This image of the upper High Street and its environs was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. The ‘then’ image is undated, presumably having been taken some time in the early 2000s, whereas the ‘now’ image dates from Summer 2018.

Little has changed between the two images. In the distance of the 2018 ‘now’ image, 39 High Street had recently been demolished and was then in the slow process of being rebuilt. Between the ‘then’ and ‘now’ images, the Parochial hall was refurbished and it doors repainted, before reopening in 2011. 

There is a little snippet regarding the ornate High Street lamp post shown in these images in Graham Gould and Peter James’ book Kenilworth Weekly News – Volume Two, 1980 to 2000 (Self Published, 2017), taken from a KWN article from October 1986. It states that “Opinions of the lamp posts that had been recently erected in High St. were decidedly mixed. Every ‘charming’ was offset by a ‘naff; every ‘sweet’ by a ‘yuk’. It was the climbing ivy that did for most people; the lantern was fine and the cast iron admirable. “Paint ’em all over”, one chap said”.