Benskins Brewery

A Memory of Watford.

I lived in Bushey and then in Oxhey Village for all of my childhood, first in Aldenham Road, and then in Oxhey Avenue, and later in Villiers Road. In the early 70's I was living in Oxhey Avenue and my friend Annette lived in Woodwaye off Eastbury Road. When she came round on her bike I used to either walk or ride my bike to the other side of the railway bridge at the top of our road, when she went home. We would often be wearing our stripey socks and have a tartan scarf tied round our wrists - we were both big Bay City Rollers fans. Most Monday evenings we used to catch a bus to the Civic Centre in St Albans. We were never totally sure we were on the correct bus until it went past the big Waitrose that used to be on St Albans Road just before the Dome roundabout. There was a disco at the Civic Centre every Monday evening, but my mum always wanted me home too early to be able to stay to the end. So I would stay the night at Annette's house, and when we came out of the Civic Centre in St Albans, I would ring her from the phone box outside and say I was already back in Watford, and she would be happy. We would then get the bus back from St Albans to Watford town centre and go in the fish and chip shop at the bottom or the High Street. Then we would walk back to her house from there through the deserted Benskins Brewery, eating our chips. It was dark and derelict and if my daughters had done the same thing, I would have gone mad. But my mum never knew. I was sad when they pulled it down. Although it had never been a working brewery in my living memory, but it was one of the things that Watford was famous for, and it was part of my childhood memories and it was a shame to see it go.