164 – 167 East Road

History of 164-167 East Road

1913

(164) Necton House
James Newton

(165)
H J Cole, house decorator

(166)
F Peak, wholesale confectioner

(167)
Miss Sophia Wighton, harness maker
Walter Ruse, manager

1937

(167)
Archie Wilfred Tiplady, draper

167 East Road, Tiplady (on left) (date unknown)

1962
(164-167) Eastern Electricity

1972 Marcade Indoor Market

Mary Burgess says in “East Road 1950 to Now”:

The Marcade was an indoor market, set up in 1972 by Carl Beaumont Owens and Bertie Smith in the former Easter Electricity showrooms. They opened with capacity for 100 lock-up stalls, including women’s clothing, pottery and cosmetics. One stall was set aside for charity use.

Fire gutted the building in 1975 and it was three years before it reopened as Beaumonts.

1978 Beaumont’s Exhibition Leisure & Shopping Centre

Beaumont’s, 164-167 East Road, 1980s, by Roy Hammans (the-golden-fleece.co.uk)

1986 Abbeygate House

The building was redeveloped again as part of The Grafton Centre works and reopened in 1986 as a three storey office block, Abbeygate House.

1996-2009 Chili’s Restaurant

Chili’s, a large and popular Tex-Mex style restaurant chain, opened on the ground floor of Abbeygate House in 1996 until the company went out of business in 2009.

2012-2023 British Heart Foundation Charity Shop

2025 demolished

Abbeygate House was demolished in August 2025 as part of the Grafton Centre Regeneration