Description: A busy scene looking south from Iron Gate towards the Guildhall (at this date Derby's town hall) with its domed clock tower. Leftwards from this is the Derby Corporation's Weights & Measures Office, a police station and The Royal Oak public house (which closed in 1920). Looming to the rear is the Shot Tower (demolished in 1932), part of the Morledge Lead Works. To the right are the bow-fronted offices of the Derbyshire Advertiser newspaper and then (with the clocks) the shop of John Smith & Sons, the renowned Derby clock manufacturers. The main clock shows the time to be 3pm, while the four smaller clocks were set to display the times in other parts of the world. This building was demolished in the 1970s and replaced by a bank.
On the right Derby Corporation electric tramcar No 11 awaits departure for Burton Road, and another such vehicle can be seen standing in front of the Advertiser offices. In front of the tram is the statue of local benefactor Michael Thomas Bass (1799-1884). No motor vehicles are in evidence as yet and aside from the tramcars, horse-drawn carriages and bicycles seem to be the predominant modes of transport.
Derby-based postcard publisher F W Scarratt took this photo and allocated it the number 506 in his series.