Description:Market Street viewed from the junction of Church Hill with the A460 crossing the photograph in the foreground. Market Street, the town's main street, stretches ahead. Crossing the road to the right are Tom Izon and his granddaughter Hilary Johnson. Tom was born in Rawnsley in 1899. Upon leaving school, he started work as a coal miner and remained in the coal industry for the rest of his working life. Following his marriage to Lilian Mason on Christmas Day 1920, he moved to an end of terrace house at 54, Albert Street, Church Hill - the very house they had left on this morning to start this shopping trip.
The first building on the left is the Uxbridge Arms which dates from 1870. It is currently (2023) Dulcie’s Bar. A Police Telephone and Signal Street Pillar (P.A. No.1) is near the doorway. Supplied by the General Post Office from the mid-1930s they were strategically located so they could be readily seen. The three-sided boxes had a public access door on one side, with a key operated Police door and maintenance access on the other sides. Below this in the pillar was a first-aid compartment. A lantern with coloured glass at the top would flash to signal a Policeman to contact the Police Station switchboard via its micro-telephone. Holding open the public access self-closing door would automatically establish contact with the switchboard via a speaker system, often to the amusement of young pranksters. They were usually set up so that the beacon would flash when this door was opened. A post box can be seen on the edge of the pavement nearby.
Further up the street from the Uxbridge Arms is Les Clarke's barber's shop. On the right corner is the Bon Marche drapery and fancy goods shop, proprietor E. Clarke. The man on the bicycle appears to be railway worker. The double-decked bus is probably a Foden operated by Whieldon’s of Rugeley.
This Valentines postcard was registered by them in 1956.