Bedford Street - A Tour Around the Streets of Ampthill

BEDFORD STREET is the most changed of all the town's four main roads, having been considerably restricted on its eastern side until the late 1930s by the buildings of Ampthill Brewery which had been established by John Morris in the 1770s, flourished a century under family management, and retained the Morris name until its closure in 1926, when the business was taken over by J.W. Green of Luton. Ampthill Brewery was among the largest in the county and its loss was a significant one for the town. Nothing remains of the buildings, except a vaulted store - now a restaurant - and a few walls around the car park. The market was moved here from Market Square in 1987.

The first building to be put up on the brewery site was a cinema, The Zonita, which opened in 1937 and closed in 1960 - a brief but colourful existence. Converted into office buildings, the Zonita became a snooker hall in 1982, and later its ground floor was made into small shops named Rosewalk. This was demolished in 2005 and the resulting Waitrose Supermarket openned its doors in October 2006.

The town's original fire station was built in 1902 by Edwin Tutt. It continued in this role until 1954. Extended in 1996, it housed the local Citizens Advice Bureau and then the charity Mind.

The Duke of Bedford Cottages are a small terrace of brick-built cottages characteristic of many Mid-Bedfordshire villages built by the Duke of Bedford in the mid 19th century for his estate workers and are distinctive by their steep gables and lattice windows.

Further up Bedford Street and now used as a garage, is the former National School, one of the town's two main schools. Supported by the parish church, this school opened in 1845 and closed 1954 when the local authority took responsibility for education in the town.

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• Ampthill
• Waitrose Ampthill