Exeter Street

The expansion of Bourne during the late 20th century brought a new importance to some of the peripheral roads around the town, among them Exeter Street, an extension of St Gilbert's Road and linking North Street with West Street as a means of avoiding the town centre.

Private homes occupy both sides of the road at the northern end while the depot of Nursery Supplies Ltd once occupied most of the land towards West Street but the company moved out in January 1999 to make way for the Sainsbury's supermarket that now dominates the entire street and most of the traffic movement is to and from their premises.

Here also is the Hereward Medical Practice that was opened on the corner of Burghley Street in December 1998. The clinic was built on land previously occupied by Norths of Bourne, a family firm of forage merchants that once supplied hay and straw for use by the Queen's horses stabled at the royal mews in London and the company was therefore entitled to display the emblem of the Royal Warrant on their office premises at the corner of North Street, now used by Bourne Antiques & Arts. There was a disastrous fire on the premises in December 1986 causing damage estimated at £200,000 and which destroyed the main Dutch barn that was never rebuilt and the site was subsequently sold for its present use.

On the other corner of Exeter Street with Burghley Street is a new venture, the Building Blocks Kindergarten, opened in October 2000 on the site of Norths Garden Centre to provide care for children between the ages of six weeks and five years. The garden centre, which closed the previous year, was once occupied by tennis courts and was the home of the Bourne Tennis Club from 1896 but the sport has now moved to the courts at the Abbey Lawn.

Exeter Street, named after the Earls of Exeter who were once Lords of the Manor of Bourne and whose descendants are still big landowners in the town, is now a busy road because of these community and commercial enterprises and zebra crossings and other traffic precautions have been installed in an attempt to safeguard pedestrians.

See also Sainsbury's