No 64 North Street

In recent years, No 64 North Street has been business and commercial premises and for most of the 20th century was used as the offices of Bourne Urban District Council.

The local authority was in existence for 75 years from 1899 until the reorganisation of local government which came into effect on 12th March 1974 when its duties were handed over to South Kesteven District Council and the newly formed Bourne Town Council. Unfortunately, when the closure came, piles of documents and photographs of historic interest were thrown away, dumped in a skip which was brought in for the unwanted rubbish although valiant efforts were made by several people, notably Councillor Don Fisher, to save some of the material.

The subsequent tenant was BDR Agriculture Limited, a company dealing in corn with head offices in London, and they remained in occupation until 2004 when the property was put on the market. One part of the premises was already being used as an Indian takeaway and it was expected that the other section would be similarly used as a fast food outlet.

During refurbishment work on the frontage in December 2006, the BUDC sign was revealed and I managed to photograph it before it was removed and the wall cemented over. Unfortunately, I was not able to salvage it for preservation at the Heritage Centre because the company carrying out the work said it had been made of compressed asbestos and therefore under current Health and Safety and building regulations it had to be destroyed.

WRITTEN DECEMBER 2006