Grantham Civic Society remembers the story of Houghton Road and its early 20th-century residents
Some houses on Houghton Road, formerly Papermill Lane, were constructed in 1870.
More building land along the road was auctioned in 1908.
Most of the people who settled there either worked at Hornsby’s iron foundry, the railway, or the sawmill.
In 1911, most residents of the street were in their 20s and newly married, or had a young family.
In 1919, Launchbury’s cycle shop advertised in the Grantham Journal.
The advert came just months after the end of the First World War and during the Irish War of Independence.
They headlined their advert: “Another war declared” adding below “on cycles and accessories.”
They sold various makes of cycles, motorcycles and accessories, including wheels, chains, mudguards, pumps, bells, petrol, benzol, and lubricating oils.
They also sold wired-on pram tyres, stating: “No need to carry baby home — we fit ’em while you wait, in a very few minutes.”
Repairs were carried out by experienced workmen.
One advertisement read: “Give us a trial and you will come again to the small shop with a big reputation for fair dealing and civility.”
In the 1939 register, John Launchbury, born in 1887 and a motorcycle engineer, was still living on Houghton Road with his wife, Rosina.
