Hastings Forum

Hi there, I'm new to this website and forums
Can anyone tell me about Ashburnham Road and the existence of a bakery c1900?
I am struggling to find any references online - too many lists and directories to search through!!
Thank you

Hello and welcome to the forum.
CH Swaffer was a Bakers and Confectioners in Ashburnham Road.
Picture below (which belongs to Rita Oak, nee North), though i'm not sure of the date.

!!! wow !!! thank you xx
Do we know if the building still exists?! Or what number it would have been?

I would say the building is long gone as there is nothing that looks remotely like it in Ashburnham Road now. I will investigate further but so far I am stumped as to whereabouts the bakers was.

There's quite a few newer buildings in Ashburnham Road so the old bakery may have been where one of those were built.

I think the building still exists.....if you look at number 135, i believe that's the same building. I vaguely recognized it by the large window above the entrance to the accommodation........if you look at the building now it still has the same tiles on the sills,and although the window is different, the opening is of the same size. Where the shop entrance and display window was, you can see where the lintel has been replaced with newer bricks, even though the building is now painted. The building is now 3 large flats and is owned by St. Mary's social club trust i believe.

Wow, you've cracked it! Well done malagoo, it is indeed no. 135 Ashburnham Road. Having the yard round the back would make sense too!

Perhaps Marina can grab us a modern day pic from Street View (hint hint).

No problem Geoff....glad to be of some help. It was still a bakers until the mid 60's then became an electricians shop.

As requested, here is a fairly up-to-date pic of 135 Ashburnham Road

Does anyone know anything about the numbering of Ashburnham Road in its early days? My great-grandfather's family was listed at no. 15 in the 1881 census and no. 85 in the 1891 census. When I looked at no 85, a neighbour there said she thought it and the adjoining small houses were the first ones built there. I therefore wonder if the original no. 15 became no. 85 as the estate expanded, or whether the family simply moved from rooms in a larger house to a small house during the 1880s.

Jenny Clemens (Pain)