Gants Hill

I moved to Gants Hill in 1968, from Bethnal Green, at the age of 8. I later moved to Wanstead aged 32. I have great memories of the place, I lived on the Eastern Avenue between Ethelbert Gardens and Beehive lane. Ray Powell was the main car dealer directly opposite, they were a Leyland dealer, with a filling station, and next door was the United Dairies depot. We had bikes for Christmas bought from Halfords and mum paid weekly for them. Guy Norris was the local hardware store and record shop. I used to buy records there, singles were around 50p and albums £2, they had booths you could go into with headphones to listen before buying. Other memories are the model aircraft shop; last shop at the side of the Odeon, really nice man at that shop, the bakery on the roundabout next to shoe repair shop, the lady serving had a twitch in her eye. Hammerton's the Jaguar dealer at the Beehive Lane junction, Russell's, a very traditional hardware store in Beehive Lane, Nat West bank, Sainsbury's both on the roundabout, W H Smiths, R P Ellen shoe shop, Woolworths-became Bejam-became Iceland, Co-op, the launderette. I recall Gants Hill being a wonderful area to live, a real community, it lost its character over the years and I can see a good recovery on its way.