Brandon resident, Bob Jones, recalls memories of how he moved to the area almost sixty years ago, and settled in the town …
“It was 1959 and we were looking for a property to purchase or rent in Thetford (preferred) or Brandon would do. The London overspill development was progressing at this time but there was a six-year waiting list for council houses, as reported by the Town Clerk Ellis Clark. One property up for sale in St. Nicholas Street (Thetford) was in our price bracket but a knock on the door revealed the owner had taken it off the market! Needless to say that property was lost to the developers and is now a car park area.
Somebody suggested we called on Sid Lingham’s office in Town Street Road, Brandon, who was building low cost bungalows there. We located the road a mile from the town – the Town Street Road sign pointed right. The road beyond the first bend turned into a rough track – no footpaths, a flint wall bordering an open field on the right hand side and further down you entered Crown Street, and of course The Crown Pub. Opposite was the Tip Football Ground (as it was called). Behind the Crown Pub was White Horse Street, at the end was the chapel and TOWN STREET. Thus Town Street road was the road leading to TOWN STREET.
We bought one of Sid’s new bungalows which was built six months later on that open field in Town Street Road and within a year the Road leading to TOWN STREET was renamed Crown Street, as it is today. A little bit of local history was lost with these changes we feel, apart from another resident – AJ Rolfe who retired there from his VG Stores in Hockwold and had paid good money for his letter heading embossing machine that became defunct before he had time to use it! AJ was less than pleased one has to say.”