Cheltenham in the 1950s

Cheltenham in the 1950s was changing fast. GCHQ moved to Cheltenham in 1952 and and Cheltenham Borough Council agreed to build sufficient housing to accommodate GCHQ employees and so Hester’s Way and Benhall estates came to being. Then “Princess” Elizabeth officially opened the estate with the planting of a tree in March 1951 and works began in Orchard Avenue / Bramley Road area, one of the oldest developments in the estate.

As Cheltenham’s new suburbs were emerging, changes had been under way in the town centre as well. Many old houses and shops were cleared in many areas, such as Pittville Street and Albion Street, to make way for more modern premises and wider roads. In the mid-1950s Royal Well bus station was developed. When rationing finished and branded fuel was reintroduced in 1953, the Black and White Coach Company started to prosper again. During the pre-war years this well established firm was the largest long-distance coach operator in the country. The trip to London in the pre-motorway days took 6 stops – Northleach, Burford, Witney, Oxford, High Wycombe and Uxbridge. Despite this, horse-drawn vehicles could still be seen in Cheltenham – your coal from Coop was delivered this way and the rag-and-bone man with his pony was a familiar sight about the town.

As the country recovered from the war, so did Cheltenham and the High Street was once again great destination for shopping. Peter Robinson (where WHSmith’s now stands) was a must when shopping for ladies’ garments, jewellers Saqui & Laurence which stood at the junction of High Street and Pittville Street, offered a wide range of jewelry and Raeburn Photographic near Pittville Gates took portraits of Cheltenham children in their Sunday best with a cuddly horse and tin model car as their props. There were Marguerite’s, the florist, Banks, the stationer and book shop, Nixon’s china and glassware, Ayris, the frock shop, F. J. Foice, the hairdresser, and Dale Forty, selling musical instruments and sheet music. James Dicks & Sons was also very popular local business, originally drapers and now expanding with china and carpet departments.

And let’s not forget E. L. Ward’s department store (located where Primark now stands), which in 1951 celebrated its 50th anniversary, having 26 departments on three floors connected with lifts, opened by operators in blue livery coats. At Christmas the basement became Santa’s grotto – in 1950 over 30,000 children came to see Santa there. When you paid for your goods at Ward’s, the assistant didn’t put it in a till, instead the money was dropped into a brass cylinder and attached to an overhead wire. The assistant then pulled a chain and the money were whizzed off to the cashier who whizzed back the change. On Saturdays at the ground floor of the department store you could have had your portrait drawn in charcoal by an artist called Laz.

In 1955 The Gaumont cinema (what is now former Odeon) in Winchcombe street began staging acts. Famous acts such as The Goons with Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan, comedian Max Wall and Billy “Wakey Wakey!” Cotton and his band. In 1957 Petula Clark, supported by Ken Dodd, appeared in Cheltenham and 9 March that year Bill Hailey with his Comets hit the stage of Odeon. Fears of Odeon being ripped to pieces by teddy boys incited by this “devil’s music” proved to be unfounded.

It wasn’t until the late 1950s that TV started to make impact. Programmes were only broadcast for a few hours a day and the TV sets were very expensive. For most people, the wireless was the main source of entertainment throughout the 1950s. Another way of passing an evening for Cheltenham teenagers was to go to dances at the Town Hall to dance to local bands such as Bill Hartland Band, the Al Kessel Band, or the Tilley Brothers Band.

Cheltenham’s café culture once again flourished. The Cadena café had two branches – one at the Prom opposite to the Neptune Fountain and another near Lloyd’s Bank in the High Street. The Cake Basket was in Montpellier Walk, Brunners in Winchcombe Street and Geraldine’s at the end of the terrace where Municipal Offices are.

After the Second World War most Cheltenham children learnt to swim at the Alstone Baths in Great Western Road. The big pool featured balconies along its length where parents could sit on wooden benches. Beneath the balconies were changing cubicles.