Eastgate Street, Stafford

Description:Eastgate Street at its junction with Tipping Street to the left. The area is known as Pitcher Bank due to a crockery market which was once held there.

The three-storey industrial building, numbers 74-75, Eastgate Street, was built in 1857 as a warehouse for boot and shoemakers Newell & Springthorpe Ltd. who employed 120 people. It was built by Messrs. Carter and Espley and opened in November of that year, and was one of the earliest purpose-built shoe factories in Stafford. John Springthorpe emigrated in 1861 and the building was put up for sale. Later, other shoe manufacturers occupied it, including James Day in 1870-71, Mason & Marson between 1884 and 1894, and Lloyd & Mason around 1900.

In 1914, the building was taken over by Taylor & Co., Cabinet Makers, Shopfitters, Upholsterers and French Polishers and was known locally as Taylor's Warehouse. George E. Taylor died in 1944, but his partner Mr E. Johnson carried on the business under the Taylor name. The business closed in 1963, and the building stood empty until it was demolished in 1976. The bricked-in windows and arch-topped central doorway of the building's lower storey front wall can still be seen today (2025) as a perimeter wall along Tipping Street adjacent to the Grade II Listed Shrewsbury Arms public house which dates to the late 18th century with a mid-19th century shop-front.

Demolition work can be seen behind the double-decker bus in Tipping Street. The car on the right is a Ford Consul.