This photograph was taken by Charles Wardell in 1967 as part of a series of doomed buildings and views that were to disappear under the town development programme. It was heralded to bring hugely-improved shopping facilities to Andover, a claim with which many might argue today.

This narrow alleyway between 69 and 71 High Street widened out into White Bear Yard and then into West Street, the latter roughly following the path of the future Chantry Centre. No doubt the footpath and yard area were ancient, providing back entrances and stabling for High Street businesses long gone. Andover had many such yards, some of which still exist and provide a similar function today. Most are named after the High Street inn that they served, White Bear Yard being named after the inn that stood there.

Before going into White Bear Yard, let us pause a while at the two shop windows. On the left, the Maypole Dairy Company had been in these premises since the early 1930s. It was one of a large chain of shops, originating in the Midlands. The main products were eggs, tea, butter, margarine and condensed milk – though not fresh milk. However, for most of the time in Andover, Maypole was owned by Home and Colonial who also had a shop, just two doors up the street.

Baldock’s was a family firm of tobacconists when Thomas Richard Baldock first opened at No 71 around the outbreak of World War I. He had briefly been at the shop next door. Although the business continued into the early 1970s, it was then no longer family-owned. One of the two machines fixed to the wall dispensed Wrigley’s spearmint gum, while the other contained YZ gum with its owl logo. The shop window display was created before there were any restrictions on tobacco advertising and the image of suave sophistication for smokers was a theme frequently employed by the cigarette companies.

READ MORE: David Borrett feature: The story of Andover's four Guildhalls

Once beyond the rear of the two High Street shops the yard expanded to a road’s width. On the right were buildings that housed businesses. Shaw’s garage stood back from the rest but just before that were the solid wooden doors of Mrs Ruby Holloway’s second-hand shop. Most of this immediate area was owned by Winchester College and it was through Maud Sainsbury who was then mayor that Mrs Holloway negotiated a lease. She was to remain there until buying 17 Chantry Street in the late 1960s, which the family renovated and opened as Bric-a-Brac, a building that had already been condemned. Thankfully it was saved from demolition and, with its pair of 18th century display windows, is now arguably the most historically-attractive shop in Andover.

All of White Bear Yard was a victim of the first phase of town development that flattened the whole area behind the upper High Street shops and those behind the Guildhall. The shops themselves continued to trade for a while, as the work was going on behind them but many of the old businesses had already left and temporary newcomers came in on short lease agreements with the borough council. Baldock’s was one of the last to go, still trading long after the Chantry Centre had opened, as this run of shops was not affected by the new development. However, after a few years those shops too (61-71) were pulled down and replaced.