38a High Street
Current
38a High Street
Lowestoft
NR32 1HY
United Kingdom
History
Since the 1990s the only thing the same is the Golden Phoenix which is still trading after all the old businesses are long gone! Before the building looked like it is today it was just two numbers which are 38-39, in 1880 the site was the Seaview Temperance House and Boarding Establishment and it replaced an earlier business run by Charles Collier. By 1932 Smiths Furnishing Store had moved in but during the 1940's this building was bombed, knocked down and rebuilt into what we see today. In 2000, No38 was the Almost English Bistro (previously French's). In 1967 the Chinese Restaurant was listed at No40, Moore's Tyre Service at 40a and the Ashlea Boys Club at 40b. This no longer exists since catching fire in November 2004.CREDIT: Lowestoft High Street, The Butcher, The Baker and The Candlestick Maker by Crispin Hook 2016 Get the book
Architecture
That's a fascinating building. It probably... it's gone now, as we shall see. It probably dates from the 18th century and judging by this parapet here at some point an extra storey has been added and it was a very very high quality Georgian house at one time and... in the late 1800s it was... became a hotel. It became the 'Sea View Temperance Hotel'.
So, if you wanted to stay there there was no alcohol on the premises. And... it was later when the the hotel business folded in the early 20th century it was taken over by a Mr Smith who was a furniture dealer and so it was Smith's Furniture Emporium and and much to his shame he actually knocked a hole in the front of it to put a shop front in so it's a building that has evolved.
It's a fascinating building. CREDIT: Ivan Bunn from transcript - Poetry People - High Street Histories
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