Broad Parade Shops

A Memory of Hockley.

My parents bought a house in Willow Walk, which is on the right of the photographer, in August 1954. At that time there were no shops, no pavements, just muddy concrete roads. We were the first to occupy a house in the road, and watched the builders (A W Deavin) complete the other houses, bungalows and finally the shops. In the photo, the shops look very established, so I guess it must have been taken late 1955, or maybe 1956. Before the Broad Parade shops were built, we used to buy eggs from the small farm opposite - was that The Elms? Afterwards, we did most of our shopping at these shops, and I remember that the last shop, at the Greensward Lane end, was an Off-Licence called Galleon Wine, as well as Broughtons, the chemist, where my girlfriend worked. There were also three shops in Greensward Lane, opposite the end of Broad Parade, one of which was an Ironmongers, Ansell & Taylor. They had a brightly painted mobile shop which I worked on most Saturdays and got paid 2/6d. There was no secondary school in those days, and I went to Rayleigh to complete my education.