Looking down High Street from the western end of Market Place, sometime in the 1950s (or early 1960s).1

The building in the foreground, on the corner of High Street and North Street, is the Golden Lion.  At this time it was a Manns pub, as indicated by the signs on the walls, the pub sign, and the words "Mann Crossman Paulin" (not visible in this reproduction) above the window to the right of the doorway.  (Manns merged with Watney, Coombe, Reid in 1958,² which suggests that the photo was taken in the 1950s.)

Moving down High Street from the Golden Lion we come to Freeman Hardy Willis, then F. W. Woolworth & Co, E. G. Pearsons & Son, and Bermans (The Children's Store).

Note the traffic lights, a reminder of the days before the market was closed to through traffic.

¹ Reproduced by kind permission of Cranley Commercial Calendars.
² East London Brewery History.