59 Ross Street c1910 (Cambs Collection)

59 Ross Street, Cambridge

History of 59 Ross Street

In photo c1910, William Bell is man wearing apron. Accompanied by sister and delivery boy Gilbert Barber.

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1911

Tom Elvin, 22, grocer, b Lincs

Sarah Jane Elvin, 20, assisting in business, b Lincs

Marjorie Violet May, 1 mos, b Cambridge

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1913

William Bell, family butcher.

C.1984 “Granny Bell” told Down Your Street, 1984, “For 50 years my husband kept the shop, which used to be a little grocer’s when my husband first bought it. I think he was one of the first butchers in Cambridge to have a refrigerator, for a lot of butchers in town came to look at it.”

Elizabeth Bell had grown up at 122 Ross Street. She was born at 1 Hope Street.

She recalled sorting ration books in the butcher’s shop during the war. One time she had 1,000 to count.

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1962

William Bell, butcher

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After the death of William Bell the shop became a tv and wireless repair centre, a toy shop, a greengrocer’s and general stores.

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1980s

Elizabeth Bell. When she was 91 she remembered standing in the street by Butt Row and seeing the rifle butts on the Common.

By the 80s the shop had also sold second-hand clothes but then opened as a greengrocer’s and general stores under the name of Peter Hinde.