Bedford High Street, Circa 1820                        Thomas Fisher                 Cecil Higgins Art Gallery

Predominantly Georgian in origin, the buildings on the east side of  of Bedford High Street today are much as they were in the 1860s, but with modern facades. Buildings at the south end of the street have been largely rebuilt or refurbished. As the Thomas Fisher drawing shows, the west side of the street presented a more picturesque line of buildings, such as the shop housing  the George Inn arch and Sell and Willshaw's fish shop pictured both above and left. Today the west side has changed almost beyond recognition, with the arch demolished some time after 1937 and  Sell and Willshaw's replaced by the Debenhams building in 1964.