Historian Martyn Taylor describes how Bury St Edmunds’ old bus station reached the end of the road

The bright red single-decker and double-decker buses were sandwiched into the station, diesel engines idling in cold weather, anyone sitting around on the benches provided having to put with the obnoxious fumes.

One vestige still visible on the His & Hers hair salon is that of the original station clock, vital for those waiting patiently for their return trip to the housing estates or villages hoping the timetable is correct!

The round enquiries office was much used, a facility now greatly missed from the replacement bus station in St Andrew’s Stree North which had opened in 1996 as by 2015 it was announced there was to be no staff on duty. With service curtailed at this very strange looking facility, which opened in 1996 costing £1.2 million, there was plenty of room for buses but I’m afraid no longer help for the public.

With the closure of the Brentgovel Street bus station in 1987 there was to be major changes in the area. In place of the station would be built a McDonald’s; adjacent Purdys wonderful restaurant closed, its last manager Mr Coleshill opening up a smaller version at the rear (Top Garden Chinese takeaway there now) albeit for a short time.

Perhaps the biggest change, as can be seen by the photo of a clear vista looking across to Well Street, is the site of the iconic Focus Cinema but remembered by many as the Odeon cinema. This Art Deco cinema of Oscar Deutsch opened in 1937, later listed then de-listed, its demolition in 1982 a tragedy.

In its place Cornhill Walk, a shopping mall which led you in but went nowhere, opened in 1987. It lasted barely 28 years, closing its doors in 2015. Since then, various applications to demolish this carbuncle and build a new development have been put forward, but this currently has stalled and its future awaits.

-- Martyn Taylor is a local historian, author and Bury Tour Guide. His latest book, Going Underground: Bury St Edmunds, is widely available.