What was that?

This building at 29 Wellington Street, which currently houses Autowork, was originally a coal depot. It was built by a merchant who collected the coal which was delivered from the Midlands by barge on the nearby canal. The merchant owned two horse-drawn carts and the horses were stabled at the back of the building – they grazed with other animals on land where the houses of Great Clarendon Street now stand. Sometime during the early 1920s the height of the entrance was raised to accommodate motorized vehicles – scrape marks can be seen on the brickwork of the building where the lorries only just managed to squeeze in. Note also the clover-leaf design at the apex of the roof. In 1929 a Mr Walford bought the business. In 1969 John Aldworth and his son Martin took over the premises and converted them to a car repair workshop. The car in the picture is a vintage Alvis which Martin owns and which he is now restoring to its former glory.