In The Town Where I Was Born......

A Memory of Putney.

In 1955 I was 9 years old and lived at No. 16 Putney Hill, which was on the right in this picture and if memory serves was the house before the white one behind the tree. My grandfather owned the tobacconist and confectioners at No. 1, which is on the left of the picture, on the right of the bank on the corner in front of the bus. I was actually born in the flat underneath this shop from which my grandfather, Archie Baird, would serve you a penny worth of sweets with a cigarette permanently dangling from the corner of his mouth...no health and safety or strict hygiene rules in those days! There was a bus and coach stop on the hill just up from the shop and opposite our house. You could catch a Green Line coach to Windsor and the Royal Blue Express Coach also stopped here on the way to the places like Bournemouth. Just out of the picture opposite the bank there was another bank at the foot of the hill on the right, and a third just along the Upper Richmond Road to the left. Immediately behind the bus on that corner was "Zeeta House", part of which later in the 60's became "The Pontiac Club". It was here that my then girlfriend (now my wife of 49 years) and I saw The Byrds from the USA perform along with other stars of the time, including John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (with Eric Clapton), Manfred Mann and The Who amongst others. Another one I remember was a very young Donovan, who obviously suffered stage fright in his early career as when we approached him as he entered, he turned and fled into the lift!!!. Around the time of this photo (1955) my dad got a job with London Transport as a conductor on Route 30 which then ran from Roehampton (Earl Spencer) to Hackney Wick. In 1958 Putney Bridge Bus Garage was closed, but my dad worked from Chelverton Road Garage just down the High Street on the left. Putney Bridge Garage was on the right just before the bridge and the church. I believe the frontage still exists as part of a more recent development and Chelverton Road is still in use by London General in 2011. Before the Bridge garage was closed Putney was the only area in London with two bus garages. Just out of shot behind the bus next to Zeeta's and next to the entrance to Putney Station was a shop that sold fresh roasted coffee beans and ground coffee and tea. I can still remember the beautiful smell of that coffee over 50 years later. Just round the right hand corner was a very small public house, I think it was called "The Duke of Edinburgh", but it was always referred to as "The Brown House". It was here, a few years later (but still I admit underaged) that I enjoyed my first pint of beer. Next door to that was a bigger pub "The Coach and Eight" which had a lot of rowing memorabilia from the Boat Race. Next to that was a small cinema (there were two more bigger ones down by Putney Bridge). This one was called "The Globe". My grandad used to have a poster in the shop advertising their picture show for the week and got a lot of free admissions for doing so. I remember that when they showed "The Cruel Sea" starring Jack Hawkins, I saw it 27 times in a fortnight. At that time I could recite Jack Hawkin's lines before he did! Finally opposite the cinema on the corner across from the Railway Station stood "The Railway Hotel". It is still there today and is now a J D Wetherspoon's house. Well, that's it. Hope I don't bore everyone with memories of the town where I was born, I can't really think of anything else of interest at the moment, although did I mention the Yellow Submarine?.........