Royston Cave Reopens The wait is over. Dust off your torches – Royston Cave is reopen and tickets are on sale now! Join us deep beneath the streets of Royston and explore this unique heritage site with a guided tour. Discover the cave’s extraordinary carvings and unearth its mysterious past. Open every Saturday, Sunday and …
Ever since I moved from London to Royston 25 years ago, I’ve wondered what goes on at Johnson Matthey (JM). As a last contribution to the year-long ‘Hidden Royston’ series in The Listing I decided to find out. Security is tight – before making the visit with photographer David Waters, we were sent a list …
Behind closed doors at Royston Police Station Policing across Britain is changing in response to new technology, the changing nature of criminal activity and reduced resources, and Royston is no exception. Until 1896, the town actually had two police stations – one was part of the Cambridgeshire force, the other came under Hertfordshire – because …
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A straw poll of residents in Royston High Street one grey Monday morning found a broad acceptance of CCTV cameras in public places. “If you’ve nothing to hide, why would you worry?” was a typical response, and others were reassured and felt safer. I was standing under one of the CCTV cameras in 11 locations …
Royston reducing waste – sharing, repairing, re-using There really is no planet B, so now in the time to join millions of others locally, nationally and internationally tackling what many now describe as our climate emergency. This is a particularly busy month with many opportunities to get on board to cut waste. 2nd – 6th …
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Old Royston’s unseen sights Our lives are so full these days – with 24-hour news, mobile phones that can do pretty much everything for communication, including making calls – we can easily go around with our eyes metaphorically shut. We may have become less observant or, as a survival strategy, we cease to take in …
An hour with Ray Constant, Watch Commander at Royston Fire Station reveals much about what has kept him in the fire service for the past 24 years, the last five based in Royston. A guided tour around the fire station reveals a comfortable but professional setup – with a mess deck where the crew gather …
Repairing the High Street In the middle on May, Altrincham in Cheshire became the first town centre to pilot ‘National High Street Perfect Day’, the latest government-backed initiative designed to bring retailers, communities and local leaders together to improve the UK’s town centres in the face of widespread shop closures. The scheme was recommended in …
Below stairs at the Banyers House Historical records are selective and therefore open to interpretation, making any attempt to uncover the past all the more interesting. That’s what I discovered when trying to unearth some ‘underground’ stories about the Banyers House in the centre of Royston. Some facts about the Banyers are well documented. It’s …
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Royston road names revealed If they know nothing else about their history, Royston residents are aware that the town stands at the crossroads of two great Roman roads – Ermine Street and Icknield Way – which are themselves believed to be ancient British trackways, though some would dispute this. In the town centre, Icknield Way …
Behind doors – Offscreen at the Royston Picture Palace When the Priory Cinema in Royston closed on 28 September 2000, after 67 years, there was a public campaign to keep it open. Instead, nearly two years after the curtain had come down on Stuart Little (the film, not the mouse-like star) the building came down …
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Below the High Street The death of the high street has been foretold many times over the decades. Royston is no exception – with empty shops in evidence, ‘use it or lose it’ applies more now than ever. One cause of the gradual decline of the British high street has been attributed to the relative …
