A HISTORIC clock in Southend’s High Street should be restored to its former glory, according to the town’s mayor.

David Norman has called for the timepiece on the RA Jones building, opposite Weston Road, to be cleaned up and repaired.

The clock has been in place for more than a century, but fell into disrepair after Mr Jones’s jewellery store closed in the Seventies.

Mr Norman said: “The clock has long since stopped and is sadly forlorn, deteriorating and rusting away.

“Restoration of the clock would greatly enhance the street scene in this part of the High Street.

“I would hope the owners of the freehold of the shop could be persuaded to undertake the restoration in Diamond Jubilee year.”

Robert Arthur Jones was born in Liverpool in 1849, but he moved to Southend after working for a clock and watchmaker in Manchester.

He set up his jewellery store at 76-78 High Street in 1890, employing up to 40 staff at the business’s peak.

Before his death in 1925, he used his wealth to set up the Jones Memorial Ground off Eastern Avenue.

He also created Priory Park by buying and donating 30 acres of the Prittlewell Priory parkland to the public.

Mr Norman said: “He was one of the most generous benefactors in our town’s history. The grand clock on his shop dominated the street scene at the bottom end of the High Street for much of the last century.

“It was very accurate – Jones’ staff checked it at 10am each day.”

Since the jewellery store closed, the RA Jones building has passed between several different owners.

According to Land Registry records, the current owner is Alpha Trust, an investment firm based Mauritius, which bought the building in May 2007.

The shop floor is leased by Yours clothes shop.

No one from Alpha Trust was available for comment.