Heathway Life

A Memory of Dagenham.

I grew up within a few minutes walk of this our local shopping centre.  The photo was taken outside the Fifty Shilling Tailors looking towards Dagenham Heathway Station.  Some of the shops I remember were Day's the newsagents, Meyer's the greengrocers, Gillings the fishmongers run by a pair of identical twins and Jenners which was a general store selling all manner of household equipment, linens, clothing and toys. They also ran a club whereby you could pay for things little by little and when paid for could take your purchases away.  On the other side of the road stood the Church Elm pub, the Post Office and Burton's the Tailors.  Above Burtons was the Snooker Hall and above that the Doughty School of Ballroom Dancing where half the local population met their life partners as I did.  The large square building on the horizon was the Gaumont Cinema known as the "Heathway" .  This was usually the venue for the first date after the meeting at the "Doughty".
The photo is quite early in my memory as later barriers were erected to protect shoppers from the traffic.