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Potters Bar
Potters Bar photos
Displaying the first of 26 old photos of Potters Bar. View all Potters Bar photos
Potters Bar maps
Historic maps of Potters Bar and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Potters Bar maps
Potters Bar area books
Displaying 1 of 8 books about Potters Bar and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Potters Bar
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Potters Bar.
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Memories
My mother Gwen Clayden worked at the Ritz cinema during the war years, and spent many evenings on the roof doing fire watch. As a teenager in the mid sixties I remember many shops along Darkes Lane including Woolworths opening (in the late 50's I think) Delmars Record Shop and the Embassy Club. Boddies Sweet Shop, Baldwins Bike Shop and a very old fashion chemist on the corner of Manor Road. Thurleys Toy Shop, Singer Sewing Machines, Mc Fisheries, De Sallas Barbers, Wilsons Menswear, the Post Office in a motor cycle shop and Cobbs Bakers.
Oakmere House
As a young boy, together with some of my friends we went fishing in the lower lake and one winter, 1938 or 1939, we went ice skating on the lower lake. In those days I lived in Park Avenue. Also, during the Second World War, Oakmere House held dances. I went to one or two when on leave. I think that the owners of the estate, pre-Second World War, were named Forbes. After the war the park was open to the public.
The Ritz Cinama
At the end of Darkes Lane, on the corner of Byng Drive, the Ritz Cinema was built and opened in 1934. My father was the cinema foreman from then until 1939. It had an elevated organ and songs were played on it with the words displayed on the cinema screen. In spite of numerous air raid warnings, as far as I know, it never closed. The National Anthem was always played at the end of the evenings show.
The cinema was eventually closed and converted into a supermarket.
The Potters Bar
Before 'The Potters Bar' was built, the site was occupied by 'The Railway Hotel', a red brick building. This was demolished in the 1930s and replaced by the present building and called 'The Potters Bar Hotel'. This pub was very popular during the days of the Second World War, with sing-songs and amateur entertainers mostly on a Saturday night. It was also very popular with the American forces stationed nearby.
Oakmere House
I am trying to find out any info on Oakmere house.
Was it a Convelecent/hospice in the 1950's?
I may have had a relative that stayed there in the past and would be grateful for any info.
Oakmere
I have found a painting of Oakmere House, Potters Bar dated 1935. I believe the house is now a Beefburger Resaurant. There is a clearer view of the house from across the lake, there is the large pine tree & smaller trees on the right of photp, the trees & bushes on the left have not yet grown. It is an interesting painting relating to a modern photo. I can be contacted on 07752033574 if you are interested.
Air Raid
I was born in Laurel Avenue in 1936 and lived there until 1959. During the war we were bombed out of our house following an air raid during the night, when German bombers were trying to cut the main line between London and Edinburgh. A large bomb fell on No. 46 Laurel Avenue and totally destroyed that, and severely damaged others nearby. That night, my mother, sister and I were sleeping under a bed in the front room of our house at No. 40, a raid had been forecast hence we were taking safety precautions, and I was woken up when the chimney stack collapsed down through the house, and we were all trapped until rescued by Air Raid Wardens who had a base further down Laurel Avenue. My father was at work so had no immediate knowledge or our predicament. The following day we were housed temporarily down in the Cranbourne area, until a ground floor flat was provided... Read more
Mount Grace Hospital.
I apparently spent sometime during WW2 in a Mount Grace Hospital in Potters Bar. Has anyone any details or photographs of this building please? Thank you.
