London memories
Here are memories of London and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of London or a London photo.
London,Piccadilly Circus 1951-1955
I was a young Constable in the year 1951, and fresh from Peel House, Westminster was assigned tio the Savile Row station known as CD. I lived at the Section House on Broadwick Street, Soho named after Lord Trenchard. Many times I was assigned to Piccadilly Circus, on the early turn or at 5pm to 1am for a two week period. There was the box attached to and adjacent to the stairs to the Piccadilly Tube Station and at the corner of Swan and Edgar Store. When the blue light flashed I answered the call from the station to go on details in the vicinity. Most times for street photographers. I was stationed there the day Christie was arrested for the murders at 10 Rillington Place, and for sometime during the Coronation festivities, the lines-up were around the corner from my position and on to Regent Street. After serving on the Met., I emigrated to Canada and served for 34 years from 1955-1989. My memories of the 1952 'Killer Fog'... Read more
The Bank of England
The "Bank" has occupied this site since the late seventeenth century. Although you cannot see from either this view or indeed from the street, there is an exquisite garden and lawn in the centre! The Bank underwent an extensive building programme between the time of this photograph and the second world war. There are now five floors and also three levels of vaults (I do hope that I am not giving away any secrets here!). I started my career in banking with The Bank of England in 1963. It was quite awe inspiring as a teenager to enter the massive front door being held open by a top hatted "Bank Messenger" dressed smartly in a pink coloured morning coat. He would gently tip the brow of his top hat and say "Good Morning Sir!". He only raised his topper when the Governor entered! Relics of the very early 1900's still remained in the Bank when I began work in 1963. Many of the vaults had telephones installed and unbelievably these... Read more
St Peter ad Vincula
Not a memory obviously but a fact discovered when doing family research.
My Great Grandfather's eldest sister was married to a Grenadier Guard in The Chapel Royal at the Tower. Her husband Giles was stationed there at the time. The date was 1860.
Lost in A Field
I remember coming across Temple Bar in a field in Enfield/Cheshunt whilst out for a walk as a child in the 1960s. It seemed such a strange place for it to end up. There were no explanatory signs to say what it was and why it was there. There was tall grass all around it and possibly some sort of fence; so it was impossible to get too close. Every time we walked that way, I used to wonder how on earth this lovely arch came to be lost in the middle of a field, anonymous and unloved: it seemed so strange, almost other worldly. I believe it has now made its way back to the City.
Will it be Open?
My family moved from Bermondsey, where we shared my grandad's house, to Enfield, where Mum and Dad had managed to buy their own house (for £2,000) in 1960. It was some years before Dad could afford driving lessons and then a car. We started with an A35 van, and Mum, Dad and 4 kids would pile in to drive over to Bermondsey or Forest Hill to visit my mum's sisters. The drive was just as complicated as it is now and my father was never really relaxed driving, so, with the end nearly in sight, he would be driven mad by us kids shouting that we hoped the bridge was up! If the traffic light was indeed on red, then that meant at least 20 minutes wait. Us kids used to love it, as the parts of the bridge which did not go up would be completely empty and this was such a novelty - but not for Dad, who was presumably by this time, gasping for a cup of tea... Read more
First Step on The Ladder
My brother and his wife, having met at 14, got married at 20. My brother was an apprentice motor mechanic and his fiance a trainee hotel receptionist, so money was tight and they had no idea where they were going to live and how they would be able to afford their own home. In order to help along their savings, they both worked in a pub in Enfield Lock, just down the road from where we lived. One evening, my brother began talking about their accommodation problems to a customer, who replied that he had just the answer for them. His mother had recently died, so her teeny, completely unmodernised, house nearby was up for sale. What's more, he happened to know that the GLC had just launched a new scheme, offering mortgages to young people who would take on an otherwise uninhabitable house! This was the absolute answer to their prayers, so, as 20 year olds, they made the journey up to County Hall and were completely overawed by its grandeur,... Read more
TV & Film Use
It was built many years before 1965 of course.
The only memory of mine is just some trivia :
It was featured in the opening sequence of Danger Man 1960 and also in Cliff Richard's film The Young Ones in 1961.
Mascot Hotel
I can't help with a photo - but I can confirm that the Mascot Hotel was in York Street.
I stayed there for a couple of nights in June 1958. As I recall, the hotel was about 1/3 way down York Street on the right coming from the direction of Baker street.
John Cavill
Searching For De Keyser's Royal Hotel, Blackfriars
Relatives of mine met and fell in love at a hotel which used to stand where the Unilever Building now stands. It was a love match which lasted for many years and in relatives who were around in my youth after the Second World War. They were a maid and pastrycook at the hotel. I would love to have a photograph as the hotel seems to have been a very splendid place. Unfortunately I have been unable to find a picture and Francis Frith's search system doesn't allow me to search in any other way than trailing through all the pictures of London.
Cooling Off
I took my two daughters up to London for the day and we visited the gardens. It was a very hot day and they ran ahead to see the fountain. The youngest one had her sandals off in the blink of an eye and was in the fountain before I could stop her.
The Hub of My Young Universe
London's main railway stations truly are wonderful and Charing Cross was the one that I frequented the most as I travelled every weekday from Woolwich Arsenal in SE London to Green Park Underground, near the great Victoria Station.
The sounds of the whistles, doors slamming, the hum of the electric trains...the overhead announcements reverberating in the cavernous domed roof... "last call for Waterloo, London Bridge, Deptford, Greenwich, Maze Hill, Westcombe Park, Charlton, Woolwich Dockyard , Woolwich Arsenal, Plumstead, Abbey Wood, Belvedere, Slade Green, Erith and Deptford"...and that recalled after 46 years !! (Says a lot for the theory of conditioning doesn't it !!)
And then the train pulls out across the old iron bridge high above the Thames, looking across to the Royal Festival Hall to the west.
And..in the mornings, after a journey crammed up against other commuters buried in their newspapers and jumping off the train as it still slowed to a stop into the station and hitting the platform running for the underground entrance.
Prodigal Son Returned
I think it ought to be mandatory, for every person of English heritage, to pass through Westminster Abbey at least once!
Returning from Canada and, later, the USA , for only the second time in 35 years I took my teenage son and daughter to tour Westminster Abbey. There we joined the throng as it somehow wound its way through the crowded abbey.
As much as I have become a North American, it surprised me that I was brought to tears as I touched and saw the incredible depth of history that this magnificent historic treasure holds within its walls. A very moving and self-establishing experience.
I should point out that I was well familiar with the abbey's exterior, having walked, on clear days, past it numerous times, over a 2 year period, from Charing Cross Station to nearby Vincent Square, just off Victoria Street, where I was a student at Westminster Technical College Hotel School.
It constantly amazes me how people, such as I... Read more
A Spectacular Entrance to Central London.
Before my time, of course, but this is still a very familiar view to me . Not only did I intern (from Westminster Technical College Hotel School) at the Charing Cross Hotel on the right but also passed through the station 5 days a week for two years.
On occasion I'd stay too late at a party on a Friday night and have to get the 'milk train' in the dawn hours. I loved walking the streets of London in the middle of the night.
I also loved coming in across the Thames into Charing Cross station on the Southern Railways from Woolwich Arsenal. To me it is a spectacular station and continues to be so even with the renovations which I explored with my two teenage kids in 2001.
Painful Memories of Paulton Square.
As a frightened 7 year old, in 1950, I was plunged into an unfamiliar London life when my meddling and self righteous aunt unfortunately reminded my stepfather of fulfill his promise to my dying mother to 'take care of Jimmy'. He had since remarried and brought my sister and I together again after we had spent three years apart,my sister with his parents in Chester and I, happily in Kirkbymoorside, my mother's home in the North Yorkshire Moors with my wonderful, loving, foster family, and my grandparents, three aunts, uncle and my many cousins.
We lived in Paulton's Square , just off the King's Road in an elegant , Georgian, three storey row house with wrought iron railings. In the centre of the square was a park area where I once disappeared to and was found playing quite happily, probably looking in the hedges for bird's nests, just like the Yorkshire boy that I was, much to my stepfather's disgust.
This was the beginning for a little Yorkshire... Read more
Anyone Recall The Mascot Hotel - Any Photos?
Does anyone recall the Mascot Hotel which used to be it, near Baker Street Station? It was owned by relations of my wife for a time, I believe it is no more but do any photos exist of it from the 1960s and 1970s? When was it demolished and was it always called the Mascot?
IT MAY HAVE BEEN IN YORK STREET BUT THIS IS NOT CONFIRMED
Under The Arches
I remember visiting this spot when I first moved to work in London. It is described in Nairn's London, as follows:-
" A very fine passage called The Arches runs underneath Charing Cross station from Villiers Street to Craven Street. The steps at the western end announce a different world. Hungerford Lane; and this is like meeting a person five hundred years old. It starts by the Wimpy Bar in Villiers Street, and ends opposite the Strand Corner House. In between there are Piranesian brick vaults tunneled into the foundations of the station, and a crevasse running uphill to the Strand, embroidered with wine vaults and tiers of fire escapes. Where it passes under The Arches, there is just one grating - linking the underworld with the overworld which is itself under the bustle of the trains to suburban Kent. Once experienced, this threefold relationship is the kind of thing that nails you to a place. The New Towns will never have it in a thousand years."
I... Read more
A Day Around London
The day rock 'n' roll singer Eddie Cochran was killed, I went around London and had my picture taken on Eros, then in the evening I went with my friend to see Adam Faith on stage. It was a sad day because of the death of Eddie C. but we did enjoy Adam F.
I also took a picture of a young 'bobby' which I still have to this very day.
I was a teenager at the time.
Great memories!
1960's
The George Inn in Southwark was one of the favourite watering holes and eating houses for the young men of the accounts department of Borax Consolidated Ltd. in Victoria. In those days the serving wenches were all dressed in Dickensian costume and we would order a steak and kidney pudding. I don't mean individual puddings but a large one set in the middle of the table which were of scrubbed pine. It was terrific food and the atmosphere was great. Sadly the atmosphere is no longer the same. Such is life.
George Inn
I was general manager of the George Inn from 1984 to 1998. I made many friends in the Borough, it was like a small village.
Early Career Memories at Piccadilly Circus.
I started my career in January 1959 as a young bobby at West End Central Police Station Savile Row. The trestles positioned to the east of 'Eros' which cordon off the road suggest the photograph was taken when the Piccadilly one-way system was being introduced. I remember the elegant stonework of the County Fire Office benefited from the recently enacted 'Clean Air Act'. Much of the grimey architecture in the area was scrubbed by a water process from scaffolding usually by a firm called 'Szezelmy' (or a very similar spelling). Just right of the 'Skol' advert the low hoarding hides a wartime bomb site. Just around that corner was the Windmill Theatre in Great Windmill Street where many stars of radio and stage began their careers. In the early 60's (before the introduction of police pocket radios) there was a 'police post' near the traffic light bottom left of your picture. A PC was detailed to stand near the post. He usually stood close to the display window of 'Swann... Read more
'London Remembers Charlie Chaplin' - Video
This short video I wrote and directed in 1989 celebrates the birth in Lambeth, London of the world's most famous funny man - Charlie Chaplin. It's now free to view on my YouTube channel at www.JonDanzig.com:
http://youtu.be/Kc7l4ku9ATU
Hackney in The East End of London
My nana was born in Hackney in 1907. She was born to an unmarried mother in the Salvation maternity hospital for unmarried mothers on Mare Street, Ivy House to be precise. She stayed in Brent House mother and baby home just around the corner.
Does any one out there know of anyone else who was born in this hospital?
I would like an old photograph of Brent House as it was at the time when it was a home for unmarried mothers. I have a photograph of the building as it is now, I was in Hackney at the beginning of this year and took a photogragh of Brent House. It is now luxury flats, and it was refurbished.
Please can anyone help? I would be very grateful.
Karen.
Memories of Greater London
View Towards Eaton Gate - Eaton House School
Around 1961 - at the age of seven, I started to attend Eaton House School at 3-5 Eaton Gate. The houses are on the left hand side of the photo - and can be identified by the large white porches [The stone variety - not the cars!]. I was there until 1966. The more junior section was in No. 5. My first teacher there was Miss Wyckham. My next class was taken by a Miss Buckley. The senior section was in No 3. The first class - at age 9 was called Upper Shell. The Principal was a lovely lady called Mrs Ingham. I also remember a headmaster called Mr Twinberrow, who was a commissioned officer from WW1. He was a maths teacher and I remember him caning me. Didn't do me any harm at all. The cane was also administered by Mr Ingham, the Principal's husband.
We used to go for long walks in pairs/crocodiles - holding hands when younger. The uniform was a dark green blazer with... Read more
Born in Hampstead 3rd October 1945
Towards the end of the Second World War my parents met and married while on active service in Egypt. As soon as my mother knew she was expecting me, the Royal Air Force sent her back to England on a troopship and she was welcomed by her mother-in-law who she had never previously met! They had a flat together in Walm Lane Cricklewood so when it was time for me to enter the world they found a nearby nursing home - no National Health Service in those far off days!
And so it was that I was born in 85 Fordwych Road and my birth certificate records it as "Hampstead, Middlesex". These days it is no longer Hampstead but just part of the London Borough of Camden!! I am proud of my Hampstead roots although I suppose I should also consider the fact that I was conceived in Africa!!
I remember a lot about the area including the bomb damage from the war, the... Read more
Blast From The Past
I was born in 1959 and we moved from Rossly Hill to Canfield Gardens in 1960. I am now 50 and still live and work very close to Canfield Gardens. I went for a coffee with a friend yesterday to the cafe at the top of Goldhurst Terrace, just down the side of Waitrose (used to be Ken & Marie deli!) and noticed a set of wonderful black and white prints of the Finchely Road and Swiss Cottage from 1965. It was extraudinary to see these photographs and it really was a blast from the past becasue this area looked just like that up until I was about 10 so I remember it all very well - really made my day. We had great shops then, very different from how it is today!
Born Close to This Station!
I too saw this photograph in a cafe in Goldhurst Terrace. I recognised Finchley Road and Frognal Station as I was born in a flat closeby in 1967. My parents moved into the flat in 1966 and I was so glad to track down the photo and order a copy for my father. I remember my parents telling me how Finchley Road used to be lined with trees and wide pavements and now I can see that for myself!
Finchley Road And Lymington Road
I have just returned from London and I was checking to see if there were any photos of Finchley Road and Lymington Road. I was born at No 8 Depot Cottages and stayed there until my dad passed away in 1959. My mates and I drank at the bar along Finchley Road, one pal's family had the flower stall outside the station at John Barnes, my school was Holy Trinity. I also spent a lot of time looking at the American cars at Hampstead Cars. I love Hampstead, it has all my good times there, with my dad, my mum Jill Dennis, Jacky. I now live up north with my wife and kids, a long way from London!
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- Virginia Water, Surrey
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