70 Trumpington Street Cambridge

70 Trumpington Street, Cambridge

History of 70 Trumpington Street

Listed Buildings

No. 70 Trumpington Street was built in the C15, remodelled and extended partly in the C17. The original form of these earlier structures is uncertain. It seems probable that the C17 structure replaced an earlier building, of which the C15 structure was a part, and is contemporary with the reconstruction of St Catharine’s College generally and the interior remodelling of the C15 bay. In the C19, a two-storey with attic range was added to the front of the two-bay, C17 building.

Remodelling during the C20 has occurred to both earlier builds to create accommodation for Fellows. The ground floor of the C17 build has been compromised particularly on the south elevation, where a substantial stone and brick external stair has been constructed leading to the student accommodation in the C19 building. The first, second and attic floors of the mid-C19 building have been remodelled to form student accommodation.

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1623 Business first established

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1913

G P Jones, grocer and Italian warehouseman

F S Sheldrick

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1939

G P Jones, grocers

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The second oldest business in Cambridge, G.P. Jones, the grocer of Trumpington Street closed down at the weekend. They were established in 1623, three years after the oldest business in the city, Bowes and Bowes. Now the old-world grocery shop, famous for their blends of teas and statuesque tea jars, will become a fine art shop. Mr Sidney Jones looks back with resignation to the days when the shop had its own tea blending room before the war and produced over 20 blends. He said, “It was inevitable that the grocery had to close as our regular customers became fewer and fewer. More people have come in to try and buy the jars and old furniture of the shop but I’m not parting with it for the moment”

Credit: Mike Petty Archive, Cambridge Trumpington Street Scrapbook, 27 August 1973.