ARCADES PROJECT

Hitchin’s little arcade near the town’s market place dates from the mid-1920s. Footfall was good at the time of my visit on a mid-summer Friday morning, though the presence of eateries in the arcade suggests it might be just as busy in the evenings, too.

It’s not named after a local dignitary or businessman; in fact (although hidden behind scaffolding on the morning I dropped by) the single word ‘Arcade’ is all that tells shoppers in Hitchin High Street that this might be a covered shopping area.

The first section has a low ceiling with solid hardwood beams, painted black, to give it a solid and ancient feel. Beyond that, the short section of the actual arcade itself has half a dozen businesses trading under the glass ceiling: a restaurant, a florist, a shoe shop, a menswear shop and a wine merchant’s. Only one shop was empty in summer 2024.

It’s hard to spot any original features in Hitchin’s arcade (but if anybody knows of any inside any of the shops, do get in touch). The other end of the arcade has a brick entrance leading into the glass ceilinged section; beyond this is the Arcade Walk, where the shops on either side of the street have glass awnings, but this is not an arcade as such, although it draws the eye (and the feet) towards the arcade beyond.

My pick of the arcade’s past

The arcade shopkeepers took out an ad in the run-up to Christmas 1927 telling shoppers: “However wintry the weather, it will be warm and dry inside, so make up your mind to shop in The Arcade,” and they listed the full range of shops on offer: confectionery, fruit, stationery, toys, electrical goods, footware, hardware, millinery, outfitters, hosiery, jewellery, as well as a hair salon and a cafe.

A photographic artist called Baker filed for bankruptcy in October 1930, after operating out of No 7. He didn’t blame the stock market crash or the Depression, though: “People simply use the arcade as  a shelter from bad weather,” he told the Bankruptcy Court in Luton, “most of the shopping is done in the High Street.”

A former Olympic medallist (400m relay at Stockholm 1912) was fined £1 for ‘committing a nuisance’ in the arcade just before midnight one evening in March 1930. By this time Ernest Henley was Corporal Henley of the RAF and in his 40s. He denied the charges but the newspaper accounts never elaborated on what the ‘nuisance’ was.

The supposed sun dial in the arcade produced some tongue-in-cheek humour from the local newspaper in August 1930. The message under the sundial read ‘Tempus Fugit,’ but the news report pointed out that the ‘sundial’ had no arm needed to cast the shadow and thereby tell the time. “Time has flown from the arcade sundial for good,” quipped the Hertfordshire Express (16 August 1930) – The sundial had gone by the time of my visit in 2024.

Sources for the above stories all from www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk and specifically: 1) Hertfordshire Express, 18 October 1930 – British Library Board; 2) Biggleswade Chronicle 28 March 1930, National World Publishing Ltd; 3) Hertfordshire Express, 16 August 1930 – British Library Board.

What memories do you have of visits in years gone by?

Have you got any good stories to add on the past of this arcade?

What’s your favourite shop in the arcade today?

Have you seen this arcade in any films or books?

Is there a website for this arcade?

Not that I could find. Nor did I find any active social media accounts for the arcade itself, although an Instagram account exists but hasn’t been updated for a couple of years, last time I checked. Some of the individual businesses may well have online presence, however.

This arcade in films or books

I haven’t seen this book personally yet, but in 2007 Hitchin Historical Society published a booklet about the Arcade, Then and Now. If anyone has a copy, do get in touch via the comment box below.