Bygone Park Road

                                           My brother Pete takes a walk down memory lane

The trombone hung there in the shop window resplendent in front of an azure blue drape and beside it the unattainable price label…£7.  The window was that of a second hand shop in Park Road near the junction with Paynes Road and next to the old Police station building. This shop was one of five of its kind between here and the southern junction with Millbrook Road.

Park Road was then a thriving centre of little shops catering for almost all needs. Apart from Doctor Cline's surgery, the chemists and the Post Office at the junction of Sir Georges Road there were two bakeries…one where the ovens opened straight onto the street which made for ease of loading the little delivery van but would, in the enlightened 21st century, immediately fall foul of the health and safety regulations  but in these far off days of the 40s and 50s offer an inquisitive...or  hungry child immediate access to the mysteries of baking and ready access to hot rejects..the mis-shaped or slightly burned offerings that were there for the eating! The other Southwells at the corner of Kingston road was much more formal with counter ladies dressed in smart tunics.

There were four pubs The Anchor & Hope, The Star and Garter, The Freemantle and The Swan (now The Wellington Arms) there were two restaurants, also for a hair trim there was Spaggy's  barber shop. Nearby Alwins seed shop sold anything from seed potatoes to freshly ground flour. For the fashion conscious there was even a clothes shop, two greengrocers and a fishmonger…even a soft drinks bottling works where the highly painted vans constantly came and went on their errands delivering the magic Tizer to places far and wide. We even had a church...the Elim where they sometimes sang their joyful hymns outside on warm summer evenings.

Of course so soon after the war four bomb sites graced Park Road …one eventually became the Woodyard….dangerous but exciting playgrounds for grubby youngsters to play cowboys and Indians and on these sites were wild gooseberry bushes…in season a refreshing source of alfresco picnics. Sandwiched in between these places were little houses…some large detached  surrounded by pairs of semi detached homes which had escaped the German bombers and where families came and went on their journeys to work and school. I recall there were no garages attached to these homes hardly anyone owning a car….Park Road people travelled by bike or bus.

One detached house opposite the end of Andover Road one day grew a huge pole alongside it's chimney and affixed to this was a huge metal frame in the shape of a large 'H'  which we were told pointed towards South Wales from where the occupants could watch the latest entertainment in their own home…television! As far as we knew this was the first TV home in the area but later it was joined by another one and this was in the home of a friend of the family so we could finally witness the spectacle for ourselves.

But far and away the most important shops for me were the second hand shops. Our mother had an attraction to these places for more practical reasons for here she could purchase at realistic prices clothing for the family, kitchen utensils and a speciality of hers Huttons on the corner of Lisbon road where were presented  an overwhelmingly striking selection of furniture from kitchen cabinets to room filling wardrobes and even beds. But for me the attraction was the wonderful array of electrical equipment on show at the smaller second hand shops, names long gone.  There was of course a heap of things salvaged from bombed out houses but also a surprising selection of mysterious things...a ship's wheel, a motor cycle engine, huge dialled grey boxes bearing the legends 'AMPERES' or 'KiloWatt Hours'. There were coils of wire and rope, bicycles, skipping ropes, packets of nails, hinges and towers of tools and wonder of all there  were old radios…enormous examples of the woodworkers trade filled with glowing dials bearing the names of faraway places like 'Hilversum' or 'Brookmans Park',' Luxembourg', and all containing glowing valves which lit up the inside of these wondrous creations. There were also windup gramophones and hundreds of 78 rpm records. If you didn't like music you could buy these records take them home, hold them in front of the fire and bend them into shapes like flower vases.  And of course there was the occasional musical instrument and so to the trombone. Much as she wanted to indulge me my Mum knew the family budget could not stretch to such flights of fancy and my attention eventually was distracted to something else…and the inevitable change from childhood to the new adult world.

What seemed like only a few years later I returned to this remarkable road with my child's hand in mine and certainly enough money in my pocket to purchase the trombone. But it had of course gone and along with it the whole shop...in fact nearly all the shops had gone. It was now the fashion to travel far to do quite ordinary shopping. There were no more free cakes at the bakery and certainly no more second hand shop windows to press your nose against.  Park Road was no longer a place… it had become just a passageway to somewhere else…
                                      

 

                                                                                   Bygone Park Road

                                           My brother Pete takes a walk down memory lane

The trombone hung there in the shop window resplendent in front of an azure blue drape and beside it the unattainable price label…£7.  The window was that of a second hand shop in Park Road near the junction with Paynes Road and next to the old Police station building. This shop was one of five of its kind between here and the southern junction with Millbrook Road.

Park Road was then a thriving centre of little shops catering for almost all needs. Apart from Doctor Cline's surgery, the chemists and the Post Office at the junction of Sir Georges Road there were two bakeries…one where the ovens opened straight onto the street which made for ease of loading the little delivery van but would, in the enlightened 21st century, immediately fall foul of the health and safety regulations  but in these far off days of the 40s and 50s offer an inquisitive...or  hungry child immediate access to the mysteries of baking and ready access to hot rejects..the mis-shaped or slightly burned offerings that were there for the eating! The other Southwells at the corner of Kingston road was much more formal with counter ladies dressed in smart tunics.

There were four pubs The Anchor & Hope, The Star and Garter, The Freemantle and The Swan (now The Wellington Arms) there were two restaurants, also for a hair trim there was Spaggy's  barber shop. Nearby Alwins seed shop sold anything from seed potatoes to freshly ground flour. For the fashion conscious there was even a clothes shop, two greengrocers and a fishmonger…even a soft drinks bottling works where the highly painted vans constantly came and went on their errands delivering the magic Tizer to places far and wide. We even had a church...the Elim where they sometimes sang their joyful hymns outside on warm summer evenings.

Of course so soon after the war four bomb sites graced Park Road …one eventually became the Woodyard….dangerous but exciting playgrounds for grubby youngsters to play cowboys and Indians and on these sites were wild gooseberry bushes…in season a refreshing source of alfresco picnics. Sandwiched in between these places were little houses…some large detached  surrounded by pairs of semi detached homes which had escaped the German bombers and where families came and went on their journeys to work and school. I recall there were no garages attached to these homes hardly anyone owning a car….Park Road people travelled by bike or bus.

One detached house opposite the end of Andover Road one day grew a huge pole alongside it's chimney and affixed to this was a huge metal frame in the shape of a large 'H'  which we were told pointed towards South Wales from where the occupants could watch the latest entertainment in their own home…television! As far as we knew this was the first TV home in the area but later it was joined by another one and this was in the home of a friend of the family so we could finally witness the spectacle for ourselves.

But far and away the most important shops for me were the second hand shops. Our mother had an attraction to these places for more practical reasons for here she could purchase at realistic prices clothing for the family, kitchen utensils and a speciality of hers Huttons on the corner of Lisbon road where were presented  an overwhelmingly striking selection of furniture from kitchen cabinets to room filling wardrobes and even beds. But for me the attraction was the wonderful array of electrical equipment on show at the smaller second hand shops, names long gone.  There was of course a heap of things salvaged from bombed out houses but also a surprising selection of mysterious things...a ship's wheel, a motor cycle engine, huge dialled grey boxes bearing the legends 'AMPERES' or 'KiloWatt Hours'. There were coils of wire and rope, bicycles, skipping ropes, packets of nails, hinges and towers of tools and wonder of all there  were old radios…enormous examples of the woodworkers trade filled with glowing dials bearing the names of faraway places like 'Hilversum' or 'Brookmans Park',' Luxembourg', and all containing glowing valves which lit up the inside of these wondrous creations. There were also windup gramophones and hundreds of 78 rpm records. If you didn't like music you could buy these records take them home, hold them in front of the fire and bend them into shapes like flower vases.  And of course there was the occasional musical instrument and so to the trombone. Much as she wanted to indulge me my Mum knew the family budget could not stretch to such flights of fancy and my attention eventually was distracted to something else…and the inevitable change from childhood to the new adult world.

What seemed like only a few years later I returned to this remarkable road with my child's hand in mine and certainly enough money in my pocket to purchase the trombone. But it had of course gone and along with it the whole shop...in fact nearly all the shops had gone. It was now the fashion to travel far to do quite ordinary shopping. There were no more free cakes at the bakery and certainly no more second hand shop windows to press your nose against.  Park Road was no longer a place… it had become just a passageway to somewhere else…
                                      

 

Following a successful career in the BBC, Pete is now semi-retired and running a photo restoration, and personalized greeting card business. 

Following a successful career in the BBC, Pete is now semi-retired and running a photo restoration, and personalized greeting card business.