25 Sydney Street

Image: © Simon Carey Taken: 24 Jul 2011

Currently occupied by the only charity shop on the street, discounting Amnesty’s book shop. It was originally a private residence that was converted around 1910 into a Chinese laundry before briefly becoming a newsagents and then spending a long period of time as a greengrocer. At the end of the 1960s it seemed to have become empty with no trade listed until 1974 when Rayford Electrics make an appearance. At a hunch I’m guessing they moved here temporarily during the rebuilding of Image as by 1977 it was an antiques shop that also specialised in Edwardian reproduction furniture. From the early 1980s it was an office equipment shop with a section specialising in typewriters which it shared with another contemporary business operating out of Image After that there is a brief return to antiques before becoming a copy and print shop. Since 1995 it has been home to the charity shop run by Alzheimers Society. OCCUPANTS 1910: Chinese Laundry 1911: GREENGROCER: J Bridger 1913-14: NEWSAGENT: A Frederick 1915-69: GREENGROCER: WH Marsh (1915-20), Stephenson (1921-22), Luke Clarke (1923), J Cox (1925-54), G Bailey (1954-56), A Banks (1958), Berrystone (1959-69) 1974: ELECTRICAL RETAILER: Rayford Electrics 1977-78: ANTIQUES: AJ Kowalski 1981-82: OFFICE EQUIPMENT: Welco Marketing (UK) Ltd 1984: ANTIQUES: Kitchenalia 1986-95: PRINT SHOP: DPH Copy & Cards 1995-2011: CHARITY SHOP: Alzheimers

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