Where is This?

[horseshoes]

I hope somebody can ID this place for me please.
On the right of the photo is a theatre poster for Yvonne Arnaud in Mrs Willie. I googled the play and found a programme for it from 1952. This photo looks slightly older - looks like a lot of building work going on - bomb damage? I've looked at photos of Shaftesbury Avenue but can't relate it to this. You can see a statue of some sort in centre distance. No clue on the double decker - destination obscured! On a jolly note - there's an advert saying Stockings Repaired in 24 Hours!
Thanks for any help.

[mike11111]

Although I have been unable to help, I found the images so evocative of my childhood. I especially liked the reference to the advert "Stockings repaired in 24 hours". Such advertisements, many of which were for tobacco, were ubiquitous at the time but would not be allowed now. "Player's, please", "Today's cigarette is a Bristol", "Drink Horniman's, drink tea!", "Go to work on an egg", "Drinka pinta milka day", "Don't forget the fruit gums, Mum!" - sorry, I'm filling up here.

[TheWinner]

Hi bookbinder, the dates you spotted were a big help. well done.

[horseshoes]

Absolutely. Well done and thank you so much.

[bookbinder]

horseshoes, do you happen to know the names of the three gentlemen who are in the foreground (two of them holding pipes)?

[horseshoes]

I'm afraid not, although I'm PRETTY certain that the one on the right is a teacher named Evans,who POSSIBLY taught in Boulton Road Primary School in Birmingham, left in 1949 and went on to teach in a school in Wales; again POSSIBLY around the Mountain Ash, Abercynon, Pontypridd area. That's as much as I've gleaned up until now.

[bookbinder]

I had got it into my head that they might have been the three male leads of "Mrs. Willie", and I've been digging into the internet, but haven't come up with any proof positive. Oh, well, wrong again! Sorry to have troubled you.

[horseshoes]

No trouble at all Bookbinder. I got quite excited - I thought you were going to say it was your Uncle George from South Wales! LOL