The Lane

A Memory of Peckham.

I grew up in Peckham, went to Peckham Rye Primary school, Peckham Rye park and common was in fact my playground, how lucky was I! This was in the late 1960s, early 1970s. My mum did all her shopping down the lane, she was a dressmaker and I remember going to the haberdashers under the arches by the railway station to buy buttons, zips and yards of ribbons for my sisters and my hair, going into Jones & Higgins where she would spend time looking through various pattern books to find the right style that she would have in mind and then of course the material. We would walk up to the tiny little Sainbury's where you would be counter served, all the groceries were kept behind the counter, that shop is now a Clarks shoe shop, there was also a tiny Tesco 'supermarket, the first of it's kind I'm sure, it only had one checkout if I remember, and we used to go into Liptons supermarket too. My dad used to drive the old Route Master bus number 12 that used to go to Oxford Street and back up to Dulwich, we used to see him driving the bus when we were up the lane sometimes. I love Peckham, I have very fond memories of growing up there.

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