LOW Street, photographed whilst unusually empty and before reconstruction and demolition of its lower end, was historically the counterpart to High Street as a main thoroughfare.
In 1934 a new Marks and Spencer 'super store' replaced an eighteenth-century Fleece Hotel, whence in the coaching era the ‘Royal Alexander’ had set out for Leeds, the ‘Tradesman’ for Bradford and the ‘Wonder’ for Halifax.
However, as the volume of traffic mounted, Low Street became increasingly congested, especially on Saturdays when shoppers overflowed the pavement and walked in the road.
So, on Tuesday, October 5, 1948, Keighley experienced what was then a groundbreaking development – a one-way system was introduced in Low Street, taking effect rather curiously at two o’clock in the afternoon. Pedestrianisation, at least in part, was to come in 1971.
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