Days Gone By: The changing face of Majors Corner and St Margaret’s Street

A trolley bus heading for a stop in St Margaret's Street, Ipswich, in February 1963. Botwoods garage and showrooms are on the left Picture: ALAN VALENTINE (Image: Dave Kindred)

The short section of St Margaret’s Street, Ipswich, where the cinema opened in 1991, has seen many changes over past decades.

In this week’s Days Gone By I feature some of the changes in the area between Majors Corner and Woodbridge Road.

The site, where the cinema was built in 1990, was on the site of a row of small shops, most of which were demolished in the 1960s.

The junction of Old Foundry Road (left) St Margaret's Street at Majors Corner in the 1890s. The building on the left was replaced in the early years of the twentieth century. Botwoods garage stood on the site in the background. This is now the site of the former Odeon cinema. The photograph was taken from Carr Street Picture: HARRY WALTERS (Image: Dave Kindred)

Part of the site was also occupied by Botwoods Ltd and Mann Egertons garage, which was completed in 1924.

Majors Corner was named after property owner and dyer, Joshua Major, who owned a tenement there.

He was appointed as one of the surveyors of North Ward in 1659 and the junction became known as Majors Corner.

This battery tower wagon, built by Ransomes Sims and Jefferies, was being used to take down the trolley bus cables when Alan Valentine took this photograph at Majors Corner, Ipswich, in September 1963. Amazingly the same vehicle, with solid tyres, was used to install the cables for the trolley buses in the 1920s. Do you remember when this rather ugly machine was in use? Carr Street and Old Foundry Lane are in the background Picture: ALAN VALENTINE (Image: Dave Kindred)

Do you remember any of the shops and businesses featured? To submit a letter, in less than 300 words, write to David Kindred, Days Gone By, Ipswich Star/EADT, Portman House, 120 Princes Street, Ipswich, IP1 1RS or e-mail info@kindred-spirit.co.uk

Crowds lined the streets of Ipswich in June 1930 during a visit by the Prince of Wales who toured the town in an open topped car. The Regent theatre in the background opened the year before. This view of Majors Corner has the Beehive public house on the right Picture: DAVID KINDRED ARCHIVE (Image: Dave Kindred)

The Odeon Cinema being built on the site between St Margaret's Street and Woodbridge Road, Ipswich, in 1990. It closed in 2005 Picture: CHARLIE GIRLING (Image: Dave Kindred)

These buildings, at the junction of Old Foundry Road and Carr Street, at Majors Corner, were due to be demolished when this photograph was taken in 1968. They were then home to Avis Cook electrical goods dealers, Saronys photographers and W Broughton shoe repairers Picture: DAVID KINDRED ARCHIVE (Image: Dave Kindred)

The Beehive Inn, at the corner of Carr Street and Upper Orwell Street, Ipswich, opened on Christmas Eve 1899. It was built on the site of an oddly named beerhouse, the Shoulder of Mutton and a Round of Beef. The Beehive closed in March 1960 and was demolished. An Elmo supermarket opened on the site. The building is now a restaurant. This photograph was taken in the 1950s Picture: DAVID KINDRED ARCHIVE (Image: Dave Kindred)

The Queen came to Ipswich in 1961. Crowds greeted her at Majors Corner as she toured the town by car. The supermarket which replaced the Beehive Inn is on the left of this picture taken from the Regent theatre, then the Gaumont Picture: DAVID KINDRED ARCHIVE (Image: Dave Kindred)

Majors Corner, Ipswich, around 1925, looking towards St Helens Street. Botwoods and Egerton's garage and showrooms are on the left. The Regent opened as a cinema on the site next to the garage and showrooms in 1929. The County Hall is in the background Picture: DAVID KINDRED ARCHIVE (Image: Dave Kindred)

Victory in Europe Day, in May 1945, saw thousands of people on the streets celebrating. A huge queue formed to buy Ipswich made Peters ice-cream on a site between Old Foundry Road and St Margarets Street Picture: GEORGE WILDEN COURTESY STOWMARKET HISTORY GROUP (Image: Dave Kindred)

A policeman on point duty at the junction of St Margaret's Street, Woodbridge Road and Great Colman Street, Ipswich, was a familiar site for drivers until traffic lights were installed in the 1960s. Do you remember police officers on point duty or know who this is? Picture: DAVID KINDRED ARCHIVE (Image: Dave Kindred)

Majors Corner from Upper Orwell Street, Ipswich, in the early years of the twentieth century. All of the buildings featured have been replaced Picture: HARRY WALTERS (Image: Dave Kindred)

St Margaret's Street, Ipswich, in November 1933. The shops on the left were then due for demolition The Odeon cinema was built in the early 1990s opposite these buildings Picture: GUY MAYNARD COURTESY COLCHESTER AND IPSWICH MUSEUM (Image: Dave Kindred)

The site of the Odeon cinema building in St Margarets Street, Ipswich, now due to be converted to a church, as it was in the mid 1930s. It was then a busy row of shops including H Sugar, greengrocer, Herbert Havel gramophone dealers and Leonard Payne ladies and gentlemen hairdressers Picture: GUY MAYNARD COURTESY COLCHESTER AND IPSWICH MUSEUM (Image: Dave Kindred)

Shops in St Margaret's Street, Ipswich, photographed from near the junction with Great Colman Street in 1934 Picture: GUY MAYNARD COURTESY COLHESTER AND IPSWICH MUSEUM (Image: Dave Kindred)

A crowd gathered at Majors Corner, Ipswich, around 1910, to watch a parade pass by. The County Hall in St Helens Street is in the centre background Picture: DAVID KINDRED ARCHIVE (Image: Dave Kindred)