Some More London Nostalgia In Photos

~ beetleypete

Alma School, Bermondsey. This photo was taken near the end of WW2. A bomb-damaged area is being cleared. On the left you can see some new prefabricated asbestos-sheet houses. We called them ‘Prefabs’, and they were supposed to be temporary. But the people loved them, and over 100 still exist in London today.
I went to that school from 1957 until 1963.

Children playing in a bombed-out building in Bermondsey, 1953. By the time I was old enough to be out playing in 1958, I was playing in the same building.

A young couple sheltering from the Blitz in an underground station, 1940. My mum was doing the same thing at the time.

Choosing an engagement ring, 1953.

Taking tea in a Lyons Corner House, late 1950s. Despite the elegant surroundings, anyone could afford to have tea there.

Making the most of a hot summer in London. Sunbathing in a basement ‘area’, 1954.

A Skiffle Club in Soho, 1960.

Cards advertising the services of prostitutes in Soho, 1960.

35 thoughts on “Some More London Nostalgia In Photos”

    1. They were very smoky. I used to regularly go to Ronnie Scott’s until I moved to Norfolk, but that was quite spacious, with tables to sit at and airconditioning.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  5. I remember Lyons. We used to go to a roof garden was it Derry and Tom’s? They had the shell of a bomb which later on they discovered was still active…or so I was told! There was one of those basement areas in the flats where I was born in Earl’s Court. My bedroom window overlooked it…pretty bleak. Not as bleak as the underground in the Blitz though.

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    1. Yes the roof garden was above that store. It is closed to the public now. The building has been converted into office use after Biba closed down in 1975.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  7. HI Pete, the photo of people sheltering in the underground doesn’t show for me for some weird reason. I enjoyed these pictures. They are insightful. We had prefabs at my high school. We hated them as they were like miniature Hell’s Kitchens during the summer months.

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  8. (1) Before John, Paul, George, and Ringo, there was a group called The Asbestos, aka the Prefab 4.
    (2) Young circus performers, Bombsey, 1953. “We didn’t ask for the circus cannon! We asked for the flying trapeze!”
    (3) Dreaming of a bedroom blitz.
    (4) Rules of Engagement, Step 1: Slip arm around fiancée’s waist.
    (5) Little Jack Horner sat in the Lyons Corner House, eating Scotch pie and drinking Yorkshire tea. According to Katie Lyons, Jack’s a naughty boy who knows how to make good use of his third thumb.
    (6) Sixty-eight years later, the crispy red man laments not using a good sunscreen.
    (7) The Skifflers left the scene after being assaulted by a variety of improvised instruments, mostly clubs.
    (8) I’m torn between Marcelle and Lolita.

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  12. I love these photos. I lived in one of those ‘temporary’ prefabs in Poplar for 6 years from the ages of 7 to 13. I think it was the best time of my childhood and I often think back to those happy times. Mum and Dad didn’t have much, but we were rich in other ways.

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    1. No, but I am still in touch with friends from my senior school, and some of the teachers too.
      (Though most of the teachers have died in the past 10 years.)
      Best wishes, Pete.

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