A summer's afternoon at the Bull Stake in the late 1960s.

The shops are as follows L to R:

William Hill's betting shop; Decorarte curtains etc.; Sketchley's dry cleaners; an empty shop; Dewhurst's butchers; an unnamed shop that sold picture frames, ornaments etc.; and Phillip's chemist shop.
A view from the early 1970s looking across the Bull Stake towards Walsall Road. On the left is the Mercia Building Society that originally opened as the Darlaston branch of the Wednesbury Building Society on 29th July, 1954.

On the  extreme right is the Mitchells & Butlers "Three Horse Shoes" pub.

This photograph was taken in 1970 when work was underway on St. Lawrence Way. The road opened the following year and some of Darlaston's oldest streets were removed during construction, including Great Croft Street, Eldon Street, and much of Bilston Street.

On the left are the two recently demolished blocks of flats; Great Croft House and John Wootton House, and on the right is Middleton's shop.

Middletons sold prams, cots, nursery furniture, toys and records.
A view taken on the same day as the previous photo, looking across the Bull Stake into Pinfold Street. On the left is J.W. Davies & Son's turf accountants and in the centre is the Three Horse Shoes pub. The second shop on the right is the Stars newsagents and tobacconists. When Darlaston had it's railway station round the corner in Darlaston Road the shop used to be owned by the London & North Western Railway and sold tickets and accepted parcels for transportation on the railway.
Another view taken while road works were in progress for St. Lawrence Way, this time looking across the Bull Stake towards King Street.

Within a few years all of the old shops on the left-hand side would be gone and the new library would be built on the far left.
On the left is Great Croft Street, which at the time was in the process of being widened as part of the St. Lawrence Way development.

In the centre behind Middleton's shop is one of the town's last small workshops that were a common sight in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were mainly used by nail makers, lock makers, and gunlock makers.
A final view looking along Pinfold Street towards the Bull Stake. The view today is very different thanks to the road widening and the dual carriageway.

When the traffic island was removed in 1977 the old sewer-gas lamp that had been a feature at the Bull Stake for so long, was accidentally damaged beyond repair. The lamp at the bottom of King Street today is a replica.
 
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