Ladywell Walk – North Side
As we turn into Ladywell Walk, the building on the corner is the warehouse occupied by Hardware Merchants, Brooks and Hawes and Altendorf & Wright who were Export Agents. This was demolished when Baylis House was built in the late 1950s. The building further down Ladywell Walk (beyond the bay window in the above photograph) was occupied by Mapstone, who were wholesale newspaper distributors. The firm’s name still appears on the main wall above the restaurants. The business closed in 1989 and the building repurposed for offices and food outlets.
In years gone by Ladywell Walk from Hurst Street, was quite literally a “walk” a narrow pathway between the buildings leading to the Lady Well. It grew in prominence and width over the years, but it still was only about 100 yards long, ending near to the site of the well. From the end of the road three footpaths led off. One was a continuation of Ladywell Walk and followed a twisty route to Pershore Street, that originally ran to the south of the moated Rectory (or Parsonage). Another, Ladywell Passage, headed north to Smallbrook Street and another, Bath Passage, took a line to the north east across the site of the Rectory. Bath Passage still exists as a walkway between two rows of hairdressers and restaurants that seem to specialise in crispy duck.
Bath Passage in the late 1800s 
Ladywell Passage in 1921
By the end of the 1960s most of the properties around Ladywell Walk were demolished (although Mapstone’s warehouse survived), the roadway was widened and extended to run from Hurst Street to Pershore Street. For a while it even became part of the A441 trunk road.
On the left is Wrottesley Street which, before the end of the 1950s, went through to Smallbrook Street. This got cut off and ended with a small open-air car park (it was handy for the Hippodrome!). In later years a multi storey car park was built on the site. Then, on the corner of Wrottesley Street stands a building which is marked on many maps as a warehouse. This is now home to Chung Ying – a Cantonese Restaurant,
Beyond Chung Ying and Bath Passage is a newer building decorated in a style to suit the “Chinese Quarter” label that the area has acquired. This houses the China Court Restaurant and a number of other oriental businesses.
hurst-street.com 