King Street c1905

Auctioneer and valuer Ben Johnson and Sons moved into the building on the left after Parr’s Bank moved out to a newly built premises on the junction with Campbell Street in 1902 (later the NatWest Bank). The confectionery shop next door belonged to Mrs Martha Holmes.

The Rose and Crown on the right used to have extensive stabling, but much of it was sold off to allow the building of the Palace Cinema in 1912. The pub itself was rebuilt in the inter-war period, then closed in the 1980s, when Boots the Chemist took it over.

The Rose and Crown appears in the earliest trade directory covering Belper, in 1811. William Aldred was the landlord. The Strutt Nightwatchmen’s Reports of 1833-6 mention the Rose and Crown. On May 27th 1833, at midnight ‘Anthony Smith went from Alldread’s making a great noise up King Street’. The spelling of the surname changed, but it is the same William Alldread.