IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Bransford Road, WORCESTER, WR2 4EU

Formerly part of a garage premises and former MOT testing station. Since the photograph was taken in August 2013, this building has been demolished and the site is now used by a Toyota car dealership.

This day nursery is housed in a building which used to be a parish hall.

At the time this photo was taken in January 2015, the pub had been closed several months and already the large name sign above the bay window had been removed. Later this area was repainted. Above the entrance door on the right the pub's name still remained but this had been removed by the time I re-photographed it in November 2015. Unfortunately the January photo does suffer from having been taken directly into the sun but I feel it is of interest because of the subsequent changes. November 2015 photograph:- Image

The front part of the former Cinderella Shoe Works of J.F. Willis Ltd has now been converted into residential apartments. See:- Image

This public house, which in recent years was a free house, appears to have closed around April 2014. Since then some of the signage has been removed - there used to be a large name sign above the bay window at the front. When it was open it had two bars and a skittles alley. It normally kept M & B Brew XI on tap and a guest beer. It seems at present to be in use as residential accommodation. Image In an earlier photograph from January 2015,it can be seen that the pub's name also used to be above the entrance door on the right. Image

Although this public house appears to have closed around April 2014 this sign currently remains at first floor level. There also used to be a much larger name sign above the bay window. Why Worcestershire pubs should be named after the County of Herefordshire is a bit of a mystery to me, but there is still a pub of the same name at Stanford Bishop near Worcester. There was also at one time another in the city of Worcester in Newport Street. Maybe there were others. Image

This excellent frontage has been conserved, renovated and converted to apartments. The chimney and sheds behind have been demolished.

Worcester at one time had a thriving boot and shoe manufacturing industry. One of the largest firms in Victorian times was run by Henry Willis, who was joined by his brother John in 1860. The name Cinderella was an early example of a brand name. In 1914, by which time Henry had died, his brother moved production from their factory in College Street to this new factory in Watery Lane. It was designed by Brown and Mayor of Northampton, another centre of the shoe industry, so they probably had previous experience in this field. Unfortunately the business declined and went through some changes of ownership. In its last years it was owned by and manufacturing footwear for Great Universal Stores, the mail order catalogue firm. This ceased in around 1976. Subsequently the premises were used by Kays & Morses, both part of GUS in connection with the mail order business. By 2005 the premises were no longer used. It was acquired by Barratts, the housing developers, and they retained the front part and converted it into apartments known as Cinderella Court. The extensive rear of the former factory was demolished and houses built on the site, the main access to which is from Bransford Road. When this photograph was taken in August 2013, there were apartments still available. Image

The former Cinderella Shoe Works of J.F. Willis Ltd, built by Brown & Mayor, 1914. Now flats. More info here Image

Modern apartments in the popular suburb of St. John's.