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Maidstone
Maidstone maps
Historic maps of Maidstone and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Maidstone maps
Maidstone area books
Displaying 1 of 23 books about Maidstone and the local area. View all books for this area
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Memories of Maidstone
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Maidstone.
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Maidstone High Street
My first job was at G H Laveys 65 High Street (corner of Mill Street). The store sold clothing for men, women, children's school wear, also an equestrian dept. It covered four floors and even had a lift. I was 15 years old. My job was to polish the brass counter edges, clean mirrors, sweep the pavement around the shop, and stoke the boiler during the winter months! I was not allowed to speak to customers, my only contact with them was wrapping their purchases in brown paper (no bags) even shirts were wrapped as parcels. My wages were £4 10 shillings a week. Some time during the 1960s (about 1968) I rember the High Street flooding and the water came up through the drains and flooded the basement to ceiling level. Next door was the Queens Head public house, opposite was Stuffings the pork butchers, further along was Chiesmans Department Store where at Christmas you went downstairs to see Father Christmas. I've still got the original photos. The cannon pictured above was actually... Read more
Newsvendor
This isn't my memory, I want to know if anybody remembers my uncle Jack. He died in Maidstone hospital in 1985 aged 74 (I didn't know of him then) he was described as a retired newsvendor, so, I was wondering if anybody remembers him. I know that newsvendors can be quite characters so if you think you remember Jack I would be very interested to know. He was born in Texas and was about 7 when the family returned to the UK, so he may have had an unusual accent.
The Cannon, High Street, Maidstone
During the late 1940s and early 1950s my brothers and I were Scouts and each summer we went to Scout Camp at Westgate on Sea. There was no M20 in those days so our journey by lorry took us through Maidstone High Street and we were all excited to be the first to spot the cannon which I believe was captured at Sebastopol during the Crimean War. In high summer it could take half an hour to pass through the town! Great days. Ken Cook
Enterprise Cafe, East Farleigh.
Does anybody remember Harry Smart and family who ran and owned the cafe at East Farleigh? It was a bikers' cafe and riders used to come from all over Kent to sit and talk bikes etc. His son Paul was a successful rider with a works team and his brother in law I believe was Barry Sheene. You could even hire a boat from Harry if you fancied a trip on the River Medway that ran past the door of the cafe. Harry, an engineer, was always happy to lend a hand if you had a problem with your car or bike, nice family all round. The Victory pub back then was only very small, if 10 people were in the bar it was full. A young couple, Wendy and Farouk who owned a large house called Half Yoke House opposite the Victory, used to let out bedsit rooms, I often stayed there at weekends with a friend. On the other side of the river to the cafe were the... Read more
Visit to Maidstone Zoo
I remember the train that ran by the side of the approach drive when I visited the zoo as a young child with my parents. I wanted to go on it, but my parents made me walk. I was just learning to read and asked my Mum what a 'dangeroo' was. On the way out, I felt unaccountably embarrassed because my father helped a man who couldn't walk well to get back onto his coach. I remember that my mother told me that the tiger (or lion I can't remember which), was eyeing me up for a meal.
BUTTERFLIES
I believe my great uncle Edward Goodwin of Canon Court, Wateringbury, donated his Butterfly and Moth Collection to the Maidstone Museum on his death in 1934. Since that time I think the museum was burnt down, and of course, the butterfly collection too.
Ashby's
I remember there being an Ashby's in Tonbridge Road down the road from the old trolley bus depot. My grandfather worked there as a cashier.
Cream Puff
I remember the"Loco" that took you up the drive. Seeing my first elephant plus seeing and eating my first cream puff in the "Cafe". Mother and I had the last one and I remember seeing the cream ooze out of the pores. That is all I remember of the Zoo. I was born 1936, the war finished 1945. I presume the Zoo closed for the duration so when did I visit?
