History of Mill Road end of Gwydir Street including Dales Brewery The section of Gwydir Street from Hooper Street to Mill Road wasn’t developed until the 1870s because there was a proposal to build a spur from the Railway Station to Clarendon Street. Once this was rejected, the plots of housing land went on sale and were bought by developers, some as multiple plots such as Lorne Terrace and Gothic Terrace while others were bought individually. The plots were all a little wider than previously developed. Some of these individual plots were built a little taller with increased specifications and details obviously in an attempt to make this section of the street even more up-market and profitable. 175 for example has a double-sized front window and curved windows in the front bedroom and its first occupant in 1881 was Mr James Burton, a 46 year old blind man who lived there with his wife and two domestic servants. However within ten years, it became clear that the western side of Gwydir Street was regarded as much less desirable than the east, possibly because of the presence of the Workhouse at the end of the garden. In 1891 No 175 was occupied by William Beasley, a 75 year old Bricklayer, his wife and five grown up children who are listed as a traveller, 2 painters and a stay-maker – no domestic servants then and I wonder where they all slept! It is estimated that rents on the west side of the street were between £8-25 per year but on the east £8 was the maximum. No 184 Gothic House, on the east side of the road, is the largest of the houses near Mill Road and has always remained up-market. Fronting onto Mill Road on the east side of the road was a large imposing house owned by a doctor that was demolished in 1927 for the Bath House allowing many occupants of Gwydir and the surrounding streets their first access to hot, personal-use-only baths. The Bath House was still in operation into the 1970s. In 1874 the Brewery at the top of Gwydir Street was owned by Pitson & Newman and passed to Percy Dyball and in 1880 John Pamplin took it over, no one seemed to be able to make a go of it and in 1889 it was closed and used as stabling. Finally in 1902 Frederick Dale moved his brewery from behind the British Queen on Histon Road into the premises that still bear his name. Dales expanded rapidly following the award in 1911 of the best beer at the Brewers International Exhibition. A seven-foot replica of the trophy stood on the roof until the 1960s. In 1912 buildings were expanded and several houses were bought: 181, 179 (neither of which survive) 177 and 175 to house employees and to acquire their gardens to build onto. The water required for brewing was taken from a bore hole (180ft deep into the lower green sand, very pure) and still exists in the garden of 177. Half of the garden of 175 became a brick-built bottle store and was finally re-acquired back as a garden in 2000. Dales also bought Nos. 188,190 and 192 as well as the orchard in what is now the Gwydir Street car park which was used first as stabling for the delivery horses and drays and more recently vans and lorries. The concrete plinths near the side of No. 192 are where the petrol pumps stood. By 1946 there had been some modernisation to many of the houses. Many had a bath and geyser fitted in the third bedroom upstairs but toilets were still outside in a shed. Cooking was mostly done on a range with only a cold water tap in the kitchen and fireplaces were still in everyday use, coal was the common fuel, central heating still being many years away as were fitted carpets. Flooring was lino covered with rugs and the houses were so cold that during the winter, water froze in the glass beside the bed. Washing was done with the help of a gas boiler and tub but since brewing day was also Monday, beware the smell when hanging out the washing! Sold to Whitbread in 1955, brewing ceased in 1958 and the site was used as a depot and stores. By the 1960s Gwydir Street was still an unfashionable area, housing was cheap and many properties were rented. Whitbread closed the site in 1966 and sold the site to the Council who used empty houses to re-house many people from the Kite which had become very run-down as its future was undecided. When the Arbury Estate was opened in the 1970s many council tenants were re-housed there and more properties on Gwydir Street became available for sale. The Brewery buildings were let to several different organisations including a foreign language school. In 1982 after a vociferous debate it was decided that these buildings were not suitable for housing development and the current arrangement of antique shops, offices and stores was developed.

If you want to investigate any ancestors who lived in Gwydir Street, these might help your research.