Basingstoke, Market Place And Town Hall c.1955
Photo ref: B31026
Made in Britain logo

Photo ref: B31026
Photo of Basingstoke, Market Place And Town Hall c.1955

More about this scene

George Formby made a film here in 1944. Cars are parked by the town hall; it was home to the Galaxy Club from 1964 to 1966, and Screaming Lord Sutch and his Raving Savages, Lulu, and John Mayall's Blues Breakers featuring Eric Clapton, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie all performed here. Fleetwood and McVie formed Fleetwood Mac. When the Spencer Davies Group performed here, tickets cost 7s 6d. Other performers were the Troggs from Andover and David Bowie. The Town Hall is now the Willis Museum. The Market Place is pedestrianised, and there is a market on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Lloyds Bank is still on the far left. The road with no entry signs (right) is Wote Street, home to the Haymarket Theatre.

A Selection of Memories from Basingstoke

For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our website to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was, prompted by the photographs in our archive. Here are some from Basingstoke

Sparked a Memory for you?

If this has sparked a memory, why not share it here?

I started at Fairfield's Infant School as a 5 year old in 1958. I think my teacher was a Mrs Spicer, and I was always thankful it wasn't Miss Mole, who was a 'terror'. My name than was Janice Catherine Brown, and my Mum June Brown was a dinner lady at the school. Mr Thomas I seem to remember was the Headmaster of both Infant and junior schools, strict but fair! I later attended the junior ...see more
Further to my previous memory of Basingstoke,and a reader mentioning Odys groceries shop, I too remember it well, also Yerburys hairdressers in Winton Sq and Giffords store.As well as that there was a tea shop on London Rd, The Good Hostess and on Hackwood Rd I remember Nancy Noyes bookshop. My grandparents had their golden wedding at the Venture in 1961.I also have fond memories of mapledurwell where a friend of my ...see more
My parents lived at 233 Winchester Rd but moved to Wilmslow in 1948. My grandparents (Herbert and Mabel Higgs) lived at 4 Fairfields Rd (now a private hotel) having previously lived at Red Gables,Crossborough Hill. I have many happy memories of the old town,Wote St (griffins Butchers shop) Nutts news agency and the old Wilts and Dorset busdepot where I used to look at the buses parked there. Richard Higgs,Brisbane, Australia
I was born in Basingstoke in 1942 at 17 Mortimer Lane, pulled down during the town redevelopment. I remember playing on the bomb site opposite St Michaels Church, now a remembrance garden. We also used to go into the meadow at the back of Mortimer Lane at mid-day on Sunday, sit in a tin bath in the stream and wait for the torrent of water from Thornycrofts swimming pool to propel us down the ...see more