149-150, North Street, Brighton

Image: © Simon Carey Taken: 20 Sep 2015

Number one hundred and forty nine was originally two shops that were not combined until the late 1930s. 149a has seen a large number of businesses pass through including Eastmans the butcher and Maynards who would eventually move to Image One hundred and forty nine had spent a century as a carrier office the last Durtnalls continued into the 1960s as a haulage business. They were replaced by the opticians Dixeys which continued to trade here until the shop was demolished in 1962. One hundred and fifty appears to have either been used as an office or workshop until the late 1860s when it became the main office for the Brighton Gazette until they moved out in 1910. The paper was a weekly publication that was produced from 1821 until 1985 when it became the Brighton & Hove Leader. The offices were rebuilt as the Cinema De Luxe which seated 529 and operated until 1942 when much of the interior was destroyed by a fire. The building remained derelict into the 1950s with the occasional plan to reopen as a cinema though by the early 1960s viewing habits were changing with the advent of television. As a consequence it was demolished in 1962 and rebuilt as part of the Prudential House redevelopment of the late 1960s After the rebuild one hundred and forty nine was initially an office then a hi fi dealer which went bust around 1976, couple of boutiques and then for thirty years an opticians, initially Batemans and from 2008 Vision Express who had taken them over. They moved out in 2015 and the store has become a charity shop run by the RSPB. One hundred and fifty were also offices until the early 1970s when Northern Rock building society moved and remained here until the late 1990s after which they decided to concentrate on its single branch further down the road at Image For ten years it was a charity shop and since 2009 has been a branch of Greggs. OLD IMAGES Number 150, pre 1910 - http://regencysociety-jamesgray.com/volume21/source/jg_21_108.html Number 149,1950s - http://regencysociety-jamesgray.com/volume21/source/jg_21_110.html Cinema de Luxe, 1935 - http://www.brightonfilm.com/cinemas/Cinema-de-Luxe.htm Cinema de luxe, 1959 - http://regencysociety-jamesgray.com/volume21/source/jg_21_109.html Numbers 148-150 being demolished, 1962 - http://regencysociety-jamesgray.com/volume21/source/jg_21_117.html OCCUPANTS 149a 1845-1850 - SADLER (William Hope 1845, Charles Searle 1846-50) 1852 - WATCHMAKER (T Boxell) 1854 - CONFECTIONER (Edward Chatfield) 1859-1892 - CUTLER/STEAMGRINDER ( H Hurst) 1894-1903 - BUTCHER (Eastmans Ltd) 1904-1928 - CONFECTIONER (Maynards) 1930-1931 - WALLPAPER MERCHANT (Blakely & Morris) 1932-1936 - BOOK REPOSITORY (The Coastal Libraries) 1938-1939 - HANDBAGS (Vogue Handbags) 149 1833-1928 - CARRIERS (Hope & Co 1833, William Hope 1846, Hope & Durtnall 1856, Durtnalls Ltd 1862-1928) 1930-1960 - OPTICIANS (Dixey) Rebuilt 1968-1972 - OFFICE (Prudential Assurance Ltd) 1973-1976 - HI FI DEALER (Sounds Unlimited) 1977-1986 - BOUTIQUE (Downtown, Sybils 1977 only, Topwear 1981-86) 1985-2015 - OPTICIANS (Batemans 1985-2008, Vision Express 2008-15) 2015- - CHARITY STORE (RSPB) 150 1822-1833 - BROKER (Samuel Weller) 1845-1848 - UPHOLSTERER & CABINET MAKER (Charles Weller) 1852-1862 - UPHOLSTERER & CARPET WAREHOUSE (Hall & Harding - also undertakers) 1865 - BANK (English Joint Stock Bank) 1868-1910 - OFFICES (Brighton Gazette) REBUILD 1911-1942 - THEATRE/CINEMA (Theatre Deluxe 1911-27, Cinema Deluxe 1928-42) - Destroyed by fire REBUILD 2 1968-1972 - OFFICES (Prudential Assurance Ltd) 1973-1996 - BUILDING SOCIETY (Northern Rock) 1999-2009 - CHARITY SHOP (Martlets Hospice) 2009-2015 - BAKERS (Greggs)

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