ARCADES PROJECT

This 1880s arcade in the Westbourne district of Bournemouth was built by the same man as had been behind Bournemouth’s first arcade in the town centre. It’s a lovely arcade, with a slight bend in the walkway – and glass ceiling – along its 100 metres plus length.

It’s one of the few fully-tenanted arcades in the UK, and has a wonderful mix of businesses today: there are 6 ladies’ boutiques, three shops devoted to home décor, two beauty salons and two cafes, but also some real individual gems: the Colosseum claims to be the smallest cinema in the UK with just 20 seats or so; there’s a guitar shop with family links in the arcade going back 100 years; a beautiful cheese shop; and a traditional hardware shop that has been here since 1978.

My favourite features of Westbourne Arcade are the different faces that appear high up around each drainpipe, all basically the same face, but with an individual touch to each different figure. The glass roof is nice but it leaks and is not original (as the Picks from the Past will prove). The impressive entrance arches, both including inscriptions in memory of Henry Joy, who paid for the arcade to be built, and their ironwork grille adding to the decoration of the arcade’s way in. And high up above the entrance, HJ had his initials so subtly and decoratively carved in the stone that it took me a few minutes to decipher…

The guitar shop has been in the same family since the 1920s, though it started out selling wool. Once the current owner, Paul’s grandfather began selling musical instruments and teaching guitar upstairs the business slowly shifted, with some big names being regulars here in the 1960s and 70s: Greg Lake and Andy Somers (Police) were name-checked by Paul in our chat. This is a great example of an enduring family business run by people passionate about what they do and sell.

My pick of the arcade’s past

Mrs Strange ran an agency for ‘respectable servants’ out of Westbourne Arcade in 1885. And rooms were advertised to let for ‘moderate to quiet people’ at No 3 that summer also. By the following spring a young lady was advertising herself as a governess who could teach English, French, drawing and music. And Mrs King had taken over the agency At No 3.

In 1895, a woman calling herself ‘Olinda’ at No 6 advertised a recipe to help with whooping cough. Her only claim to fame seemed to be as ‘widow of an officer,’ but she wanted a 1 shilling postal order and a stamped addressed envelope for people to be sent the recipe. Her adverts appeared in newspapers as far away as Ireland, before she gave up a year later.

Two small boys aged 7 and 9 appeared in court in January 1902 accused of stealing buckets and spades from the bench outside the hardware shop in the arcade. They were caught by a PC Annels who spotted them walking towards the beach carrying the brand new items. When asked where they got them, the 7-year-old immediately confessed to stealing them from the arcade shop. They spent the night in a police cell but the magistrate considered them too young for sentencing and let them off with a reprimand and a bond for good behaviour.

Gabrielle Ray, a music hall star who was touring in Bournemouth in June 1920 agreed to sell roses in Westbourne Arcade as part of the fund-raising efforts for Alexandra Rose Day, an annual event which started in June 1912 to commemorate the arrival from Denmark of Princess Alexandra to become Edward VII’s wife.

In 1942 a bomb landed on a nearby street, with the force of the explosion bringing down virtually all the glass in the arcade ceiling. Fortunately the structure of the arcade survived intact, though. Apparently the father of the guy in the guitar shop can tell a tale about that bomb that hit Bournemouth, so I might need a revisit…

Sources for these stories all from www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk British Library Board. Specific articles: The two boys arrested: (Western Gazette, 31 January 1902 – Reach Plc); the Gabrielle Ray story: (Bournemouth Graphic, 11 June 1920)

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?

My favourite shops in the arcade

Spoilt for choice here. For me, you can’t beat a good cheese shop, and there’s a great range of cheese from local sources to overseas in the arcade cheese shop. I absolutely love the idea of the smallest cinema in the UK; sadly there was no film showing during my visit. And the music shop is just a classic arcade family business: been there for generations, still going strong, and has had some big names from the music industry through its doors.

Is there a website for this arcade?

I haven’t found anything for the arcade itself, not even on social media. But some of the individual businesses have a web presence. And the arcade features frequently on Bournemouth pages on Facebook and Instagram