Junction Road, Romford

A Memory of Romford.

I lived in Junction Road, Romford from 1946 until 1954. We lived in the last house but one next to the Railway and Railway Bridge. There was a long drive leading to the bridge which was slightly uphill or downhill whichever way you were travelling. Together with my brothers and sister we used to speed down the drive on a home made go-cart and of course there was the inevitable accident. Me flying off at the bottom on the road which in those days was tarmac and shingle. I still have the scar on my knee! There was a wall alongside the railway with a metal fence which became quite high the further you walked along it! We used to cling on to the metal fence as a train would thunder past! There was a man who regularly crossed the bridge who was rather scruffy - we called him the bogey man and were frightened every time we saw him. Especially if we were crossing the bridge which was enclosed and he was walking towards us Obviously he was a harmless old man.
Round the corner from us was Carlton Road where there was a row of shops, I can remember an off-licence on the corner, where we would buy a packet of Smiths crisp with a little bag of salt and a botte of Pepsi and at the weekend we would buy bottles of Tizer and Cream Soda and return the bottles for a penny or maybe twopence There was a sweet shop with many jars of sweets where I remember taking the ration book to buy a quarter of whatever we chose. There was also a fishmonger where our mother was a frequent shopper. Us children used to eat herrings with fine bones - we used to complain about the bones and she said they were good for us just eat them with the bread and butter. Mother also used to make delicious parsley sauce to go with the cod and mashed potato.
We were a short walk away from the main high street which housed three cinemas, The Ritz, Odeon and Gaumont. Of course, every Saturday morning we would go to the `Saturday Morning Pictures'. There was an organ playing which still could be heard above the noisy children. There was also a very old cinema in the Market which we used to call the flea-pit. I remember going there once and the film kept breaking down.
There was a very big Market and it even included a cattle market.
In those day children had a lot of freedom and we used to walk to Raphael Park and Rise Park.
Several years ago I visited Romford and noticed how much it had changed. But believe it or not the old Railway Bridge was exactly the same, but the house I once lived in (a row of four large houses) had been demolished and in place a block of flats.

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