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Paternoster Row, KIDDERMINSTER, DY11 6RU

At the end of Crowther Street is the large St. Johns Club. It may have started life as a traditional working men's club, as over the entrance door it says "St. Johns Club & Institute". However it appears to be known today as "St. Johns Social Club". The entrance to the club's car park is along a passage to the right of the car park sign.

Another view of the Social Club, looking in the opposite direction from the previous photograph Image

This view shows part of the side of the club and the green it overlooks. There are some picnic tables here. The notices on the fence instruct that flat shoes must be worn on the green at all times. Image

This impressive building was formerly part of King Charles I Grammar School and has a beamed and vaulted oak ceiling, oak panelled walls and stone-mullioned high arch windows. It was used for a while as a Registry Office but is now empty. The school was originally founded around 1566 by Thomas Blount, Esq., Lord of the Manor of Kidderminster. It was in the chantry of the Parish Church of St. Mary and All Saints from 1566 until 1848, when it moved to the site known as Woodfield, on the Bewdley Road. It was granted its royal charter in 1636 by King Charles I and was the only school in England to bear his name. The Hall built about 1848 is a listed building.

As far as vehicles are concerned, St. Johns Street is a cul-de-sac. The only access is via Crowther Street. The road is very full with parked vehicles. On the left can be seen The King Billy public house. Image Image

On a dull New Year's Day there is very little traffic on this normally very busy roundabout. Here two parts of Kidderminster's so-called ring road (it's only a partial ring) Proud Cross Ringway and Park Butts Ringway meet with Bewdley Road and Chapel Street. Presumably the strange names of the sections of the ring road relate to areas or things which were flattened to enable the road to be built.

These shops are in Bewdley Road between Paternoster Row and the roundabout on the Ring Road, and opposite the closed Prince Albert pub. There are 6 shops including William Hill the bookmakers and Bewdley Road Fish Bar.

This public house has been closed and boarded up for some years. It probably faces demolition as there is no sign to show that it is for sale or to let. Many pubs in Kidderminster have closed in the last few years, for example Image and Image Even relatively modern pubs are not safe Image

The depressing sight of another boarded up pub in Kidderminster, seen from Paternoster Row opposite. For another view Image

The sign which hung at the front of this closed pub has unfortunately gone, though the bracket to which it was attached is still in place as can be seen from this view Image Fortunately there is still a sign showing a picture of the Prince on the wall at one end of the pub. The pub is named after Prince Albert, who was the consort of Queen Victoria. The Queen died in 1901 but the Prince died much earlier in 1861. Possibly the pub was named after the Prince in his lifetime.