Hole in the High Street

From time to time I mention the ancient and seemingly thriving Bugle Inn in Brading, no doubt helped along by its large and accessible car park. And with 'bugle' here being  the name of a sort of cow, that is to say a young bull, according to OED, a usage dating back to beginning of the fourteenth century. A word also, at that time, used for a wild ox, from the horn of which was made the ancestor of the modern bugle, as used by the Salvation Army and others. A pity, as I had at first thought that this sort of bugle might have been so named for the noise that it made, to my mind a far happier derivation. In any event, all tied up with the bull ring a bit further along the street, noticed at reference 1.

View facing left

Now, as can be seen from the view facing left, the oldest part of the building on the far left was, at some point, supplemented with the taller building to its right, the building which now carries the label.

View facing right

Then something of a gap, then facing right, the wall of the next building, which the owner, presumably not the Bugle, has allowed to be painted in the same style as that on the left.

We were curious as to the origin of this large gap in the row shops and such which once lined both sides of the busy and thriving High Street of this very old town. There must always have been something of a gap as the Bugle took coaches (in the days of horses and carts) and would have had a substantial yard out back. But what about out front? Was it something as drastic as second world war bomb damage, strayed over the Solent from the heavily bombed Portsmouth?

Certainly no point in filling the gap with commercial premises now as this town, like Shanklin noticed earlier in the day, has far too much commercial property on the High Street for present needs.

Reference 1: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2017/07/brading-ring.html.