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Leys Avenue At the end of The Wynd you come out onto one of the busiest shopping streets in the Town Centre. Opposite is the entrance to the pedestrianised Letchworth Shopping Centre, now renamed Garden Square. It is set back with a large open paved area in front of it. Originally the site of Commerce Avenue site of many small shops, workshops and businesses, the new shopping centre built 1969 - 1974 was designed by Damond Lock Grabowski. A variety of small and medium sized shops, an indoor market and larger stores can be found within. There is a well concealed multi-storey car park at the rear, with its entrance in Gernon road.
To your immediate right is no's 34 and 36 designed by Parker and Unwin in 1906 this was originally the first co-operative store in Letchworth. It has charged hands since this photo. It along with many of the other shops in the street was opened before the road was made up properly and conditions were difficult. The roadways were rutted and muddy , the pavements a layer of cinders. Much of the town centre was just a large building site for several years. On the right of the picture
you can see the entrance to The Wynd.
To the left a couple of hundred yards away is the entrance to "The Rendezvous" a small shopping arcade re-developed within the original 1909 building designed by Alan Foxley.
Letchworth Plan |
