much trouble with ice-cream shops, but he had had occasion to go into a fish and chip shop to quell a disturbance and discovered 12 youths sitting round the fire. If that shop had not been open these lads would have been at home.

The sheriff: " These lads demanded big wages a few years ago with the result they are now entirely out of parental control. "

After the hearing the sheriff confirmed the by-laws " with some hesitation and great reluctance. " He said that the case for the petitioners " is extremely meagre and based upon general statements entirely wanting in specification. If it rested upon the evidence of the members of the town council I should have refused the application in the absence of any independent witnesses. I am, however, impressed by the police evidence on which alone I have confirmed the by-laws. "

Times have changed, of course, and the by-laws have become more flexible...rightly so; we have been unable to trace any evidence of young people having been corrupted to any extent by patronising the ice-cream shops, even on Sunday afternoons.

Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald, 16th June 1972

Susan

[down south]

You may have noticed the remark in the article above, that Saltcoats ( unlike Troon ) had no licensed hotels at that date. But Temperance Hotels it certainly had, three of them eagerly competing round the Cross : Alexander Goodwin's Crown Hotel, Henry Barclay's Royal Temperance Hotel, and Mrs Margaret Munro's Holly House Hotel. No mention of the Westfield Hotel though in the directory, at this date.

Other signs there are too of the holiday trade, in the number of boat hirers listed; five of them at the Quay, and one John Shedden in Windmill Street. One would guess he might have built his own boats too, and be a forebear of the later Shedden the joiner of Windmill Street.

Another worker in wood who seems to have a thriving trade in 1921, is Robert Barrowman Reid: listed as undertaker at Manse Street and Raise Street, and as a picture framer too, in Kirkgate. This business was still in existence at least till the mid-1950s, from when this advertisement dates:

That address in Manse Street would have been next door to R V Brown's photographic Studio; founded soon after WW1, but not yet in the directory in 1921. There is one other familiar name to be spotted in Manse Street though: McGinn the slater, already at his future home there of No 73a.

Also in the Raise Street area, there are still remnants of the old textile industries to be seen: there's a textile printing works in Union Street; and already, a forerunner surely of Glenhusky, an oilskin works at Factory Place.

The modern age has advanced sufficiently for the town to now boast several garages. Pringle's is now there at the old rink in Glencairn Street , and they still have their cycle shop in Hamilton Street. Opposite that, interestingly, seems to be another garage, property of Claude Hamilton Ltd. The address of No 19 , if correct, would seem to put it next to the La Scala; occupying, perhaps, that gap that in our day was filled by some rather rickety paving stones, and led through to the car park at the back; here is where I mean. James Murray of the here-y'-ares is also now listed as having a motor garage in Vernon Street; while John Syme and Sons, listed as " jobmasters " in Chapelwell Street, are another name from the article on early buses locally.

Dr Kinnier is gone now from Hamilton Street ; but Robert Wallace, MD, still has his surgery at No 12 ( and one in Stevenston too ) after over fifty years in the town; he first appeared in the directories in 1867, as " Robert Wallace junior " in Bradshaw Street .Up at the other end of the street, one William MacMillan Gilmour has taken over the new surgery built by Dr Turner. No 6 and No 34 Ardrossan Road are also doctors' houses, as they would be still in the 1960s; in the case of No 34, there's even a continuing link, for David Birrell Campbell is surely the father of Dr James Campbell of our day.

Up at the other end of Ardrossan Road meanwhile, there's definite evidence at last of the building of the new Registry Office. James E Howie is now in charge here. A man clearly keen on that Temperance cause; aside from his registry and parish roles, not only is he Chief Templar of the Good Templars Anchor Lodge, but also secretary of the Independant Order of Rechabites, which I find is another temperance organisation. ( A relief to find someone else as secretary of yet another, the League of the Cross Temperance Hall in Union Street... )

And over the road, lives George H Kemp; proprietor of , to give it its proper name, the La Scala Variety Theatre now in Hamilton Street. But not at No 70....but at No 74, " Stanleybank ", former home of the first Arthur Guthrie . I've been nursing this little disappointment for some time, since I discovered Miss Jeannie Guthrie living at No 70 in 1903 ;there had obviously been a bit of renumbering going on recently in Ardrossan Road too. I might have known really, that the Kemps, even at an early date, would live somewhere grander than my old home;see here for why I used to think that.

Susan

[Penny Tray]

but Robert Wallace, MD, still has his surgery at No 12 ( and one in Stevenston too ) after over fifty years in the town; he first appeared in the directories in 1867, as " Robert Wallace junior " in Bradshaw Street.

Susan,

By coincidence, today, I came across a reference to Doctor Wallace in the 12 April 1938 edition of the Glasgow Herald. I was going to keep it for the "THIS DAY IN HISTORY TOPIC" but here it is -

ANONYMOUS DONATION FOR GLASGOW INFIRMARY IN MEMORY OF AYRSHIRE PRACTITIONER

An anonymous gift of £100, sent as an "in memoriam" tribute to an Ayrshire doctor, has been received by the Western Infirmary, Glasgow.

The gift arrived in a registered letter containing five £20 notes. With the money came only a half sheet of notepaper bearing a request that it should be acknowledged in a newspaper advertisement. The Infirmary published its thanks in "The Glasgow Herald" in the form suggested:-

"The Western Infirmary acknowledges with thanks receipt of £100 in memory of ROBERT WALLACE, M.D. (Saltcoats), and sisters."

Dr. Wallace who died some years ago, was for a long period a medical practitioner in Saltcoats but had no official association with the Western Infirmary.

One of his relatives stated yesterday that he knew nothing of the gift, but suggested that it might be a gesture of gratitude from a former patient.

[down south]

Thanks for that fascinating additional detail, PT. Shows once again how much these long-serving local doctors of the old days were appreciated.

Susan

[down south]

And from Ardrossan Road, it's only a step to take us finally to Ardrossan. In fact, it's worth lingering here for just a moment, to note that the new registry office was also now the headquarters of the Ardrossan Parish Council. But while James E Howie was taking the register here for the Old Ardrossan, ie Saltcoats, part of the parish, James Fullerton the ironmonger was still registrar for the New Ardrossan entries, at his Glasgow Street shop.

And the central part of the Fullertons in Ardrossan civic life at this date is confirmed by the fact that George Fullerton is listed as the postmaster. Maybe not the same George Fullerton who was postmaster at Saltcoats a generation earlier, but another younger member of the family ? Ardrossan also now has a sub-post-office, at 214 Glasgow Street, with Mrs Margaret Shearer in charge there.

Interesting also to see that there is a doctor again in residence at Bath House, former home of Dr Macfadzean : Dr John Macdonald, one of the official medical officers of Ardrossan Parish. But, oh what a comedown for the Earl of Eglinton's Pavilion House ! ...it's now advertised as a boarding house , as are several others along the Crescent.

Understandably there hasn't been a lot of new building in the town in a period including the war years, but Anderson Terrace is a new entry; I must say I didn't realise there was any private housing there, but then those aren't parts of town I know. The great era of council house building, of course, is soon to begin just after this date.

But Ardrossan Academy now proudly boasts its new gymnasium, and goes under the title of Higher Grade School and Training Centre for Junior Students.

Ardrossan, like Saltcoats, now has its first cinema ( and also like Saltcoats, has had more than one ). The Princes, later the Lyric, doesn't quite make it into this directory , since it only opened in 1921; but we do have the cinema in Bute Place, named as the Winton Cinema with the Kemp family as proprietors. And here's another little mystery solved. Not only does this conclusively prove that the Kemps did indeed take over that cinema, but it explains the odd name " Winter Cinema " listed for Ardrossan in the historic cinemas website, previously discussed [url=http:/www.threetowners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=98133#p98133]here[/url]....it was a mistake for " Winton ".

I'd always thought the Princes Cinema was purpose-built, but this picture, which must be of the era just before it I should think, shows a very similar-looking building indeed on that site, so perhaps it wasn't:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nayesterd ... 877299112/

The main feature here though is the Station Hotel, the new name for the former Railway Hotel; fascinating to see how it stretched along above the shops as far as the corner of Hill Street. The directory indicates that it like the Saltcoats hotels was now a convert to the Temperance cause; but there still seems to be a Station Bar next door... in this picture, at any rate.

Meanwhile at the Eglinton Arms, up at the other end of the street, the facilities have been updated for the motor age. In the last directory a posting establishment still operated out of the Eglinton Arms stables ; but now the Saltcoats General Transport Co Ltd, motor car proprietors, advertise themselves at the Eglinton Arms garage. I would guess that might be the origin of theCentral Garage that still stood next to the hotel in our day .

Susan