The Century Cinema And Other Memories

A Memory of Loughton.

My parents, brother and I moved to Loughton in 1959. Our next door neighbours (Mr & Mrs Angel) were already retired and called Loughton 'The Village'. My mum got a job working in the sweetshop next door to the cinema (I think it was called Barber's) and I remember having a 'Jubbly' (of Lovely Jubbly fame) there. I remember them pulling down the cinema - I was playing in the back garden of the sweet shop and the owner's daughter and I told the men off and said we would fetch our dads to stop them. After that we only had the Saturday morning 'flicks' at St Edmunds RC church in Traps Hill. I remember the old post office - now 'The Last Post' pub and I remember opposite they built the Co-op Supermarket - it was enormous. It is now a line of shops called Centric Parade. Before the supermarket my mum told me it was a small park - I can't remember that. My dad worked of an evening at the Brook School Youth Club as a warden and also worked on the milk round - delivering to Mrs Mills the famous pianist. He also had a part-time job in Lambs Garage - now M&S food - as a petrol pump attendant. He finally ended up at the local council in environmental health and my mum worked at Hilger & Watts on the Debden estate (later becoming Rank's). Brother and I went to Staples Road School and then the Lucton's schools in Debden - now both gone (Lucton Boys only recently). I remember the small sweet shop at the bottom of Church Hill where I used to buy Fruit Salad and Blackjack sweets (4 for 1d) and going next door (up the stairs to the back) to have my hair cut in Dorothy Bradley's salon. I had a Saturday job - first in Marianne's hairdressers (up near Dwyers) and then in Davey's Toys and Records, in the Record Department. I met my husband of 34 years in the cafe next door (opposite St Mary's Church) which was called The Gay Time! We only had three restaurants then, The Lantern Room in Forest Road, The Chariot Fish and Steak House and the Weng Wah Chinese restaurant - Loughton now is full of coffee shops and restaurants and is nothing like it used to be. I married at St John's Church at the top of Church Hill in 1978. I haven't fallen far from the tree and have lived in Woodford Green for nearly 30 years. I bought this picture for my mum and dad when they moved from Loughton after nearly 45 years - they didn't like Loughton anymore - it had changed so much.