Golders Green

A Memory of Golders Green.

I lived in Temple Fortune about a mile north of Golders Green up the Finchley Road, along which passed buses and trolleybuses going up to Finchley and Barnet, and south to Baker Street, Trafalgar Square and London.
In the 1940s and 1950s my mum used to bring my brother and myself to an outfitters, I believe it was called Lilley & Skinners. She bought grey flannel (scratchy!) short trousers and white shirts for school plus vests and pants underwear for us. In 1960, as I was about to go to university, I remember spending my money there on a brown duffle coat which no self-respecting student was without!
There were several kosher 'delis' in the road but one shop stood out for me. It was a coffee and tea place, where the unforgettable aroma of baked coffee beans came out of a fan outlet just above the shop. I wonder if it is still there?
Occasionally I used to go to 'the pictures' at the ABC in Golders Green Road and the Ionic at Golders Green crossroads near to the clock tower. But my friends and I mainly went to the Odeon in Temple Fortune to watch the latest Westerns, on wet Saturday afternoons in winter. The usherette would flash her torch at us lads and tell us to "Shut up" in exciting parts of the film. Happy days!

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Added 19 August 2009

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Does anyone remember the name of the Coffee/tea shop in Golders Green Road just after the Hoop Lane crossing. I can still remember the wonderful smell of fresh ground coffee wafting into Golders Green . My friends and I kept walking past the shop soaking up the aroma.

By marilyn.freedman on Fri Aug 15th 2014, at 6:27 pm

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Marilyn, I've just done a Google search for a coffee house near to Hoop Lane, and came up with "Imperial Cafe". It appears to be under a new owner, and its website says that it no longer roasts coffee beans on its premises, but serves coffee and light meals. Do www.imperialcafe.co.uk. Good hunting. from Richard 9thanks for your comment of Aug 15th)

By R Stonhold on Sat Aug 16th 2014, at 7:59 pm

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Fifty years ago the name of the coffee shop, with the lovely aroma from coffee beans being roasted just inside by the window, was then 'Kenco Coffee House'.
Mr Stronhold's Mum would not have bought 'itchy' grey flannel short trousers from Lilley & Skinners, for they were a shoe shop.

By Mr. Gerald Rickwood on Fri Feb 27th 2015, at 12:15 pm

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The 'Odeon' in Temple Fortune that Mr Stronhold refers to used to be called 'The Orphium and was a live theatre in the late Thirties; I went with my parents to see Jeanette MacDonald (famous for her duo roles with Nelson Eddy in Hollywood films) appearing in a production of "Smiling Through". The ABC Cinema in the Golders Green Road was called the 'Lido', and further along the Finchley Road on the opposite road to the 'Ionic' was another cinema called 'The Regal' where I used to go with my brother on Saturday mornings for the children's 'Flicks' in the late Thirties and early Forties.

By Mr. Gerald Rickwood on Sat Feb 28th 2015, at 8:21 am

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By bossasamba on Thu May 21st 2015, at 1:16 pm

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Shop Mr Stonhold was referring to was Linleys. Anyone remember a delecatessen called Appenrodt on corner of Golders Green Crescent

By bossasamba on Thu May 21st 2015, at 1:23 pm

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Thank you, bossasamba, for remembering the correct name of the outfitters.
photographricks - yes, the shoe shop was Lilley & Skinners - time has a habit of forgetting/muddling names.
But I don't remember at all the Appenrodt delicatessen.

By R Stonhold on Thu May 21st 2015, at 6:34 pm

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Photographrick: Thanks for your comment. In the early 1950s a neighbour used to take her daughter, myself and 2 or 3 other children by bus up to Finchley Central for the Saturday morning 'flicks'. Cinema entrance fee was 6d. The cinema is no longer there but was, I believe, called the Odeon (another one to Temple Fortune's Odeon}.

By R Stonhold on Wed Jan 4th 2017, at 10:57 pm

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I remember Appenrodts very well; more of an Austrian patisserie than just a delicatessen. The coffee shop was called Importers andrew roasted different blends to different strengths. You could smell it all along Golders Green Road. And of course there was the Golders Green Hippodrome by the bus/tube station which had pretty much every show just before it opened in the West End.

By andrewmarre on Sun Feb 10th 2019, at 7:32 pm

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Thank you, andrewmarre, for your comment. The Hippodrome was a "theatre of wonders" to children in the 1940s. Parents took my brother & I to the panto each year, where we were frightened by the green smoke and a "bang" as the Genie appeared in Aladdin - but we enjoyed the sing-song near the end of the show when the actors (such as Arthur Askey) would invite a few kids to join in on the stage.
Then, many years later, when the BBC took it over, we went to a "Friday night is Music night" radio show - with Richard Baker, if I remember.

By R Stonhold on Tue Feb 12th 2019, at 5:40 pm

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Oh wow, Importers. When I was a little girl, my grandpa who lived in Brookside Road used to take to smell the coffee. I'm 63 now and will never forget how much I loved being with my Grandpa and that smell. Does anyone know what number Golders Green road it was and what's there now?

By Francine Kaye on Thu Oct 28th 2021, at 9:23 pm

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