J. Pooley & Co.
2003 images
An uninspiring site with a 'Land Acquired' sign
suggesting
redevelopment
(photographed in winter, 2003); here is the business formerly run by
'J. POOLEY
& CO. (IPSWICH) LTD.'
in Ranelagh Road, on the opposite side of the road to
the rail station,
the River Gipping in the background.
As of summer, 2004 the view here is radically changed.
All the
buildings
and fences on this side of the road - including, sadly, the newsagents
shop
nearer to the station and bridge - have gone and yet another riverside
duplex
apartment block is being built. 'The Mariner'
corten steel sculpture stands
above
the opposite bank of the river. Called (somewhat confusingly) Cardinal
Park
Fore Hamlets, this block stands beside the rather industrial-looking
canalised
part of the River Gipping. Some might not see this as an appealing
aspect,
yet it reflects the trend seen further down the river, beside The Wet
Dock
and beyond.
[UPDATE November 2006: Simon J.
Betts writes:-
"Found your website when I Googled my family's old company name, J
Pooley and Co (Ipswich) Limited in Ranelagh Road, Ipswich. Sadly the
business closed in 1999 and the land sold to Western Homes who built
those awful flats on the site! Still it was nice to see a picture of
the old site, if you want any information to add to the page, the
company started in 1869 and was originally based in Tanners Lane (where
Civic Drive and the AXA building now stands). The old newsagents was
built in the early 1960s and originally called “Rogers”,
the shop used to stand on the entrance of Pooleys before the company
moved there in 1963. There were also a row of terraced houses from
there
the offices stood up to the newsagents, but these were lost when the
council widened Ranelagh Road.
The lettering on the company office was originally white wooden letters
nailed to the front, but these used to keep getting stolen, so my dad
removed the rest of the letters and painted the name on by hand!
Didn’t do a bad job I reckon!! My grandfather was Ronald
Betts and he married into the family business, J Pooley
and Co, which was on my grandmother's side as she was
originally a Cooper. Ronald Betts died in 1992 at 72 years old. -Simon"]
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