J.A. Baker, Fruitery & Florist, Transport Lane, Longton

Stoke-on-Trent - photo of the week

contents: 2013 photos

J.A. Baker, Fruitery & Florist, Transport Lane, Longton

J.A. Baker, Fruitery & Florist, Transport Lane, Longton
Transport Lane (originally Market Lane) runs behind the indoor market,
off The Strand

photo kindly supplied by Harold Gallimore - taken in the early 1960's

Transport Lane in 2012 - on the left the Indoor Market still stands,
on the right a clothes shop replaces J.A. Baker, Fruitery & Florist

This area of Longton was demolished in the early 1960's and replaced
with a modern shopping arcade 'Bennett Precinct' which opened in 1965

Google Maps

in the early 1960's old shops and redundant bottle kilns were
demolished to make way for a modern shopping centre

Bennett Precinct in Longton was not named after the writer Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) but by the 1950/60's councillor Albert Bennett...

"Councillor Albert Bennett set about changing the face of Stoke-on-Trent. Seeing that little physical development had occurred and certainly nothing of any architectural value had been built since 1910, his philosophy was simple - too many buildings of little economic value were occupying sites of great monetary value; the old should move over for the new.

He argued forcefully for modernisation against many who saw his plans as a reckless assault upon the City's architectural heritage. Purposeless buildings no matter how historic, Bennett said, should be forfeited or else Stoke-on-Trent would remain stuck in the past.

Nor did Bennett ignore the other towns. Plant's designs for the reconstruction of Longton town centre were also implemented as the novelty of precinct shopping caught on."

this 1955 map shows the centre of Longton town - Transport Lane is marked in blue

on the left a 1955 map and on the right a 2000 map of the same area
Transport Lane runs behind the indoor market

this 1898 map shows many pottery bottle kilns in the area replaced by the shopping centre
in the early 1950's Stafford Street was renamed The Strand and earlier
Market Lane had been renamed Transport Lane

contents: 2013 photos

Related links...

People who made the Potteries - Plant and Bennett

"Plant's designs for the reconstruction of Longton town centre were also implemented as the novelty of precinct shopping caught on. Similar projects were launched in Burslem starting with the controversial demolition of the Victorian market superseded by open-air leisure space. Like Longton's Bennett Precinct, Burslem's Bennett Gardens was named after the council's radical leader."

Longton is like a tureen of soup
"By that I mean it’s a big mix of essential ingredients added over a long time to make a concoction of wholesomeness. But as the years have passed the ingredients have lost their nutrition and the once rich content has become thinner and weaker. What once started out as a rich stew is now as insipid as a poor man’s broth..."