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Swiss Cottage
Swiss Cottage photos
Displaying the first of 7 old photos of Swiss Cottage. View all Swiss Cottage photos
Swiss Cottage maps
Historic maps of Swiss Cottage and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Swiss Cottage maps
Swiss Cottage area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Swiss Cottage and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Swiss Cottage
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Swiss Cottage.
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Cottage Grill
The whole Swiss Cottage area has changed beyond recognition. There seem to be few photos of how it was till the late 1960s, when the Cottage Grill, my father's restaurant, was demolished. This building gave it's name to the whole area as it was built in the style of a Swiss cottage (not a Swiss chalet!). The Swiss Cottage pub at that time looked NOTHING like a Swiss cottage or a Swiss chalet - it was re-styled to look like that later, giving the impression it gave its name to the area. I can find no photos of Swiss Cottage with the restaurant in the middle of the road junction where an Underground entrance now is. Behind the restaurant, which was once a farmhouse and dairy when the area was all fields, was a garage, then the pub, then the Odeon cinema. Opposite was an arcade of shops and the Tube station, and Belsize Road was a major road with buses running right into Finchley Road. On the other side... Read more
Working in The West End
I have very fond memories of my very first job. I worked for Healey & Baker at 28 St. George Street, Hanover Square. I started out in the Duplicating Room, running an old print press, and would fill in with the telephone operators at lunch time, My supervisor was Sally Clark and she became my mentor. I graduated to the typing pool, along with about 15 other girls. It was a wonderful time of my life. All the girls became friends and we would often stay in town have dinner at a pub on Maddox Street, (forgot the name) and then go dancing at the Lyceum on the Strand. I recently visited London (I now live in the US) and Healey & Baker have moved and the building looks different, but the Square and surrounding area is still the same. Wonderful, wonderful memories.
Finchley Road And Lymington Road
I have just returned from London and I was checking to see if there were any photos of Finchley Road and Lymington Road. I was born at No 8 Depot Cottages and stayed there until my dad passed away in 1959. My mates and I drank at the bar along Finchley Road, one pal's family had the flower stall outside the station at John Barnes, my school was Holy Trinity. I also spent a lot of time looking at the American cars at Hampstead Cars. I love Hampstead, it has all my good times there, with my dad, my mum Jill Dennis, Jacky. I now live up north with my wife and kids, a long way from London!
Born Close to This Station!
I too saw this photograph in a cafe in Goldhurst Terrace. I recognised Finchley Road and Frognal Station as I was born in a flat closeby in 1967. My parents moved into the flat in 1966 and I was so glad to track down the photo and order a copy for my father. I remember my parents telling me how Finchley Road used to be lined with trees and wide pavements and now I can see that for myself!
Blast From The Past
I was born in 1959 and we moved from Rossly Hill to Canfield Gardens in 1960. I am now 50 and still live and work very close to Canfield Gardens. I went for a coffee with a friend yesterday to the cafe at the top of Goldhurst Terrace, just down the side of Waitrose (used to be Ken & Marie deli!) and noticed a set of wonderful black and white prints of the Finchely Road and Swiss Cottage from 1965. It was extraudinary to see these photographs and it really was a blast from the past becasue this area looked just like that up until I was about 10 so I remember it all very well - really made my day. We had great shops then, very different from how it is today!
Born in Hampstead 3rd October 1945
Towards the end of the Second World War my parents met and married while on active service in Egypt. As soon as my mother knew she was expecting me, the Royal Air Force sent her back to England on a troopship and she was welcomed by her mother-in-law who she had never previously met! They had a flat together in Walm Lane Cricklewood so when it was time for me to enter the world they found a nearby nursing home - no National Health Service in those far off days!
And so it was that I was born in 85 Fordwych Road and my birth certificate records it as "Hampstead, Middlesex". These days it is no longer Hampstead but just part of the London Borough of Camden!! I am proud of my Hampstead roots although I suppose I should also consider the fact that I was conceived in Africa!!
I remember a lot about the area including the bomb damage from the war, the... Read more
Greater London memories
Dick Turpin
I lived in Hampstead from 1937-1941. Just before the war started my cousins and I used to play for many hours on Hampstead Heath One of our favourite spots was the Viaduct and Pond.
We were very wary of entering the arch on the far left. Halfway through the archway, on the left was an iron gate which was kept locked. We had been told that Dick Turpin had hidden up there at one time and the ghost of his horse haunted the archway.
We often sprinted through the archway casting a scared glance at the gate half hoping to see the ghost. On one occasion, very daring, we sat outside until dusk hoping to catch a glimpse of the ghost. But after our reception for a late homecoming we didn't try again.
