Assembly Rooms
1 Market Place
Shops with accommodation
above. Mid C19. Painted gault
brick. Pantiled roofs. Grade II listed.
This is the third of the block of three owned and occupied by Thomas Randall until around 1860 and later taken over by Plowright, Pratt and Harbage.
Continuing the PPH story. The business closed down its Swaffham shop during World War II in 1942.
A newspaper report from the time states “Acute staff shortage and the hopelessness of getting trained men or women in this trade, added to the difficulty of obtaining supplies, make it advisable to concentrate at Kings Lynn”.
It re-opened in April 1947. In 1982, with branches in Wisbech, King’s Lynn and Swaffham, the firm finally folded.
The card and gift shop Four Seasons opened here in 1988. The proprietor, Shirley Matthews, had been in retail grocery trade for many years in Wales and then nearby Brisley.
The Charity Break which, through its work, gives vulnerable children and families time, support and care opened here in 2020.
Shirley Matthews as mayor in 1989.
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