Template:Walter arthur

No account of commerce in Claygate would be complete without mention of Walter Arthur of 43 St Leonards Road. He started his business in 1883 in Mathews Terrace, Common Road, and advertised himself in the 1950s as a builder, decorator, upholsterer, undertaker, plumber, gasfitter, heating and electrical engineer, sign and glass writer, and erector of headstones and memorials. Walter died in 1965 at the age of 101. He had three sisters, one of whom was no less skilled, but in a different way. She conducted from the same premises an entertainments business embracing children's and adults' parties, birthday and wedding celebrations, as well as a fancy dress costume hiring service.

Walter Arthur also owned and built Lantern Hall in Common Road in the 1930s. This hall was used for a variety of community activities until World War II when it was leased from the Arthurs by Naafi. From 1953 to 1954 the Village Hall Association took over the remainder of Naafi's lease. Consideration was then given to purchasing the hall for the village, but other views prevailed and the decision was taken to build a purpose-built village hall in Church Road. In 1965 Lantern Hall was purchased by Surrey County Council and used as a depot for its county library services which were headquartered at Esher until these were transferred to Dorking in 1981. It was then used as a warehouse by Allied Packaging of Thames Ditton.