The Whitgift Spirals
I can remember that every time we went to meet my Granddad (he would wait outside Allders in George Street on Tuesday mornings after catching the 403 bus from Chelsham), we would have fish and chips in the BHS cafe and he would make my mum walk up to the top floor.
We'd then either go into the top floor of Woolworths (which had a huge mosaic of a swordfish on the wall) or into WH Smiths, just so I could run full speed down the spirals. As I was about 3 or 4, it felt like I was going supersonic!
When Nanny died, he bought me two little baby dolls from Zodiac Toys - one black and one white and everyone was shocked at him. I loved those dolls because he got them for me.
My brother would take me to see films at the Odeon by Marks and Spencers - and we used to walk home because the bus service was atrocious and couldn't ever be relied upon.
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RE: RE: The Whitgift Spirals
I was born in 1979 and grew up in Croydon, I remember the spirals well! I was one of the many, many kids who ran down them as fast as possible, it was awesome. I also remember the cylinder things which displayed adverts, they revolved very slowly if I'm right - they can be seen clearly in another photo on here.
The WHSmiths shown was one of my favourite shops as a kid, and I remember there being a newsagents next to it at one point, my dad used to buy me Lion bars from there sometimes. One of the shops which sticks in my mind the most is Allders, which can just about be seen in this photo I think. Each Christmas there would be the most fantastic scenes created in the window displays, all the children were fascinated - my mum and I would spend ages looking at the five or six different scenes, I remember beautiful animals and sparkly snow. A whole fairy tale was depicted, it was magical.
My parents and I often went to the pub in the centre of the Whitgift Centre, there was a moving platform to it when I was a child.
I went to Old Palace school and have many happy memories of Croydon, it's admittedly a concrete jungle but unique!
Comment from Claire Balding on Sunday, 1st January 2012.