High Street - Cradley

Businesses in the High Street, Cradley in the 1920s and 1930s

The Cradley Then & Now group's Sam Taylor has searched his memories of the businesses and major buildings in Cradley's High Street back in the 1920s and 1930s.

We have compared Sam's recollections with the contents of the Kelly's Directory 1924. There is a remarkable coincidence of names and trades, confirming that Sam's memory is very sound indeed. There are a few cases where a name or business is remembered by Sam but not recorded by Kelly's, and vice versa. However, most of the differences are accounted for by the fact that not all businesses chose to be represented in the Directory. Moreover, the Directory is a snapshot in time (1924) whereas Sam's memory is of a period.

In a small number of cases Jill Guest has added snippets of information or queries, and these are indicated in italics.

It is interesting to note that there are just two businesses with a telephone number: Jones & Lloyd are "TN 33" and the Talbot Hotel is "TN 100".

We have presented the information in two tables, the first for the east side and the second for the west side of the High Street. In both cases, we start from the river Stour, the boundary between Cradley and Cradley Heath, and work our way up the hill towards Colley Gate.

Many of these shops, and their proprietors, were still trading in the 1950s and 1960s, and even later. However, today Cradley does not have a High Street. The entire length has been renamed Colley Lane, a continuation of the street of that name. Ostensibly the re-naming was to avoid any confusion with other High Streets in the district, although it is a sad fact that today (2007) and for some years now, the old "High Street" shops are mostly gone and local shopping is almost a thing of the past.

Table 1 - Cradley High Street, east side Table 2 - Cradley High Street, West Side