The riverbank and Promenade on Matlock Bath's North Parade was by this time hidden by both a line of maturing trees and a canvas screen. The second image shows that behind the screen were high wrought iron railings and a thick hedge. The trees were eventually pollarded, perhaps when they became a hazard for the increased road traffic through the village. This picture was taken in the first decade of the twentieth century and is a very similar to the previous image, though a little further away from the junction with Holme Road.

The very large Central Restaurant and hotel, owned by the Dalton family^[1], is on the far right of the photograph. During the First War, soldiers of the 2/5th Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment were quartered here^[2] and the dining room was used by the Army again during the Second War^[2].

The three Dalton sons, Fred, Herbert and Victor, served in the Army during WW1 and all survived. They were living in Leicester in 1911 but they clearly returned to Matlock Bath as both Fred [Jack] and Herbert took part in the local swimming gala at the Fountain Baths in September 1914^[3].
Also see Matlock Bath Men Serving King and Country, 1914

Next to it, in the single storey building, were refreshment rooms run by George Ratcliffe^[4]; this building was eventually demolished and replaced by the present structure. Between the two restaurants were/are Valley Steps that connect North Parade with Holme Road.

The building with the arched entrance (partly hidden by Ratcliffe's sunshade) became the Stoddart's "Canadian Stores" in the 1930s and was run by the family for possibly thirty to forty years. Further along can be seen the oval signboard of the George Vaults. Annie Weaving was the licensee in 1908 and the Eato's were running it during the First War; they later moved to the Boat House Hotel^[5].

1914.

The second image shows a horse drawn vehicle, its seat covered in a warm blanket, and its driver waiting for passengers to arrive from the station in 1914. Further along the Parade are two more vehicles, crammed with passengers who are off to see the sites. The car behind the is LH 7326.

The large sign outside the Central Restaurant, jutting out across the pavement, is unmissable. It announces that it caters for "small or large picnic parties. 20 to 500 Beds." The Parade Boarding House and the Parade Restaurant nearer the camera did not have a similar sign, though it may not yet have been put outside of course. There is a tobacconist's sign a little further along. On the hillside above, almost vertically upwards from the Fountain Baths at the end of the straight and next to two trees, is the Prince of Wales - the sign, running along the bottom of the roofline, was very visible and designed for all to see!
Photographs of Matlock Bath Today (2) has a modern photograph of the building.

References (coloured links go to on site transcripts):

^[1] The Dalton family owned the Central Restaurant in the 1901 census. They'd already been in the restaurant trade for some years and continued at the Central Restaurant for years (see both 19th Century Directories and 20th Century Directories elsewhere on this website). They were the same family who ran Dalton's record and television shops in Crown Square, Matlock; the family also had shops at both Derby and Leicester.

^[2] Beresford, Charles "The Bath at War, A Derbyshire Community and the Great War" (2007). Country Books/Ashridge Press. ISBN 978 1 901214 91 8. First War information, p.75. Second War information, p.462

^[3] "Alfreton Journal", 18 September 1914. Matlock Bath Amateur Swimming Club.

^[4] George Ratcliffe advertised in Kelly's Directory, 1908 and Kelly's Directory of 1912. He seems to have taken over from Charles Etches (see Matlock Bath: The Promenade, before 1905). Mr. Ratcliffe was born in Cromford but lived with his wife and three children on North Parade for some years and they were there at the time of the 1911 census. This is the same George Ratcliffe from Scarthin who served during the First War (confirmed March 2011 by Christopher Shelton, a direct descendant).

^[5] George Hotel / George Vaults: Annie Weaving appears in Kelly's, Directory 1908 and the Eatos were in Kelly's Directory of 1912 and Kelly's, 1916. There is more about the Eato family on this website.