Nostalgic memories of London's local history
Share your own memories of London and read what others have said
For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our web site to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was when the photographs in our archive were taken. From brief one-liners explaining a little bit more about the image depicted, to great, in-depth accounts of a childhood when things were rather different than today (and everything inbetween!). We've had many contributors recognising themselves or loved ones in our photographs.
Why not add your memory today and become part of our Memories Community to help others in the future delve back into their past.
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Displaying Memories 21 - 30 of 44 in total
My memory of Forest Hill, London, is Horniman's Museum and Horniman's Park. The museum had a wonderful, huge clock. We lived in Forest Hill from about 1952 or 53 to about 1961, I think. Someone held a fancy dress Coronation party for all the kids on the street (Benson Road). My dad worked near Tower Bridge, which he always complained went up when he was late for work.
I disagree with the date given. I think this is 1897 and shows the temporary grandstand on the corner of Whitehall and what was to become Horse Guards Avenue. The grandstand could accommodate 4,000 persons and was built for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. The site had been empty for over ten years, the previous building was called Carrington House.
To the right of the photograph is the Banqueting ...see more
Not a memory obviously but a fact discovered when doing family research. My Great Grandfather's eldest sister was married to a Grenadier Guard in The Chapel Royal at the Tower. Her husband Giles was stationed there at the time. The date was 1860.
This short video I wrote and directed in 1989 celebrates the birth in Lambeth, London of the world's most famous funny man - Charlie Chaplin. It's now free to view on my YouTube channel at www.JonDanzig.com: http://youtu.be/Kc7l4ku9ATU
My brother and his wife, having met at 14, got married at 20. My brother was an apprentice motor mechanic and his fiance a trainee hotel receptionist, so money was tight and they had no idea where they were going to live and how they would be able to afford their own home.
In order to help along their savings, they both worked in a pub in Enfield Lock, just down the road from where we lived. One ...see more
My family moved from Bermondsey, where we shared my grandad's house, to Enfield, where Mum and Dad had managed to buy their own house (for £2,000) in 1960. It was some years before Dad could afford driving lessons and then a car. We started with an A35 van, and Mum, Dad and 4 kids would pile in to drive over to Bermondsey or Forest Hill to visit my mum's sisters.
The drive was just as complicated as it is now and ...see more
I remember coming across Temple Bar in a field in Enfield/Cheshunt whilst out for a walk as a child in the 1960s. It seemed such a strange place for it to end up. There were no explanatory signs to say what it was and why it was there. There was tall grass all around it and possibly some sort of fence; so it was impossible to get too close.
Every time we walked that way, I used to wonder how on earth this lovely ...see more
It was built many years before 1965 of course. The only memory of mine is just some trivia : It was featured in the opening sequence of Danger Man 1960 and also in Cliff Richard's film The Young Ones in 1961.
I can't help with a photo - but I can confirm that the Mascot Hotel was in York Street. I stayed there for a couple of nights in June 1958. As I recall, the hotel was about 1/3 way down York Street on the right coming from the direction of Baker street. John Cavill
Relatives of mine met and fell in love at a hotel which used to stand where the Unilever Building now stands. It was a love match which lasted for many years and in relatives who were around in my youth after the Second World War. They were a maid and pastrycook at the hotel. I would love to have a photograph as the hotel seems to have been a very splendid place. Unfortunately I ...see more
