General Brixton history - photos, stories etc

[boohoo]

good work editor

 

[MsEyeson]

Posted this on another thread thought id post it on here - enjoy
''Found some videos today of ''Good Old Brixton''

 

[boohoo]

MsEyeson Thanks so much for this. The top video clip has the man who danced in the arcades a very clear child hood memory for me.

 

[uk benzo]

Wow, The Baron has been around for a while then.

 

[thriller]

Radio rentals and the light of india restaurant. Memories...

 

[SarfLondoner]

Wow, The Baron has been around for a while then.

I would say about 30 years.

 

[SarfLondoner]

Radio rentals and the light of india restaurant. Memories...

Used to watch the fa cup final through the window..

 

[SarfLondoner]

.
I can't imagine two double deckers on Atlantic road theses days,This was 1986.

 

[SarfLondoner]

Barkers corner was a furniture shop,It burnt to the ground during the riots. It was on the corner of Gresham road and Coldharbour lane.

 

[SarfLondoner]

This was the view from what is now the Barrier block site,Looking from Somerlyton Road.

 

[Jangleballix]

View attachment 64724 Barkers corner was a furniture shop,It burnt to the ground in riots. It was on the corner of Gresham road and Coldharbour lane.

Not to forget the incineration of an unfortunate occupant of one of the flats above.

 

[davesgcr]

Minor point - but Paul Vaughan - broadcaster and writer , wrote of his early days (and family history) around Brixton in "Something in Linoleum" - wonderful book - died about 3 weeks ago. The family followed the well trodden trail to suburban and new Raynes Park .....

 

[editor]

This was the view from what is now the Barrier block site,Looking from Somerlyton Road.

View attachment 64725

I posted those pics a few years back:

http://www.urban75.org/blog/the-mystery-of-the-brixton-loughborough-park-tavern-solved/

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

MsEyeson Thanks so much for this. The top video clip has the man who danced in the arcades a very clear child hood memory for me.

I remember him, and still wonder where he is every time I pass there

 

[Winot]

Anyone know?

The Brixton Post Office on Acre Lane, 1944. Where was this exactly? http://t.co/WzuyN1c710

He's a good person to follow if you are into London past.

 

[SarfLondoner]

Anyone know?

The Brixton Post Office on Acre Lane, 1944. Where was this exactly? http://t.co/WzuyN1c710

He's a good person to follow if you are into London past.

I believe it was opposite the town hall and was bombed in 1944.

 

[SarfLondoner]

I believe it was opposite the town hall and was bombed in 1944.

Correction, It was bombed between October 1940 and June 1941.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Anyone know?

The Brixton Post Office on Acre Lane, 1944. Where was this exactly? http://t.co/WzuyN1c710

He's a good person to follow if you are into London past.

This (V1 and V2 logs) records a "V1 struck a row of shops/buildings opposite the Town Hall in Acre Lane" on 28 June 1944 (article about it on brixton buzz here)

Bomb Sight records two high explosive bombs landing on Acre Lane in the 1940-41 blitz.

My 1939 equivalent of an A-Z does not mark post offices

www.old-maps.co.uk shows a post office at 10 Acre Lane in 1951 and a fairly large empty space (bomb site?) behind.

10-18 Acre Lane got re-developed in the 1970s - this parade of shops / flats

The two stripes of light coloured brickwork in the building to the right of the post office match 8 Acre Lane (Street View shows it as Banks Opticians)

I can't be certain, but 10 Acre Lane seems a strong candidate.

There is a post box outside - sometimes these show traces of having had a "post office ->" sign fixed on top where they used to be outside a sub post office. I can't tell from Street View whether it has this.

Has anyone got a 1930s directory that would cover Brixton?

(edited - error in street numbers)

 

[CH1]

www.old-maps.co.uk shows a post office at 10 Acre Lane in 1951 and a fairly large empty space (bomb site?) behind.

Anyone know?
The Brixton Post Office on Acre Lane, 1944. Where was this exactly? http://t.co/WzuyN1c710
He's a good person to follow if you are into London past.

Could you be more precise about this? Following your link I see PW which is Place of Worship - being the former 8th Church of Christ Scientist (now an Indian pentecostal church).

I have an old Bartholomews London street atlas from 1930, but that is no help.

The logical solution is a visit to the Minet Archives to consult Kelly's etc.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Could you be more precise about this? Following your link I see PW which is Place of Worship - being the former 8th Church of Christ Scientist (now an Indian pentecostal church).

I have an old Bartholomews London street atlas from 1930, but that is no help.

The logical solution is a visit to the Minet Archives to consult Kelly's etc.

On 'Old Maps', you need to select one of the old maps that get linked on the left.

"PW" for "place of worship" is on the current day mapping - it's a relatively recent abbreviation used on maps to cover churches and also buildings such as mosques, synagogues and so on (I don't remember it appearing on maps when i did geography at school which was - oh heck - about 30 years ago)

The 1951 1 : 1,250 map shows individual buildings, and shows the (then) Christian Science Church by name, then two detached buildings at 14 and 12, then 10A, then 10 shown as 'PO' then 8 then (un-numbered) Bank (now Unison office, numbered 6A), then 6, 4a, then what looks like a covered passage-way, then 4 and 2

 

[Onket]

Presumably an older building used to be where Acre House is now?

 

[Rushy]

Presumably an older building used to be where Acre House is now?

Site of one of Lambeth's most fatal ww2 bomb strikes.

 

[boohoo]

Presumably an older building used to be where Acre House is now?

http://maps.google.com/gallery/details?id=zs2aHyi7W8Ek.kggHTef2F49I&hl=en
Map seems to imply that it was the site of Brixton Hall.

 

[SarfLondoner]

Electric avenue 1960's

 

[SarfLondoner]

An interesting read about the indoor markets,

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-504957-brixton-markets-reliance-arcade-market-r

 

[thatguyhex]

"The first built was the Reliance Arcade, built in 1925-6 on the site of a large C19 house occupying a long plot of land (bizarrely, the shell of the house was retained and straddles the centre of the arcade)."

Mind = blown.

 

[Onket]

That bit in the middle that looks like two pitched roofs next to each other?

Can it be seen inside at all?

 

[editor]

"The first built was the Reliance Arcade, built in 1925-6 on the site of a large C19 house occupying a long plot of land (bizarrely, the shell of the house was retained and straddles the centre of the arcade)."

Mind = blown.

View attachment 65180

I wrote a fairly large feature on Reliance Arcade recently: http://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2014/10/...s-added-to-the-english-heritage-at-risk-list/

And here's a bit more of my obsessive historical research!

Brixton history: The Black Horse, Quin & Axtens and a tram on Brixton Road

 

[thatguyhex]

I wrote a fairly large feature on Reliance Arcade recently: http://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2014/10/...s-added-to-the-english-heritage-at-risk-list/

Good job! I missed seeing that.

 

[calno4]

Reveley Fish Salesman and Ice Merchant of 148 Acre Lane