Tramway Lane in the Central City, Christchurch

Tramway Lane formerly Hereford Place. On Worcester Street just to the west of the old Government Buildings. It runs to the south. The modern central city tramway runs along it. A small amount of information from the library website. The earliest mention that I could find on Papers Past was in 1902 when a company called Birmingham Plating Works was mentioned. Some of the other businesses mentioned were H A Logan office furniture, Textile Sack and Bag Co, and A Hughes and Co a hat company. In 1920s and 1930s there were at least three car companies. Dobson Garage, O’Rourke’s Garage and Provincial Motor Co. In 1929 there was a fire bug active in Christchurch and businesses on this street were hit hard especially the soft goods company Ambler and Co which was next to Dobson’s Garage which was also set on fire. Blue Stars Taxis were here in the 1930s. In 1940 a new industry Table Salt NZ Ltd was set up and producing Cascade Iodised Table Salt. In 1904 there was a complaint about the street due to the dirty state of it. In 1925 there was mention of duplicate street names and there was a request for name suggestions. It was still being called Hereford Place into the 1940s. I couldn’t find any mention of the name Tramway Lane and even with googling I couldn’t find out when it got renamed. When googling I found mention of 8 Tramway Lane that was supposed to have been built in 1888 for auctioneer Francis Tabart that covered the block between Manchester St and Tramway Lane but nothing on Papers Past about this building. The building was demolished after the earthquakes. Francis Tabart ran his business from 146 Cashel Street. There was a right of way that ran from Hereford Place to Cathedral Square and it was at the back of the Old Government Building that was on Worcester St. It was named Customs Lane in 1929 but the only entries that I could find involved badly parked cars or stolen cars. This lane no longer exists and probably hasn’t existed for quite some time. I couldn’t walk Tramway Lane as most of it is blocked off and surrounded by damaged buildings.