Queen Street

Queen Street

Decorated for the coronation in 1953

For a long time somewhat in the shadow of King Street, at its western end, Queen Street is part of St Helier's main town centre pedestrian precinct and is today, as it has been for many years, a major shopping street

Queen Street, looking east, in the 1930s

Just as nobody is certain which monarch King Street was named after, the same is true with the origins of Queen Street. Neither merits a mention in Balleine's History of Jersey. Raoul Lempriere's Buildings and Memorials of the Channel Islands suggests that the street was named after Queen Charlotte, the consort of King George III, after whom King Street was reputedly named. That would put the change of name to some time between 1782 and 1818.

Edmund Toulmin Nicolle's The Town of St Helier records that Queen Street was at some time known as Rue du Milieu (the middle street) and Rue es Porcqs, after the family Le Porcq who lived there. The only other reference is to the presence of the General Post Office in the street for a short time.

The street in the 19th century, long before it was paved. No traffic in sight, but the tracks of carriages on the street surface indicate that it was a busy thoroughfare

Commercial development

The street began to develop as a commercial centre in the early years of the 19th century. The first years for which any reliable records of businesses operating there exist are 1833 and 1834, when The Strangers Guide to Guernsey and Jersey and Abraham Le Cras' Guide to the Island of Jersey were published. They did not give full listings of traders operating in St Helier streets, but between the two it is possible to assemble a reasonably accurate picture of those on either side of Queen Street.

Since the properties in the street were first given numbers - probably in the 1810s or '20s, those on the south side have carried even numbers, and those on the north, odd numbers. Unlike many streets in the centre of St Helier, there have been no changes to the basic numbering, apart from the introduction of some half numbers when properties were subdivided.

Although King Street and Queen Street are today separated by Halkett Place, which runs from north to south between the two pedestrianised streets, Queen Street was in existence before Halkett Place was constructed. There was a junction before then, however, with Morier Lane connecting the ends of King Street and Queen Street with Hill Street, and Hilgrove Street emerging on the opposite side.

Property histories

Jerripedia has traced the history of traders and families along the length of the street from 1833 to the present day in two articles, covering the two sides of the street:

• A history of Queen Street traders - 1, odd-numbered properties
• A history of Queen Street traders - 2, even-numbered properties

and now we have detailed histories of individual properties:

No 1	No 2	No 3	No 4	No 5	No 6	No 7	No 8	No 9	No 10
No 11	No 12	No 13	No 14	No 15	No 16	No 17	No 18	No 19	No 20
No 21	No 22	No 23	No 24-24½	No 25	No 26-30	No 27	No 29	No 31	No 32
No 33	No 34	No 35	No 37

Christmas shopping in 1936

1945 - still driving on the right shortly after the Liberation

Planning officers' record

The first set of pictures was taken by planning officers in 1968 as part of a project to record all the town streets

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  1968
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  1968
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  1968
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  1968
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  1968
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  1968
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  1972
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  1972
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  1972

A very foreshortened view of King Street and Queen Street at the height of the tourism season on 30 July 1976 - Picture Jersey Evening Post. The people in the foreground are walking along King Street. In the background Boots is some distance away in Queen Street, and in between the traffic lights at the junction of the two streets with Halkett Place can be seen

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  The junction of Queen Street and Halkett Place in 1925
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  1953
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  1953
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  1970s
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  Boots
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  Boots
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  The street in 1897
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  Queen Street in 1907 photographed by Albert Smith
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  1920s
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  George D Laurens, one of Queen Street's most popular shops until its demolition in the 1970s
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  The street in 1935
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  Queen Street in 1936
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  Queen Street in 1936
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  German troops march up Queen Street in the Occupation
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  Boots in 1950
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  Queen Street in 1955
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  The shop on the corner of Queen Street and Halkett Place, now Goldsmith, has been home to various jewellers over the years
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  Queen Street corner with Bath Street
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  Buses passed along the street before it was pedestrianised in the 1970s
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  1978

A Henry Allix photograph

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  Queen Street in 1963
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  1968
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  1968
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  1970s
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  The street in the 1970s
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  The corner of Queen Street and Bath Street in 1971
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  Queen Street pedestrian precinct
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  Queen Street at night in 2005

A hand-tinted photograph of Henry Allix's shop in Queen Street

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  1953
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  Vann's, on the corner of Queen Street and Bath Street
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  Vann's
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  Vann's
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  Vann's
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  33 Queen Street
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  No 33
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  No 33
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  1935
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  Maison Hooper
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  1965
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  Queensway House, 1976

Father Christmas outside G D Laurens in the 1930s

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  1989
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  The bottom end of a pedestrianised Queen Street in the late 1970s
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  1969, and pedestrianisation is still to come
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  The junction of Queen Street and Halkett Place
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  1978
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  1981
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  1955
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  No 20 in 1968
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  No 18 in 1968
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  The bottom end of the street near its junction with Halkett Place ...
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  ... and the opposite end, decorated for the Coronation in 1953
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  Looking towards the junction with La Motte Street in 1981 - picture Andre Ferrari
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  1982 - Picture Jersey Evening Post
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  1976 Jersey Evening Post photograph
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  1977 Jersey Evening Post photograph
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  1977 Jersey Evening Post photograph
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  1977 Jersey Evening Post photograph
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  1978 Jersey Evening Post photograph
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  1979 Jersey Evening Post photograph
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  1979 Jersey Evening Post photograph
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  1983 Jersey Evening Post photograph

1970s

Queen Street businesses

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File:Al14AdBurch.gif|Soap and candle manufacturers Burch and Sons had premises at 37 New Street and 26 Queen Street in the mid 19th century File:EB15MalletBill.jpg|Mallet, tobacco manufacturer File:Al14AdFitch.jpg|Fitch, new and second hand furniture File:Al15AdIronmongery.jpg|Le Masurier and Vibert, ironmongers ... File:Al15AdVibert&Ahier.jpg|... became Vibert and Ahier File:Al15AdSnowHillCycles.jpg|Snow Hill Cycle Works File:Al15AdLeGeytPh.jpg|Philip Le Geyt, granite jewellery File:Al15AdLaurensCordage.jpg|Laurens, string and ropes File:Al15AdLaurensString.jpg|Laurens, string and ropes File:Al15AdFelixHair.jpg|Felix, hair salon File:Al15AdFelixPerfumery.jpg|Felix hairdresser and perfumery File:Al15AdBowyerDecorator.jpg|Bowyer, decorator File:Al15AdBowyerPaperhanger.jpg|Bowyer, paperhanger File:Al15AdBakerWatchmaker.jpg|Baker, watch maker File:Al15AdAuctionMart.jpg|Benest, auctioneer File:Julie15BellinghamAd.jpg|Bellingham, travel agents File:Al15AdAmy&Baker.jpg|Amy and Baker, fancy drapers File:Al14AdRoweLibrary.jpg|W H Rowe was a bookseller, stationer and sold newspapers at 27 Queen Street File:Al14AdLarbalestier.jpg|Larbalestier children's toys File:AlAdAllixTobacconist.jpg|Allix, tobacconist, also produced and sold postcards File:AlAdBenestAuctioneer.jpg| File:AlAdGeorgeLaurens.jpg| File:AlAdJuhelElectrician.jpg|F A Juhel, who was based at 26 Queen Street, described himself as the 'only practical electrician' in Jersey. This was many years before a public electricity supply arrived in the island File:AlAdRoweStationer.jpg File:1857AdCheese.jpg|1857 File:1857AdExeterHotel.jpg|1857 File:1857AdGavey.jpg|1857 File:1857AdJohnLeBer.jpg|1857 File:1857AdTaroni.jpg|1857 File:W16LarbalestierAd1892.jpg|1892 File:E16BelfordPicEnvelope.jpg| File:JCAdHastingsAuctions1874.jpg|In 1874 Bernard Hastings' auction and estate agency business occupied premises stretching from Queen Street through to Hill Street File:JC16AdBakerWatches1886.jpg|1886 File:JC16AdBelfordTobacco1886.jpg|1886 File:JC16BenestAuctionAd1886.jpg| File:JC16AdHindsCabinets1890.jpg|1890 File:JC16AdDoreHosier1905.jpg|1905 File:JC16AdBowyerPaperhanger1905.jpg|1905 File:JC16AdClothingCompany1886.jpg|1886 File:JC16AdBritishDraperyStores1905.jpg|1905 File:W16AdAllix1913.jpg|1913 File:W16AdItchCure1858.jpg|1858 File:W16AdJohnLeBer1857.jpg|1857 File:W17AdCoughSweets1855.jpg| File:W17AdGavey1857.jpg|1857 File:W17AdGaveyGloves1861.jpg|1861 File:W17AdGossetLeBer1860.jpg|1860 File:BNA21Ad1899QueenStreetBazaar.jpg|1899 Evening Post advert File:GM1881Advert72.jpg|1881 advert File:GM21Ad1863HastingsEstateAgent.jpg|1863 File:GM21EveningPost1908DupardQueenStreet.jpg|1908 File:GM21Ad1859Hastings.jpg|1859 File:GM21Ad1859Cheese.jpg|1859 File:GM21Ad1931Fernande.jpg|1931 File:S24Chronique1924GabentQueenStreet.png|Chronique de Jersey 1924 File:S24Chronique1880RoweQueenStreet.png|1880 in Chronique de Jersey File:S24Loyalist1829DeLaHayeArtQueenStreet.png|Francis de La Haye advertised new stock for artists at his Queen Street shop in 1829