The 1930s Listed neo Georgian/Art Deco Penrhyn Buildings
As a precaution against invasion during World War 2 the first floor of these buildings housed a secret BBC studio to be used in the event of a German invasion. In an emergency it would have been linked to one of the BBC’s stock of portable “H Group/100 transmitters, with an aerial hidden in the roof.
The studio was rediscovered in 1969 when the local Liberals rented the room as their office for the 1970 general election, still with a microphone suspended from the ceiling.
Notice the curved windows of some of the building’s shop entrances, a notable original feature of many of the town’s early shops.
