The plot on which Asda Supermarket now stands was once allotment gardens, probably for the railway workers who lived at Cloughton Road. But these were replaced by a Co-op dairy in the 1930’s. The dairy was a large complex which included an abattoir and large stables for its fleet of horse and carts. The building known as The Old Dairy, which now houses the University of Northampton Resources Centre was a depot for the dairy built in the early 1960’s.
On the corner where Ransome Road meets London Road was an engineering workshop for the Ransome Motor Company (which can be seen on the map above), built in 1914. During the First World War the workshop was used as a munitions factory for the war effort. Ransome & Co went into liquidation in 1919 and the workshop was taken over by Beedon’s Bus Company. The company ran bus services and leisure tours as well as a petrol station out of this site until 1970.
The Engine Shed 