Romford, Essex

Romford and Havering-atte-Bower,very fond Memories

We moved to Romford in 1951 from Havering where we lived with Nan and Grandad in Pinewood Road. It was an exciting time for me but also an unhappy time leaving Nan and Grandad's house. We moved in a council house in Chelmsford Ave, I made friends with a boy called Raymond Crane, we started school together ,his mother and father... [more]

Memory Joggers

We moved to Romford in 1954. First we lived at Mawneys and attended the primary school there. In 1955 we moved to Oaks Avenue and I attended Pettits Lane Secondary Modern School. I left in 1959. The pillars just below the trees in the photo, was the gateway to the Whykam Hall which belonged to the church. I remember spending many... [more]

Doing the Shopping

I lived a mile or so east of Rush Green, in Barton Avenue but my Mum would send me with a note to get the shopping for the family. She would give me sometimes had eight half crowns or £1 a lot of money then. I would cycle down, first to Brown's the butchers, the first shop after the... [more]

First Home

I was born in Hornchurch in 1934, but my mother, father and myself were the first residents of 121 Warren Drive, Elm Park.  My brother was born in the house at 121, in 1945.  This is the last view I had of the street, as we left in a taxi, to sail to Canada in 1946.  Made a brief visit to... [more]

When buses ran past Lloyds Bank .....

I am told that once upon a time buses ran through Romford Market towards Gidea Park. Apparently I was happily standing in the queue with my mother and newly-born sister in a pram waiting for a 174. I held tight to Mum's coat so as not to lose her. Imagine my surprise to find that the coat in question belonged to... [more]

Romford Pocket Album

From the cross-roads at the centre of Romford we look towards London as a policeman prepares to control what little traffic there is. The Golden Lion on the right has served travellers on the Essex Great Road for centuries. The white building on the left belongs to Wilson and Whitworth, printers and publishers of the 'Romford Times'.

Romford Pocket Album

I wonder what the photographer promised the children if they struck a jaunty pose to add interest to his picture? Perhaps he said they would become a permanent record of Romford's past? At the western end of the High Street we see the shops of the smaller retailers and specialist craftsmen.

Romford Pocket Album

The 'Star Inn' on the left is being given a fresh lick of paint in this view from the railway bridge. In the 1930s, when the railway was widened, the new Star Inn was incorporated into the Havana, Times Furnishers building, and the site of W Muskett the grocer was occupied by the gas showrooms in a widened Eastern Road.