King's Avenue And Its Surrounds

High Road c1955
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I was born at 41 King's Avenue in 1947 and left the area in 1959. My brothers were born at the nursing home at end of the road. I remember particularly the shops Le Bonbon, Pudicombes, Sainsbury's (where we serverd at separate counters and paid at the back - complete with an overhead system for getting money to cashier), Tom (the fishmonger), the clock shop and the ironmongers - all on the left as you walked to the station. On the other side was the tobacconist, off licence (my used to buy 2 bottles of IPA on a Saturday), the post office with stationary area where I bought my pens for school. School was Braeside at Buckhurst Hill for me and St Albans for my brothers. Holidays were blissful, always outdoors with many hours spent in Knighton Woods, building dams, and playing hide and seek with a gang of friends, all on bikes. I also did ballet at Constance G. Gerard's ballet school also on King's Avenue. Shows were put on at bowling club further down the road. Opposite the the bowling club were the allotments. There was also a nursery garden on Monktons Lane (?).