London House, Westerham

A Memory of Westerham.

The left hand shop of the pair on the right of this photo was still called London House when I was a young lad in the late 1960's, going to Hosey school. I recall it had large glass jars with sweets in them but also sold things like "toothbrush sticks" which were twigs of what I later thought were Yarrow twigs but it seems were more likely "Miswak" (Salvadora Persica) twigs commonly used in the Arabic world for tooth cleaning. I don't know if many people used them but maybe they were used by "country folk" before the NHS or before tooth brushes became common? They must have been cheap as I recall my mates & I using them sometimes. They were quite pleasant. The shop sold other unusual items at the time & felt to me as a kid like an Apothecary's shop out of the film Oliver! For all I know it may even have been one at some point in the past.