Multiple Brands - Caffyn's Ltd, King Street, East Grinstead, Sussex 1950's
The centre of attention of this postcard is the "Radio Centre" - a large art deco cinema in East Grinstead the loss of which is much mourned by locals according to much of what I have read on the internet. However I'm much more interested in the imposing premises of Caffyns who had many outlets in the Sussex area in the era in which this photo was taken. Amazingly the cinema was demolished in the early 1990's and a new one built long before Caffyn's premises, another fine art deco structure, finally bit the dust just a handful of years ago. The view in 2008 shows the garage premises largely as they are in this photo whereas the old Radio Centre had long since been replaced. www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.1261717,-0.0093421,3a,75y,69.94... The timeline through Google Streetview shows it all happening with the building being prepared for demolition in 2014, mostly demolished by May 2015 and totally flattened by October 2015. Then in September 2016 a totally new generic and dull structure has come in its place and the following April it still not completed.
There are more images of Caffyn's here showing it as a Vauxhall Dealer shopfrontelegy.wordpress.com/2016/01/22/caffyns/
Multiple Brands - Caffyn's Ltd, King Street, East Grinstead, Sussex 1950's
The centre of attention of this postcard is the "Radio Centre" - a large art deco cinema in East Grinstead the loss of which is much mourned by locals according to much of what I have read on the internet. However I'm much more interested in the imposing premises of Caffyns who had many outlets in the Sussex area in the era in which this photo was taken. Amazingly the cinema was demolished in the early 1990's and a new one built long before Caffyn's premises, another fine art deco structure, finally bit the dust just a handful of years ago. The view in 2008 shows the garage premises largely as they are in this photo whereas the old Radio Centre had long since been replaced. www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.1261717,-0.0093421,3a,75y,69.94... The timeline through Google Streetview shows it all happening with the building being prepared for demolition in 2014, mostly demolished by May 2015 and totally flattened by October 2015. Then in September 2016 a totally new generic and dull structure has come in its place and the following April it still not completed.
There are more images of Caffyn's here showing it as a Vauxhall Dealer shopfrontelegy.wordpress.com/2016/01/22/caffyns/