Mill Road – Always Evolving

From a track leading towards Cherry Hinton, to today’s thriving High Street for the Petersfield, Sturton Town, Romsey Town and Coleridge areas, Mill Road has evolved and is still evolving. See our post from August 2018 – Mill Road – the high street of a small town within Cambridge city?


It would be pointless to attempt to replicate the work of others on the changing use of buildings, the establishment and subsequent disappearance of now long-forgotten shops.

Mill Road History Society, in collaboration with Capturing Cambridge, have compiled an impressive body of information about the origins and history of the Mill Road area. And Ainsworth Street’s HistoryWorks has done stirling work on projects involving local school students.

But what about recent changes?


With the implementation of a modal filter on Mill Road Bridge, its subsequent removal and its imminent re-implementation, arguments have raged about the effect on businesses and other organisations on and around Mill Road.

Back in October 2013 the then Mill Road co-ordinator, Ceri Littlechild, compiled a list of businesses on and around Mill Road, for the nascent Mill Road Traders’ Association. What’s changed in eleven years?

With a bit of voluntary effort, an October 2024 update is now available with all shops, businesses, consultancies, and charitable premises on and around Mill Road listed and compared with what was there in 2013.

We’ve lost a betting shop at each end of the main shopping area – William Hill at Nº8 and Ladbrokes at Nº 262 – and gained places to eat and drink – Tu Casa tapas restaurant at Nº 8 and Relevant Records café at Nº 260 – with a hairdresser – Salon 262 at Nº 262.

The Sally Ann charity shop has moved from 44A Mill Road to 5 Tenison Road, whilst the Co-op has opened a second Mill Road branch in 44A, which once housed…

A Fine Fare supermarket!

Elsewhere, small business units have been redeveloped (Hope Street Yard) or refurbished (The Courtyard, Sturton Street). Cafés and restaurants have mostly occupied the same premises but with new owners and different menus, though there have been a few additions (as well as the two mentioned above).


All of this information and more is available in a spreadsheet for you to download and peruse. It is available in two formats: Apple Numbers (best for iPhones, iPads and Macs) and xlxs (for PCs and Android devices).

Download Mill Road Traders, Businesses, Charities and Other Organisations – 2013 & 2024 (V1 2024.10.11) here:

Of course there may be errors and/or omissions. Let us know, and we’ll update the spreadsheet!

Please note: the xlxs version is an ‘export’ derived from the Numbers original. It has been checked in OpenOffice (Mac) but lacks some grid lines. If there are issues in viewing it, please get in touch. It may be possible to make improvements.

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Martin L-S
Martin L-S
Guest
29 October 2024 18:44

Worth noting also that Mill Road for People documented the changes during the period of the experimental bus gate ETRO, 2020-2021:

https://millroad4people.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Mill-Road-Traders-Association-Survey-MR4P-Critique-5.pdf

It shows that more businesses opened than closed: 14 businesses opened and only 9 closed. Turnover of shops is of course the norm for Mill Road.

There can’t have been another high street in the country that saw an increase in businesses during the pandemic – a clear sign of success!

John McGill
John McGill
Guest
15 October 2024 09:29

A great piece of work. It could be used to illustrate so many points. Thanks

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