Issue 43 — March 1999
What was that?
A guide to some of Jericho's distinctive buildings
No. 6 King Street
The earliest mention we can find of this building is
from 1871 when a Mr Soden had a chimney-sweeping business here. Later
from 1889-97 the building was owned by a builder named J. Baker. He then
sold it to Mick Tysall who kept horses and used No. 6 as a repair workshop
for early motor cars.
In 1910 it was taken over by the Faulkner brothers who started a bicycle
business (surprisingly, also selling fruit and vegetables). The grandson
of one of these men, Mr Bill Faulkner, took over after his grandfather's
death and continued the bicycle business, combining this with motorcycles,
using 55 Walton Street as a shop frontage. He tells me that he used to
keep old penny-farthing bikes upstairs above his workshops and still has
one at his home at Church Hanborough.
In 1983 Faulkners moved to Botley Road. The shop at the front was sold
to what is now Cycle King and No. 6 was sold to furniture designer
Lucinda Leech. Lucinda, who lives in Walton Street, made the distinctive
modern frontage and uses the ground floor as her workshop where with a
team of craftsmen she produces beautiful custom-made modern furniture.
She lets out the upper floor to Mr Robert Clark, an antiquarian bookseller
whose rooms are filled with the wonderful smell of leather-bound books.
Jenny Barsley, Grantham House
