Bygone Tonbridge

This advertisement is for the former High Street Watchmaker, Jeweller & Optician, A Cornell  and features in a guide to Tonbridge c1912. The photograph is approximately 100 years old and illustrates a time when there was a great pride in window display. The building style is of a typical late-Victorian design, topped with decorative wrought iron.

One can only imagine that the majority of Tonbridge High Street was filled with rows of magnificent shop frontages similar to A. Cornell's business in this image. It is a sad affair that Tonbridge has lost much of its architectural heritage due to unsympathetic planning.

A Cornell and a number of equally interesting neighbouring buildings were demolished, and would have stood next the former Angel Hotel, where Poundstretchers is currently sited.