Bonfire Night in Brighton was particularly noisy and smoky on November 5, 1970. That was because a huge fire broke out at Johnson’s, a family-owned furniture shop on the north side of Western Road, near where Woolworths then was.
Although firefighters arrived promptly and tackled the blaze, there was still enormous damage to the shop and its contents.
It reopened after the fire but was never the same and closed before the end of the decade. The firm also found difficulty in competing against national chains.
The picture of firefighters fighting the blaze was contributed by local historian David Rowland.
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