The old electricity showrooms in Exchange Street are currently being used by Aylesbury Vale District Council and will be demolished when their move to Gatehouse is complete. The Society tried unsuccessfully to get the building listed as it has a rich history and is important in the development of the town between the wars.
By 1930 the supply of electricity reached almost every home in the town and the Borough were agents for the local supply from the Central Electricity Board. Local villages were plugging into Aylesbury’s supply and lines of demarcation had to be drawn in the case of some rural areas. For example Cheddington and Ivinghoe were supplied by Luton Corporation but Wing was supplied by Aylesbury. The Borough Council had an Electricity sub-committee whose members read like a Who’s Who of Aylesbury. The Chairman was Cllr Taylor and the others were the Mayor, Aldermen Jowett and Adkins, Viscount Stopford and Councillors Cannon, Gerrett and Standring.
In April 1930 the electricity committee considered plans submitted by Messrs J S Quilter & Son, Architects, for ‘the erection of Show-room, Offices and Stores’. It was resolved that the plan be approved and application be made to the Electricity Commissioners for sanction to raise the necessary loan and to the Unemployment Grants committee for recognition of their proposals for the purpose of the grant. In June of that year, in order to get their loan, the committee were required to ensure that 50% of the men who would work on the building would be transferred from a depressed area. The tender of £11,868 from Webster & Cannon of Aylesbury, who at the time were one of the largest public/utility/commercial builders in southern England, was accepted and work commenced on August 11 1930.
The service provided by the showroom was applauded throughout and the Borough burghers were very proud to have this as an addition their town. It showed them to be modern and forward thinking. Therefore, an important person was required to cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony.
That person was Ramsay Macdonald, the Prime Minister, who opened the building in April 1931 amongst much fanfare and publicity.
It ceased to be an Electricity Showroom in 1967, and has been used by Aylesbury Vale District Council as offices and a council chamber from 1996 to the present day
It was highly commended for it’s refurbishment in The Aylesbury Society Good Design Award in 1996. More recently the Society suggested to the Waterside developers and AVDC that the building should be retained as part of the scheme and utilised as a restaurant, bar or arts centre. The style of the building lends itself to this type of usage, fronting the road and backing onto the stream and canal, with the potential for waterside dining. Our suggestion, however, has fallen on deaf ears and the building is due to be demolished later this year adding to the long list of Aylesbury’s fast disappearing heritage