Howe's Garage, Longfield

A Memory of Longfield Hill.

Rather than Longfield Hill, this looks more like Longfield itself with Howe's Garage in the centre foreground. My Dad worked here from the late 1930s to when he retired in 1973; it was run by his uncle Frank Howe and his son David (now living in Herne Bay) joined the garage from about 1960. I remember the old petrol pumps for Shell, BP, National Benzole and Power. Later taken over by the Co-op as Cascade Garage. Now car showrooms trading as Farrins. To the left would be the semi-detached bungalow built for Frank and his wife Florrie to move into from Pepper Hill, Northfleet around 1955. To the right is a telephone exhange and the village extends beyond up a slope to Longfield Station near the horizon top left (formerly called Fawkham Station). The village was visible from the Gallops, a favourite place for us children to run and play with good views down to Main Road where we lived and over the ridge northwards to Southfleet and the industrial Northfleet, with its cement works and paper mills. It extended to New Barn and Longfield Hill would not have been seen from it. The Gallops were training runs for racehorses from Fred Winter's stables at Westwood Corner, near the crossroads between Whitehill, Longfield and Betsham. Fred was father to Freddie Winter, one of the most famous jump jockeys during my childhood. The stables then went to Fred's son, John, and later to John (?) Bartholomew and ? Supple before closing down. I remember being shown around the yard once with my Dad, brother and friend Tony Morris (later a racing journalist and writer), via Dad's knowing John Winter through the garage business. A top horse Showdown was then at the yard (winner of some good races including the Gimcrack Stakes at York). To the far right in the photo looks like The Railway Tavern, still trading, and the white building to its left was a grocer's shop at the bottom of Station Road, now a Shell garage. It was where I often was sent shopping with Mum's list which I gave to the assistant for making up. Can't remember grocer's name, but it became a Co-op as I recall having to show a membership number to get the "divi".