Battersea, Greater London

Granada & Lavender Hill

I remember going to the Saturday morning pictures at the Granada, my family lived in Wickersley Road off Lavender Hill and I remember walking from the Granada home. I went to Wix's Lane School and later Lavender Hill School, and as a boy I worked in the London Co'op on Lavender Hill in the greengrocers and also William's greengrocers and also... [more]

Battersea

I remember the Granada, 6 pence for the Saturday morning flics. I always felt sorry for the plonker that had to do his bit and make us sing along before the flics started. After the show, down to 'Notarianni's for a 3 penny wafer of ice cream, then walk home along Lavender Hill re-enacting the main film or the trailer and... [more]

Lavender hill

As a family we moved to 10 Lavender Hill in 1948, dad managed the butcher shop, Dewhursts, before that it was Chalks. One side was the fish shop Hitchcocks and the other side Maplesden the funeral parlour. Our back 'yard' opened on to Beaufoy Road, it had the chip shop to our right and on the left garages where the hardware... [more]

Battersea Town Hall

The impressive entrance on Lavender Hill actually led into the Council Offices, where I started work when I left school in 1966. At that time they had changed very little since their Victorian origins; there was a grand staircase opposite the main door, with a half-landing then curving wings sweeping up on each side to the first floor. A larger than... [more]

Lavender Hill

My uncle and aunt had a house in Beaufoy Rd, number 5, tucked into the corner next to the Fish & Chip shop. When I was home on on leave from sea that is where I lived, for about 5 years. Usually up the smoke to the jazz clubs I would often walk down from a late tube at Clapham Common... [more]

My favourite haunt

My memories scan over 50 years, I lived in Anhalt Road and then Ethelburga Street and spent countless hours in the Park. The funfare, with fireworks every Friday night for the end of war celebrations, the tree walk along the riverbank. The smell of the leaves composting in the big bins near the gardeners lodge, the swings down the "posh end"... [more]

Granada, Clapham Junction

I have fond memories of the "British Granadiers" on Saturday mornings at the Granada, great fun. I also remember later on a Sunday, as a teenager, going to the Granada with my mates. We jostled for what we thought to be the best seat in the house. This seat was in the front row of the balcony, and had a plaque... [more]

help beatles film

This is where I first went to the pictures with a friend.
We saw The Beatles film 'Help'.

London Living Memories

High Street North is a relatively undistinguished and typical London suburban shopping street: the exuberance of the Town Hall complex is forgotten. The Midland Bank on the corner of Caulfield Road (right) is one of their 1920s Classical-style single-storey buildings that add quality to many High Streets. On the left the taller Victorian brick buildings were demolished in the 1970s and replaced by bland flat roofed ones.

London Living Memories

We pass under the River Thames via the Blackwall Tunnel - the northbound side dates from the 1890s, an early project of the LCC, which was established in 1888. East Ham was in Essex until 1965, but since the mid 19th century very much a part of greater London. Here we approach East Ham's town centre along the busy North Circular Road, which seems... [more]

London Living Memories

Our tour now heads north-east to Greenwich to a much grander building. The Royal Naval Hospital, a counterpart to the Chelsea Hospital for soldiers, began as a rebuild of Greenwich Palace by Charles II in the 1660s, but it changed direction in the 1690s. The second pediment from the right is Webb's 1660s work. In 1873 it became the Royal Naval College; when that... [more]