Taking a stroll with the young dandies

April 28, 2003

Huge crowds turn out to welcome Gladstone on a visit to Norwich in 1890.

GENTLEMAN'S WALK
(The Market Place)

IT’S our very own promenade where generations have gone strolling . . . and paused for a mardle.

But next time you are “down The Walk”, try to find a gap in the crowds, stop by the market, and look up at the elegant buildings that have survived over the years.

Proud and priceless architecture that displays its wares like set pieces in a market place.

Here we go back in time to the day when cars were allowed to drive down Gentleman’s Walk.

Over the centuries it has seen riots, stagecoaches, celebrations, trams and now shoppers — it is packed with thousands of them every day.

With the colourful market on one side and shops that come and go on the other, it remains the centre of city centre life.

The gentlemen who gave The Walk its name were the young dandies of the 18th Century. After a drinking session in their club, they would go to take a look at what was going on — and there was always plenty happening.

Stagecoaches were arriving every day and there were many inns such as the King’s Head, the Bear and the Angel. They were gentlemen — although I suspect many weren’t — and they were walking. The name stuck.

Huge crowds would gather in The Walk when various VIPS came calling — just take a look at the picture of the scene when Gladstone paid a visit in 1890. A century ago trams were taking over from the horse and cart. Then the buses arrived along with the cars.

After long and heated debate, stretching over many years and following various experiments, traffic was finally banned from The Walk at the end of the 1980s.

Today, the shoppers have taken over. Shops, cafes, coffee bars and pubs have come and gone — each generation has had their favourites.

New names keep appearing and the customers keep on coming . . . strolling down The Walk.

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