The Old Cinema

The Roundway c1950
Enlarge photo |  More about this photo

We moved to Egham in about 1955.  My father had been born in Medlake Road in 1920.  We lived in Oak Avenue, Egham Hythe in a house built in the 1930s.  I attended Egham Hythe Infants and Primary and later Magna Carta (on both its sites - Egham Hythe and Manorcrofts - it is now just in the Hythe).   In those pre-M25 and M3 days Egham was a much quieter place.   The High Street was much as it had been in the early 1900s.  There were still some gas lamps which were lit by hand.  Green double decker buses ran through Egham linking Staines to High Wycombe (route 441).  One red bus service (117) terminated at Egham Station.  One major change was that we used to walk to school or sometimes use our bicycles.   Very rare now in these car dominated times.   

I recall the old cinema in the High Street. It was on the south side.  My neighbour had once been a projectionist there.  It had been converted to a building supply shop run by Battons.  This form of store is now much more rare having been replaced by DIY stores.   The auditorium formed the main part of the shop and remains of the screen could be seen at the back.   This side of the High Street was cleared to make way for the major redevelopment that took place in the 1970s.  

In Victorian times Egham used to have a racecourse on Runnymede.  The course can still be seen from the air during some parts of the year.  

There was a wonderful sweet shop in Station Road run by a charming old lady.  It was handily placed on our route to school!  There was also a cycle shop called "Bakers"and a newsagent called "Killicks".   David Greig's shop was in the High Street.  In the 1970s there was a record shop called "Record Wise" which replaced the sweet shop as the main attraction in my teenage years.  Next door to this was the Co-Op.  

For more information on Egham see any works by Sidney Oliver, the well-known local historian.