This advert shows three houses down West St Helen Street when they first went on sale in 1981. These houses were also on the books of a London based estate-agents (called Goddard and Smith)  and were described as being in the Heart of Abingdons Conservation Area – they still are.

Compare that with today, almost 30 years on. Not that much has changed in the scene apart from the number of  cars.  Even Conservation Areas have not banned traffic.

In the window of Andrews is a picture of Printer’s Court, a recently completed development, off Coopers Lane and Ock Street.

It backs on to the Royal Mail sorting Office Yard where there is the biggest yellow hatched area in Abingdon.

Royal Mail are also having work done on the flat roof of the sorting office to keep it watertight for the next ten, twenty years or even thirty years – or for however long we continue to send letters.