Can you make out the car registration - that could be a clue to the
location.

Peter Higginbotham

Brian Read wrote:
> I recently found a box of glass plate negatives which belonged to my 
> uncle (1899-1962). Most of the pictures are of no interest outside the 
> family but one of them is a street scene which puzzles me and may be 
> of interest to a local historian somewhere. It may be part of North 
> Street, Bristol, but I don't know Bristol and am too far to visit it.
>
> I hesitate to attach a picture file here as I understand that 
> attachments are unwelcome to this list but I will send it as an 
> attachment to anyone who expresses an interest and thinks they might 
> be able to identify the location. The details are:
>
> 1. An almost empty city or suburban street with shops on both sides.
> 2. A tramline runs in the centre of the street with overhead power lines.
> 3. The only vehicle in the picture is a small parked car which appears 
> to be a baby Austin or the like c. 1936.
> 4. The only person in the picture is a policeman wearing a cape who 
> stands with his back to the wall and appears to be watching the car 
> parked on the opposite side.
> 5. The absence of any traffic or pedestrians is puzzling but a clue 
> seems to be a large clock showing the time 5.35. Probably 05.35 - 
> unlikely to be 17.35. The clock is  high up on the wall of one of the 
> shops (shuttered so possibly a jeweler)
> 6. One of the shops is named North Street Post Office and next to it 
> is one numbered 16 and  called "The Mart" but this appears to be 
> empty. Names on other shops are not clear but one opposite the post 
> office seems to show "Wireless electric...wholesale Ltd."
>
> I think the picture was probably taken in Bristol c.1940 as my uncle 
> lived there for a time. I am trying to find out what his address was 
> in Bristol as this may be an important clue.  If not in Bristol it may 
> be somewhere in London as he later lived in Shepherds Bush and then 
> Chiswick. I suppose he could have been getting a picture of the street 
> in which he lived but it seems surprising that he did it so early in 
> the morning. The camera was very large and cumbersome and he would 
> have had to have it on a heavy tripod.
>
> Any suggestions? Is there a web site on which pictures like this can 
> be shown for identification?
>
> Brian Read
>