A gig c.1905. This vehicle was popular for well over 100 years and in its later stages, at the turn of the century, was an elegant affair with up-to-date springing and rubber tyres. The driver here was Mr. R. A. Yerburgh, M.P. for Chester, who was first elected in 1886 as a Conservative. He is sporting in his buttonhole his election favours, as is his groom, or rather, coachman, sitting beside him in top hat with cockade.
In the background to the right can just be seen 'The Fountain,' a most elegant, very tall lamp standard with dolphins entwined round its base which rested on a drinking fountain for humans and troughs for horses. It was put up in 1859 at the junction of Bridge Street, Pepper Street, Lower Bridge Street and Grosvenor Street. It was replaced ( goodness knows why ) with a smelly underground men's lavatory, which with much ribald laughter was also called 'The Fountain.' This disappeared when Pepper Street was widened in 1964.