Haywards Heath, The Crossroads c.1950

Photo ref: H252006

More about this scene

Most people travelled by public transport, as car ownership was not yet widespread. However, the number of private cars was increasing all the time, partly thanks to the Coventry Motor Works, centrally situated on the Broadway and dealing with all motorists' needs. The site was originally part of the large gardens of Arnolds, a private residence accessed from the adjacent Church Road. The original proprietor was Edward (Ted) Hoadley. The business later became part of the Caffyn chain of garages, and so it remained until 1985, when Caffyns consolidated their premises into their existing building next to the railway station. The Broadway site was then demolished and replaced by a parade of retail units with offices above. The Broadway was originally flanked on its eastern side by the extensive garden of Arnolds, whilst opposite was a mixture of residential houses whose large rear gardens stretched down a rather steep slope to the railway line. Needless to say, all was about to change. The houses were soon adapted for business use, either by being altered, or by being demolished and rebuilt; this pattern was repeated throughout the succeeding decades and in other areas of the town. The eastern side of the Broadway was totally transformed: in the early 1930s Arnolds Cottage, a double- fronted late Victorian villa, was demolished, to be replaced by a single-storey terrace of shops with a bank at each end. The Midland Bank (now HSBC) was one of the first businesses to come to the Broadway, and it stayed in the Broadway until 2004, when it moved to new premises in South Road. Their next door neighbours Macmillans, a family butcher's, closed in 1988 after almost 60 years of trading.