OLD DEVONPORT . UK
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ROADS AND STREETS IN OLD DEVONPORT

GRANBY STREET

Granby Street ran from King Street eastwards to High Street.

The Street, along with New Granby Barracks, were named in honour of John Manners, Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance, and Marquess of Granby (1721-1770), who is said to have set many of his old soldiers up as publicans when they became too old to fight and thus gave rise to the large number of English public houses carrying his name.  Naturally the Street had one, the Granby Cellars Public House, of which Mr Arthur Passaway was the licensee in 1914.  There were also the Dolphin Inn and three other beer retailers.

Other prominent buildings in Granby Street in 1914 were the Ebrington Masonic Hall, the Friendship Masonic Hall, and the Salvation Army Barracks.

Number 13 Granby Street, occupied before the Second World War
by Mrs Alice Elizabeth Doolan, shopkeeper.
© City of Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery.

On the north side was Granby Ope, between which and New Granby Barracks were a shop keeper, a baker, a dairyman, a sign writer and a wardrobe dealer.  Most businesses were on the south side of the Street, which was longer.  These included Messrs Hiorns and Miller, stationers and printers, Messrs W G Swiss and Sons, printers, a confectioner and a female coal dealer, Mrs Jessie Cure.  The Devonport Blanket Society and the Devonport Soup Society shared the premises at number 45.  No doubt because of the adjacent Royal Horse Artillery Barracks there was also a veterinary surgeon in the Street.

On December 20th 1915 Plymouth Borough Council approved a plan for converting number 34 Granby Street into an engine room for the Hippodrome Theatre-cum-cinema.