A lone policeman stands on duty at the corner of King’s Square in this atmospheric photograph taken we think in the late 1950s.

The centre of the photograph is dominated by the huge edifice that was the warehouse of C. Lamb and Sons Ltd. Because of imperfections in the negative, it isn't quite possible to quite make out the wording on the left of the balding, but it seems to refer to Lamb's as a painter and supplier of brushes. Reader Gillian Cruthers rang in to confirm that. in the 1950s the business was run by three Lamb brothers, who lived in Carr Lane, Acomb. They sold paint, brushes, and everything else you needed to do with painting and decorating. "They would mix paint for people," Gillian recalled.

There's no date on the photograph, but from the style of the cars parked along Colliergate we suspect it was indeed taken in the 1950s. That would have been only 20 years or so after Holy Trinity Church (also known as Christ Church) was demolished, in 1937.

The church had been declared redundant in 1886 and was subsequently used by Shambles butchers as a holding pen for animals awaiting slaughter, before being demolished to create the open paved area we're familiar with today.

Stephen Lewis