No 2 Victoria Street
  
  1896
William Henchman Miller- Wheelwright (K1896)

1906
William Henchman Miller- Wheelwright. (K1906) Although WH Miller is recorded in Kelly's Directory as running the business at No 2, the 1901 census shows that he also trades form his home address at No 16 Bartholomew Green. (C1901)
 
1916
Robert Charles Blowers - Shoeing smith (K1916) William H Miller continues to own the wheelwright business, employing RC Blowers to run the smithy side. The Blowers' smithy actually encompases the building next door at No 40-42 High Street.
 

1924
William H Miller & Sons - Wheelwright and shoeing smith (K1924).
William H Miller's son, Ted, is now running the business. Ronnie Waters remembers him also making builders' ladders in his workshop, an understandable diversification as the market for cartwheels declines. This shop is, at the time, connected to the adjacent premises at No 40-42 High Street where, since 1921. Mr Noller, the blacksmith, has been shoeing horses. (Source: SRB, LM)


 

1937
William H Miller & Sons – Wheelwright and shoeing smith. (K 1937) The smithy annexe closes in 1939
 
Date
Mr & Mrs R Powell - 'Jack o' Lantern' coffee bar.
   

Mr & Mrs R Powell - 'Jack o' Lantern' coffee bar.
 

Mr & Mrs R Powell - 'Jack o' Lantern' coffee bar.
 
Date
No 2 is now combined with No 4 as a private home with the ground floor a garage. The name plaque of the house preserves the name 'Jack o' Lantern' as well as carrying a symbolic anvil recalling its previous history.
 

 
 
   
   

 

 

 
 
Note on dates
Unless otherwise stated, dates given do not indicate the years in which the business started or finished but those for which there is firm evidence that it was trading at this address. Sources in brackets; key at bottom of page.
 


No 2 is the left-most white house. The pink house is No 42 High Street and beyond that, No 40a High Street 'Craftco' both of which were parts of the original wheelwright/ smithy business..



View down Victoria Street from the High Street in approximately 1916. The Blowers smithy on the left is actually 40-42 High Street. No 2 Victoria Street is adjacent (with the small group of men standing in the doorway). The cottages on the right are Nos 1,3 and 5 Victoria Street demolished in the 1930s when the road junction was widened. (Southwold Museum P235)
Click the picture to enlarge

Below: the name sign as it appears today.

The Jack o'Lantern Coffee Shop in 1950s

The Jack 0' Lantern Coffee bar in the 1950s from a hand-coloured postcard in the Robert Palmer collection kindly loaned by Margaret Palmer.

Click the picture to see the whole street scene

Interior of the Jack o' Lantern probably in the 1950s.

Postcard image courtesy of Ian Goffin

Click picture to enlarge