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VAuXHALL VIVA
This 1971 photograph of the bottom end of the High Street was one of a series of scenes of Lewes taken by
Douglas Cyril Race, who was Borough Surveyor from 1969 to 1974. This was taken before this area became
a pedestrian precinct after the Cuilfail tunnel was built later in the 1970s. We can see Rice Brothers, saddlers,
fishing tackle and bicycle shop (<strong>now</strong> Forfar’s) next to a modern looking Lipton’s supermarket. It was, I’m told,
considered posher than the small Tesco that then existed on Cliffe High Street, but Tesco’s had the advantage
of offering Green Shield Stamps. Lipton’s has a rather chi chi 1st floor window display, and, reflected in the
windows, you can j<strong>us</strong>t make out the Mayo Wynne Baxter building opposite.
It seems an unpopulated shot, until you spot the girl in a mini-skirt crossing the bridge, and the couple inside
the navy A<strong>us</strong>tin Shooting Brake engaged in what looks to be an intense conversation. The fine selection of
cars includes, we believe, a Vauxhall Victor (the one with the L-plate), two Vauxhall Vivas, and, in the foreground,
the badge on the bonnet is of a Ford Zephyr.
LA Beck occupied the building we <strong>now</strong> k<strong>now</strong> as the Riverside, a taxi and car hire service that supplied smart
limos for civic events. The windows of Caffyn’s, then a Morris dealership, can be seen on the opposite side of
the river - <strong>now</strong> Argos.
Thanks to Anna Manthorpe and the treasure trove of local history, the East S<strong>us</strong>sex County Record Office in the
Maltings, for permission to <strong>us</strong>e this photograph (ESRO DL/A/24/1/138).