Memories Of My Childhood And The High Street

A Memory of Folkestone.

I was born in Folkestone in July 1950, now living in New York since 1978. I remember as a child my mum or my aunt would take me down the high street, rarely up for obvious reasons, and stop at Andy Amos or Jimmy Rowlands for sweets. I remember the rock and the aniseed twist, toffee apples, the smell was heaven and sometimes watched to see how rock was made.

During my teen years, I used to hang out at the Acropolis, the "in" coffee bar at the time which used to have a reputation for drugs, not that I ever saw anything like that. My father forbid me to go there but this being the 60s, defiance was everything. I visited the hight street back in 2001, my last visit to Folkestone. I have to say the town has changed quite a lot, not for the best I'm sorry to say. It was a lot better when I was growing up. It had such a shabby appearance. I wonder this happened?


Added 09 April 2011

#231881

Comments & Feedback

Like Robert Pierce (who I went to school with, Morehall, from 1961) I recall Folkestone in better times. There were a lot of small shops, many of them high quality. The harbour area was always busy, generated by the cross-channel ferry service. Until the end of the 1960s Folkestone had numerous hotels, then things changed due to the growing popularity of package holidays abroad. By the time I left the town in 1972 it was going downhill fast and is now in a sorry state compared to its former splendour. I moved back to the area in 2007, to Hythe, which is relatively unchanged from my childhood recollections. Another old Morehallian, Richard Clark, lives here too but I guess a lot of our old school acquaintances left the area long ago. Colin Markham, 25 July 2016.

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