32 East Road, Cambridge

History of 32 East Road

1913

J Ward and Sons, cycle agents

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11 March 1965

Ward’s move to new premises in Burleigh Street marks another stage in the long history of a firm which started when Jonas Ward made a living mending bicycles in East Road. For some time they made the famous Crown cycles, one of which was ridden from Cambridge to Monte Carlo in 1930. They also supplied carrier cycles and box tricycles. Later they diversified into wireless, gramophones, washing machines and baby carriages and became one of the first to stock televisions in 1938.

Credit: Mike Petty Archive, Cambridge East Road Scrapbook 1897 to 1990, references 65 03 11a, b.

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Ward & Sons, East Road
9 October 1981

Wards have been in Cambridge for more than 70 years, originally making and selling cycles. By the 1930s they were involved in electronics, making their own wireless receiver, the Wards Three Valve. In the 1950s they expanded into communications, selling televisions and other electronic equipment, moving from East Road to a new shop in Burleigh Street in 1965 with another in Bradwell’s Court. At its peak in the 1970s they won contracts with Iraq and the Defence Ministry. Now it will close for the last time.

Credit: Mike Petty Archive, Cambridge East Road Scrapbook 1897 to 1990, reference 81 10 09d.