Laid out in 1887 as the town’s main shopping street, Station Road was the centre of a popular shopping centre in North Wales up to the 1960s. The original features of many of the buildings still remain, particularly on the upper floors. Characteristic of many of the commercial buildings of Colwyn Bay were cast iron and glazed canopies, with entrances between curved shop windows, of which regrettably few remain.
The clock stands outside the corner shop once known as Uxbridge House, the road’s first grocer. Boots is a 1979 replacement for a once-notable draper’s shop, Neville & Co. Even more famous was the big furniture shop of Daniel Allen, in mock-Tudor style. It closed in 1971 when the founder’s grandson said he would not ruin the family’s reputation by selling the inferior products of modern manufacturers.