Pitlake Bridge Area

my mum was born in Westfield Rd , the very end house near the bridge , her uncle had a fish shop , so wondering where it was , I would love to see a picture of it but I think sadly there isn't any if anybody knows of where it may have been I would be grateful . my mums maiden name was Dyball .

my father lesley whitear ran the slaughterhouse in cuthbert road till it closed in 1964and my grand father had butcher shops on pitlake bridge and duppas hill

my husbands grandfather john Halliday owned and lived there at the butchers.

I lived at 23 Duppas Hill Terrace right where the Ellis David homes are now from 1963 -70 it was the happiest time in my life, always has been. There was a row of three beautiful Victorian houses leading down Duppas Hill Terrace to the bottom of the hill. Turn left at the bottom into Duppas Hill Lane, down to the bottom and turn left. Go past the fire station and on a little further there were a few shops and staying left along old town towards Pitlake Bridge, and a little stretch of this road was Hanover street. Our house backed on to the fire station and we loved to watch them practice over the back garden fence. I know the sirname of the people who lived in these three houses they were (next door to us in I think number 25) were the Cruttendens, Pam the Mum with three girls Julie Carol And Wendy, and at number 27 were the Childs, the boys name was John and I went to the Parish Church School with him

It's so sad, when I go back there now I feel like a complete alien. They've absolutely destroyed any spirit the town once had. The council forced us out of our big Victorian house to build a bloody block of flats......The Elis David almshouses.....aren't they wonderful! I guess I am still angry after all these years.

Going the other way up to the top of Duppas Hill Terrace where the mini roundabout (more of just a turning oval really) was....................

I remember Abbey Road, & the Old Town Boys Club From the top of Duppas Hill Terrace (it was a cul-de-sac back then) there was a tiny roundabout and a sloped pathway leading down to Hanover Street where there was a Tobaconist/sweetshop That was called Brooks or Brooksies, something like that at the bottom of the slope.

Carry on towards and before the fire station, now on your right there was the chip shop and opposite the old town rd was a grocery store called Packman's, on Howley Road?

I've been searching for 3 years now for some photographs of this special area but have yet to find any.

Also does anybody remember the 'Church Street Toy Shop'?

I'd better stop for now, but it would be great to hear from anybody that knew this area.

Simon Chalton castelorizon@gmail.com

I remember ... I remember ... I lived at 8 Pitlake Bridge until I was 7 years old. I remember Mr & Mrs Weenold and the sweet shop where I used to watch the boiled sweets being made - the great rolls of humbugs and toffees etc. I always went away with a handful. I remember the Weenolds had an German Shepherd dog who, when you started singing "All things bright and beautiful" the dog would join in. I was absolutely fascinated. I found a dead mouse in the garden once and I remember chasing the boy next door with it until he cried and I got told off. I would swap my dolls for his cars and train set - got told off for that too! Dad had the chemist shop on the bridge. Oh dear .. the memories! I shut my Mum in the outside loo - Mum was there for a long time because Dad was upstairs in the shop and the kitchen was downstairs, under the bridge - got a real ticking off for that!. I had a best friend called Glanda Morris (I still have a picture of her) and we would play across the road in the park where her Mum, Pat Morris, was supervisor of the children's area. It was always a cold drink and iced gems - what a treat it was then! I remember Kennards. I went to have my hair cut there and if I was a good girl and didn't "play up" I could go to where Kennards sold animals and I could choose my first cat - a tabby I called her Nibs. I was also allowed to to put a penny in the soldiers on my way out to make them move their arms and legs (marching). Dad had a bit of money left to him by a relative and he started building our first television at Pitlake Bridge. We would go down to the TV shop each week to collect "Wireless Weekly" and "Practical Wireless" which told you how to build a TV and from that Dad started building the TV, each week ordering the parts. The outside was an old tea chest which he veneered and polished with a 12 inch screen. The TV was eventually finished for the first showing in 1953 for the Queen's Coronation. We had that TV until the early 60's - Dad was more often at the back of it adjusting it with a mirror. We moved to Tring in 1952, where Dad was brought up, when I was 7 but there are still so many happy memories of my time living at Pitlake Bridge. I went back to visit in 1972 (I think) and to try to find the old house. We stopped just by the bridge and I sat in the car horrified as I watched the bulldozer swing the ball straight at our old house. What a coincidence! I cried at my last memory of the Bridge and have not been back since.

Some of my relatives, Winifred and Richard Oliver Markham lived at number 17 Pitlake Bridge in the 1960's. Winifred went on to be the proprietor of a Wool Shop in Croydon but I have no idea what it was called. Does anyone remember them?

l remember glenda morris and her brother Nigel use to look after them our gardens use to meet. her dad was in the navy so her mum was alone a lot all the kids in westfield would get together and we would take the little ones to the open air pool at purley way when l think back l must have been no more then about 10. l remember dropping glenda and nigel off at the the swings at wandle park were there mum worked always fancy working with children but it never happened

We used to live at 70.waddon new road from 1960-1989.my dad Len Mortimer worked for the railway and made bikes from bits got from factory lane that I bought home for him.(snitched).he used to help a man called Fred in the bike shop near t handcroft road.opposite derby arns.I went to Sunday school at st Edmund's.I remember Mr and Mrs gammon in the sweet shop.the TV shop where we rented our black and white TV.I remember the junk shop the old house I think it was called. I remember buying a 78 record to play on our wind up record player it broke before I got home.so had to buy another one.Elizabethan waltz this time.I went to pitkake mission hall .Baptist ministers Mr and Mrs Hutchinson (Welsh). Played for hours over wandle park.I might have a photo of my dad riding his motorbike over pitlake bridge with Westfield road on the left.