Saturday 13 May 2023

On Eltham High Street in the summer of 1977

Now there is a very obvious appeal about old photographs of Eltham.

Eltham High Street in 1977
The people stare back at you and it is easy to wonder about their lives, their hopes and of course what happened to them.

In the same way we are drawn to the buildings, comparing their appearance then with now or pondering on how the planners could have allowed such a magnificent house to be demolished to make way for an ugly block of flats or an equally drab parade of modern shops.

And the irony is that those 1950s/70s new build rarely have lasted the course.

The grey concrete has stained, the wood panelling has begun to rot as have the window frames and the modern signage is totally out of character.

So it is more pleasant to retreat into the images of a century ago.  All of which is fine but often ignores the more recent photographs, from say the 1970s or 1980s.  These can be just as revealing about how things have changed, with that added bonus that they show an Eltham which is almost as it is now but not quite.

In that sense they seem even more dated.  The fashions look outlandish and the cars comical.  But for the historian these images are just as important.

So in 1977 on this stretch of the High Street the King’s Arms was still serving pints, Warrens and the Golden Orient Tandoori Restaurant were yet to give way to Pat’s Textiles and Spice Island, and the Grove Market was a busy and vibrant place.

So and not for the last time I shall fall back on that old Monty Python quote, "no one expects the Spanish Inquistion" and make an appeal for more of those pictures from the recent past.

Picture; courtesy of Jean Gammons, 1977

13 comments:

  1. Worked in Wadham Stringer garage opposite the Kings Arms In the 70's, happy days.

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  2. Hello, I am doing a project at University about tracing commodities back to where they were made. For my project I am tracing back a knitted teddy that was made for my mother and wondered whether you know the name of a wool shop that would have been on Eltham high street in the 1970s (ish)?

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    1. There used to be one in Pound Place next to what used to be Tesco/Kwik Save

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    2. I remember the one in Pound Place. In 84/85 police said that if we came back the next week to collect money for the miners’ strike they would arrest us. Only two of us went back the following week. The same cop as the week before got out of his car and moved towards us. The owner of the wool shop came out and told us to stand on his property. He then told the police he’d given his permission to collect. The police walked away thwarted :) Turned out the shop owner was a member of the Communist Party. He did me a massive turn as believe it or not I was working for the police at the time but would not have completed 30 years with them had he not bailed us out.

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    3. Yep similar experience here in Chorlton outside the old Safeways in the Precinct the manager tried to stop us but it proved futile. The plaque commemorating the money is raised is still in our local library.

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  3. Sorry I can't help but if you post a request on my face book site, Well in Eltham, its stories and its history I bet someone will have the answer

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  4. Hiya i thought the wool shop was 'Singer' the same people who made sewing machines.... i am no 100% but it rings a bell, i was born in charlton 1964 and our family moved to Eltham in 1967 where i lived till 2014...knew a lot of Eltham...Lovely Town

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  5. If you walk just past Boots the chemist there is an opening going up to Eltham Grill. I think it was the last but one shop was a wool shop in the 70s . It also sold woollen gloves , hats , children’s underwear etc. With 5 children I was always in there.Was predominantly a wool shop though. Trying to remember the name.

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  6. I think it was Pat's Textiles,

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  7. That's my Cousin Vivienne Hamilton now Grimwood. . With Trevor Grimwood now her Husband. There then Mini Car is parked just behind them. From Chris Weeks

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  8. My Cousin Vivienne Grimwood Hamilton. With Trevor Grimwood now her Husband. With there Mini Car parked behind them.

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