Discover Your High Street Publication 2017 by Serious

DISCOVER YOUR HIGH STREET Exploring the Shared Heritage of Seven Outer London High Streets

Ilford, Kingston, Leyton, South Norwood, Tooting, Twickenham and Woolwich

DISCOVER YOUR HIGH STREET

Exploring the Shared Heritage of Seven Outer London High Streets

FOREWORD 5 INTRODUCTION 7 CHANGES TO THE HIGH STREET 8 TRANSPORT MIGRATION

TRADE AND INDUSTRY POPULAR CULTURE SPORT Ilford Town Centre Map 1992 Image courtesy of Redbridge Museum and Heritage

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Foreword

LEFT Boys fishing at Twickenham Riverside 1923 © London Metropolitan Archives

When I was approached to write the foreword for this publication, I was delighted to hear how The Streets had initiated interest in the history and heritage of these seven Outer London Boroughs and developed to include the Discover Your High Street project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. I first engaged with The Streets when I interviewed Claire Whitaker and David Jones from live music producer Serious on BBC Radio London in July 2015. Ever since, I have been extremely impressed by the results of The Streets Consortium and the numerous passionate organisations and individuals involved in this two-year project, coming together to showcase their culture and heritage of their high streets to over 60,000 people in the suburbs of London and beyond. Growing up in Outer London myself - take a bow Burnt Oak - I know how they can be overlooked. I also know from interviewing countless Londoners over the years that London’s greatest attribute is its ability to encourage people from our city’s diverse communities to share their passions, interests and backgrounds; connecting people through a shared enthusiasm for the place in which we live. Growing up in London I have seen immense changes in the city. I recognise the importance of exploring the past to provoke Londoner’s enthusiasm for preserving their local treasures. Discover Your High Street has united seven London Boroughs through their vibrant heritage and is a celebration of London’s community spirit and shared spaces. The project has already reached an audience of over 40,000 through a touring exhibition, heritage trails and walks, talks and tours. It is with great pleasure that I present this publication to you. I hope that it may inspire you to view our high streets and town centres with fresh eyes, knowing a little better the journey they have taken over the last 150 years.

Robert Elms Writer and Broadcaster BBC London

Introduction

LEFT Perhaps Contraption Performing in Tooting, November 2016 © The Streets

Discover Your High Street is an ambitious project exploring the shared heritage of seven Outer London high streets and the boroughs they serve: Ilford, Kingston, Leyton, South Norwood, Tooting, Twickenham and Woolwich. The project follows on from The Streets, a successful programme of music and perfomance in London’s communal high street spaces. Between October 2015 and November 2016, The Streets brought live music into local businesses, cafes, libraries and out on to the high streets themselves. The high street is a key community space; evolving out of villages, market towns, ports or staging posts along ancient roads, providing a space for people to gather - to celebrate, to shop, to socialise. The historical significance and archaeological heritage of the high street can be easily missed by those who stroll down it. Discover Your High Street invites local residents to explore the sometimes overlooked heritage of their home town and see those familiar landmarks in a new light. Working in partnership with a consortium of seven Outer London boroughs, the project largely focuses upon the last 150 years of history, drawing together the stories from each individual high street to build a shared history of industry, culture, migration and trade. Throughout November 2016, these histories were showcased within the local communities in a programme of exhibitions, talks, tours and heritage trails. During these events, memories from the local community were collected, some of which you will see quoted here. This publication represents the culmination of months of research, conducted by a large team of dedicated volunteers, into the history, growth and development of the seven high streets. This book is divided by theme, rather than by high street, and therefore showcases the common experience of London’s many town centres. Discover Your High Street has been made possible with generous support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. www.thestreets.london

CHANGES TO THE HIGH STREET

“Woolwich has moved on with the times in every way. Things were good then but much better now, with technology, housing, transport, open markets, schools.” — Woolwich resident

PREVIOUS PAGE Ilford High Road 1937 Image courtesy of Redbridge Heritage Service

The Birth of the High Street

During the Edwardian era, shopping came into its own and the The story of the high street generally high street as it is known today was begins in the mid-1800s, when born. Chains such as Woolworths, industrialisation and developments Boots and Marks & Spencer spread in transport brought urbanisation and over the following decades across a population boom to London’s many the country, arriving in Woolwich’s peripheral villages and towns. Powis Street in the early half of the Not all of the seven high streets twentieth century. Visiting the shops had the same origin; while Kingston became a leisure activity for the has been a market town since the first time during this period as the 13th century, South Norwood was excitement of greater choice brought made up of a few tracks across a increasing numbers of shoppers to common until the Croydon Canal was the high street. cut through the area in 1809.1 Ilford began as a staging post for coaches, and Tooting sits on the Roman road During the Wars between London and Chichester. Figures recorded in the census The importance of high streets as (conducted every ten years since hubs for the community became 1801) show that the population grew even greater during the two world substantially during the 19th century. wars. Spaces such as Stanley Halls Creation and expansion of town in South Norwood and local cinemas centres was at its peak between 1851 and theatres became recruitment and 1901, when Britain’s population centres for the armed services during almost doubled from 16.8 million to the First World War. Also in South 30.5 million.2 Nowhere did it grow Norwood, a local charity opened a faster than Outer London; Leyton soup kitchen to feed the community, took the record for fastest growing as food had become scarcer and English town in the 1880s, Twickenham prices doubled between 1914 and quadrupled its population between 1841 1918. Local governments were to and 1901, and in 1910, it was reported adopt this model, and by the end of that 15,000 families moved from Inner 1917 there were ‘National Kitchens’ to Outer London.3 providing low-cost or free hot meals

in almost every town in Britain. Local governments across Britain quickly adopted this model, and by the end of 1917 there were ‘National Kitchens’ providing low-cost or free meals in almost every town. In the years prior to the outbreak of war in 1914, a group of women across the country were campaigning for the women’s vote. The Women’s Social and Poltical Union (the WSPU), led by Emmeline Pankhurst, took to the streets to draw attention to women’s suffrage and this group of women became known as the ‘suffragettes’. Suffragette meetings were regularly held at the Stanley Halls and at the Stanley Clock in South Norwood, whilst in Ilford, local suffragette and WSPU Ilford branch leader Ethel Haslam led a fierce campaign including protest meetings and smashing the windows of opponents premises which resulted in her being imprisoned on two occasions. During the First World War, the suffragettes largely ceased their campaigns and many concentrated on helping with the war effort. Ethel Haslam served as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse during the war. Many women took on roles previously undertaken by men - driving ambulances, working

in factories and on London’s transport system. High concentrations of people, infastructure and industry made parts of London a target for enemy bombing raids during both the First and Second World Wars. An estimated 1,300 houses in Leyton were damaged by Zeppelin raids in the First World War; often bombs were dropped on the area as a mistake. In 1917, a Zeppelin bomber mistook the Lea Valley for the river Thames and his bombs were released over Leyton and Leytonstone. In Ilford, the Hippodrome theatre was badly damaged by German bombers in 1945. In Ilford, 50,000 houses were damaged during the Second World War and 802 people killed. The area was hit by 35 V2 rockets, more than any other place in London. As a result, by the end of the Second World War, many of outer London’s high streets were in need of repair.

1 South Norwood and the Croydon Canal, by Ken Maggs and Paul de Athe 2 The UK Population: Past, Present and Future, Julie Jefferies (2005)

3 Leyton Official Guides 1912-1934, Official Publication Tradesmen’s Association

Regeneration and the Future of the High Street

4 Richmond Herald, 6th December 1968

5 The Portas Review: An Independent Review into the Future of our High Streets, Mary Portas (2011)a

ABOVE Emmeline Pankhurst (left) with her daughters, Christabel (middle) and Sylvia (right) at Waterloo Station October 1911 © Museum of London

traffic, and through-routes diverted. Town centres are congested with traffic - though this problem was also The regeneration of high streets debated in Twickenham during the and town centres is often associated 1960s. Efforts to make high street with the 21st century. However, shopping more comfortable through it is not a new concept: in 1968, the pedestrianisation, such as Ilford’s in Richmond Herald reported positively 1987, could not compete with out-ofon plans to reinvigorate Twickenham’s town shopping centres with their ease then neglected Church Street: “A of parking and greater choice. Online street that was once the historic shopping now offers an even greater village centre of Twickenham until selection and convenience. modernisation forced it into the Since The Portas Review, efforts background is now being recreated.”4 to reinvigorate high streets have been Further changes came when the 1963 redoubled. Twickenham, Kingston London Government Act brought and Ilford are designated Business together many of outer London’s Improvement Districts; a programme municipal boroughs to create new, which aims to create welcoming offical London boroughs. Boundaries shopping environments and promote changed, and new sites for town local town centres and businesses. halls were chosen -the new London Funds from the Government’s Borough of Richmond upon Thames Working Neighbourhoods Fund chose York House as the new seat of have also been made available for improving the image of local high their council. streets, including Leyton’s, whose It was The Portas Review in shop fronts were modernised ahead 2011 that brought into focus the scale of the 2012 Olympic Games. and extent of the decline of some of Britain’s high streets. In that year, less The Royal Arsenal in Woolwich is, as of 2017, currently under than 50% of customer spending took redevelopment, with 5,000 new place on the high street.5 Transport, once a catalyst for homes and retail spaces, as well the growth of these areas, could now as a new community centre. be contributing to their decline: town centres are congested with

ABOVE Proposal for the Pedestrianisation of Powis Street, Woolwich, Date Unknown. Image courtesy of Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust RIGHT York House on Richmond Road c. 1960. Image courtesy of Richmond upon Thames Local Studies Library and Archive

ABOVE Boarding a tram at Tooting Broadway 1912 Â© London Metropolitan Archives

LEFT Bomb damage in Leyton c. 1916. Image courtesy of Vestry House Museum, London Borough of Waltham Forest

LEFT Saturday Market at Kingston Market Place c. 1898, Image courtesy of Kingston Museum and Heritage Service

RIGHT Charter Day Celebrations in Ilford 1926. Image courtesy of Redbridge Museum and Heritage

TRANSPORT

PREVIOUS PAGE Tooting Broadway Northbound Platform 1975, by Colin Tait © TfL from the London Transport Museum Collection

Woolwich has enjoyed a long history as a port and trading town, and due to the width of the Thames here, has offered a ferry crossing from the 14th century. Making this ferry free from 1889 proved beneficial to the town’s growth as it allowed north bank dock workers to live in Woolwich and commute daily. River The Woolwich Free Ferry was so popular that it carried 8 million foot The river Thames is London’s most passengers and 800,000 vehicles in ancient transport and trade route, 1910. The current ferry terminals were suggesting that the settlements of Twickenham, Kingston and Woolwich built in the 1960s when motor ships are the oldest of the seven high streets. replaced the older paddle steamers. Leyton, sitting on the river Lea, has The service is very much in use today also been settled since Roman times. due to the lack of other crossings Between the 10th and 18th nearby. Many Londoners share an centuries, Kingston was the site of affection for the Woolwich Ferry. the only bridge crossing the Thames South Norwood does not sit between Staines, and London on a natural river, but it was the Bridge. The constant flow of people construction of the Croydon Canal and goods travelling in and out of in 1809 that first brought sufficient London through the area helped trade and traffic to the area. The canal Kingston thrive as a trading town. failed as a commercial success and The bridge has been rebuilt and reclosed in 1836, the only indication sited many times; the current bridge of the canal is a pub named ‘The Jolly was erected in 1828 out of Portland Sailor’ on the corner of Portland Road stone, and continues to be adapted to and the High Street. Later, the new accommodate modern transport. It London and Croydon Railway laid was widened in 1914 to allow trams to their tracks along the drained route cross the bridge, and strengthened in of the old canal. 2001 to enable the bridge to withstand an increasing flow of motor traffic.

From the beginnings of civilisation, trade and migration have been major catalysts for the creation and growth of towns, and these are only made possible by transport networks in their multitude of forms.

ABOVE Traffic on King sStreet c. 1960. Image courtesy of Richmond upon Thames Local Studies Library and Archive RIGHT Traffic outside Ilford Station c. 1950 Image courtesy of Redbridge Museum and Heritage

‘Since moving to Leyton I’m constantly discovering the community spirit. We all thank the bus driver when embarking. People say ‘hello’.’ — Leyton resident

Road Traffic has passed through Twickenham since at least the early 1700s, when two staging posts (The George and The King’s Head) provided for travellers. Coaching inns and staging posts offered an opportunity for travellers to stop for rest and refreshments and provided facilities for teams of horses to be changed before continuing on. Ilford has been home to a coaching inn, The Angel, since at least 1786. Although it closed in 1985, its attractive Victorian facade remains. Woolwich only laid out Powis Street in 1782, having begun its life as a river-based trading and naval port. Originally just an unpaved track, it only became a busy thoroughfare in the mid-1800s with the arrival of the railway and an increase in horse-drawn traffic. More than 100 years later, Woolwich, like many other British town centres, found itself under the strain of increased motor traffic. An experimental car park was trialled in Woolwich in the 1960s: the Autostacker. It was hoped that this new car park in Beresford Street would solve the town’s parking problem. It used a system of conveyor belts and pulleys to move vehicles up

and into empty parking spaces. The Autostacker was opened by Princess Margaret in 1961, but never worked properly and was demolished a few years later. Levels of traffic overhwelmed Twickenham too, and in particular its narrow main thoroughfare, Church Street. Nearby York Street was constructed in 1960 to divert traffic away from Church Street, leading to the neglect of Twickenham’s original high street.

Overground The speed of the development of the overground network of railways in London is startling. By the 1850s, steam railway had permeated most of London’s suburbs with termini at Kings Cross, Paddington, Victoria and Waterloo. Within a 25 year period, four of the seven high streets had opened their first mainline stations. South Norwood and Ilford were connected to the network in 1839, followed by Twickenham in 1848 and Woolwich’s Arsenal station in 1849. The building of these lines brought chaos; in Twickenham several homes had to be demolished to make way for the railway.

An experimental atmospheric railway line - which uses air pressure to propel trains - was built on the line in 1844, with a pumping station at Portland Road. To accommodate this new line, the world’s first flyover was constructed to the south of the station. The flyover would carry the atmospheric railway over the top of the mainline. The experiment failed to work and was soon abandoned, though the flyover remained in use. The station was later named ‘Norwood Junction’ and relocated to its current site in South Norwood. The railway did not arrive in the centre of Kingston until 1863, as initial plans in the 1830s were blocked by local coach companies fearing competition. The station which opened in 1863 was known as ‘Kingston Town’ to differentiate it from the already existing ‘Kingston’ station in nearby Surbiton.

Underground The London Underground first opened as the Metropolitan Railway in 1863. The first new underground lines allowed people to traverse central London with ease, by avoiding the chaos of omnibuses and horse-drawn carriages above ground. The first lines were not without their problems and their expansion has, in contrast to overground lines, been more gradual: the underground did not reach Leyton until 1947 and Woolwich (in the form of the Docklands Light Railway) until 2009. Extension of the City and South London Railway in 1926 (today known more simply as the Northern line) saw the construction of two stations at Tooting: one at either end of the high street. All the new stations required were designed by the architect Charles Holden. The simple modernist designs clad in Portland Stone and featuring the ‘roundel’ logo in coloured glass panels, Holden’s Northern line stations were hailed by the Architectural Review as ‘beacons of the new age’.6

6 The Railways: Nation, Network and People, by Simon Bradley (2015)

RIGHT Norwood Locomotive Depot 1960, © Ben Brooksbank

Trams

LEFT Underground poster showing new services between Morden and Clapham 1926, by Reginald Percy Gossop © TfL from the London Transport Museum Collection

The very first London trams were horse drawn, following limited routes across London after an 1870 Act of Parliament. Then, around the turn of the century, electric trams were developed and were introduced into the seven outer London Boroughs. Cheaper and more comfortable than omnibuses, trams proved popular with Londoners. The London United Tramway Company first got permission to lay tram tracks through Twickenham in 1899. In Tooting, trams served the local populace from 1903 onwards, though Tooting Corner caused a number of derailments. Leyton and Kingston benefited from tram services from 1905 and 1906 respectively. During both world wars, thousands of tram workers enlisted in the armed services, leaving women to fill their posts. However between the wars, advances in the safety and comfort of motor buses began had already begun to affect their popularity. The Ilford Urban District Council’s passenger tramway ceased operations in 1933, when they were taken over by London Transport which replaced them with trolley-

buses from 1938. Woolwich’s service was the last in London to be discontinued, in July 1952. The shed built in Woolwich in 1916 to house the tram’s generator survives and is now the home of the Greenwich and Lewisham Young People’s Theatre. A former tram shed in Tooting is similarly the home of a bar and music venue, the Tooting Tram and Social. Trams are now enjoying a limited renaissance in Outer London through Tramlink, which opened in 2000 and links Croydon to Wimbledon and Beckenham.

BELOW ‘Enjoy Your War Work’ Poster advertising roles for women on London’s buses and trams, 1941 © TfL from the London Transport Museum Collection

ABOVE Poster advertising the Central Line Extension to Leyton, 1947 © TfL from the London Transport Museum Collection

RIGHT First tram crossing Kingston Bridge 1906 Image courtesy of Kingston Museum and Heritage Service

BELOW RIGHT Two Female Tram Conductors in Leyton 1916-1919 © TfL from the London Transport Museum Collection BOTTOM LEFT Launch of the new motor ship ‘James Newman’ at Woolwich, 1963 © London Metropolitan Archives

MIGRATION

London has been a meeting place of cultures and peoples since its earliest days as a Roman trading port. Having been subject to several invasions over its history, trade and refugees have been the greatest drivers of immigration since the 11th century. Migration is a complex topic: trends and generalities can never do full PREVIOUS PAGE justice to the unique experiences of A group of British and the individuals involved, and many Indian Soldiers during of the skills and cultures imported the First World War from overseas are now so entrenched © IWM Q 52695 in British life that to unpick their origins and effects is a task far beyond the scope of this book. However, the stories that came to light during this research are presented to highlight a small part of the contribution that migration has made to shaping the seven high streets.

Pre-1900 A few settlers from the Indian Subcontinent arrived in London as early as the 17th Century; mainly servants or unemployed sailors who’d travelled here on East India Company ships. Evidence including baptism records place these small communities in the ports of Greenwich, Woolwich and Deptford.

England’s first significant influx of refugees began in 1670, as 40-50,000 Huguenots (French Protestants) fled Catholic persecution. Some were skilled gardeners, and as London grew, had to move their businesses of the centre of town. The Poupart family, for example, were a family of Huguenot market gardeners who opened a dairy in 1894 and a jam factory in Twickenham in 1911. The industrial revolution drove migration towards Outer London towns, but largely from within Britain, and significantly outwards from Central London. By the 1891 census, only 34% of the Leyton population had been born in Essex, 40% in London, and 7.2% in other southern English counties. Kingston’s population was even more diverse: the 1881 parish population of 33,560 declared birthplaces in over 40 English counties, Ireland, and ‘overseas, not specified’.

World Wars Of the multiple episodes of Jewish immigration to (and occasional expulsions from) Britain over the centuries, those preceding the world

RIGHT Marks & Spencer on Clarence Street, Kingston 1968. Founded by Jewish immigrant Michael Marks, see page 42. Image courtesy of Kingston Museum and Heritage Service

“I’m so excited to explore the history of Woolwich as I have just arrived here. I came from overseas and decided to live here as it’s a very beautiful area.” — Woolwich resident

wars were the most significant. Between 1881 and 1914, over two million Jews fled persecution in Russia, Poland and the Hapsburg Empire. 150,000 settled in Britain, initially close to the docks where they landed: Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and of course London. Like the Huguenots, a significant Jewish community settled in the East End of London, then moved out to the suburbs as they accumulated wealth. 30,000 had settled in Redbridge by 1970, then Europe’s largest Jewish community. For nearly 40 years its high streets featured Kosher delicatessens, restaurants and butchers, Jewish banks and schools. Jewish families are now moving out of the area, however, and their cultural presence on these high streets has greatly diminished. Not all refugee populations stayed. Around 250,000 Belgian refugees fled to Britain at the outbreak of WWI, but within a year of its end, 90% had returned home. 6,000 Belgians settled in East Twickenham, and many of them employed by the nearby Pelabon Munitions factory. The sheer density of Belgian nationals, along with rows of Belgian shops, schools and community groups, gained the

area the nickname ‘le Village Belge sur la Tamise’: ‘the Belgian village on the Thames’. Little evidence of their presence now remains.

Post-war migration Faced with labour shortages after the Second World War, Britain actively sought immigration from its recent allies. A significant Polish community can still be found in Leyton, while Woolwich is now home to the second-largest Nepalese community in the country. The UK also offered full rights of citizenship to members of the Commonwealth, and the first 500 West-Indian migrants arrived from Jamaica on HMT Empire Windrush in 1948. Few of these migrants intended to stay more than a few years, but they and many others did, and over the following decades this community made significant contributions to British culture, including the popularity of reggae and ska-related music genres, and the Notting Hill Carnival. Two of the UK’s largest Jamaican communities today are in the boroughs of Croydon and Waltham Forest.

RIGHT Worshippers at Kingston Mosque c.2000. Image courtesy of Kingston Museum and Heritage Service BELOW Staff at the Pelabon Works in Twickenham 1917. Image courtesy of Howard Webb postcardsthenand now.blogspot

7 High Street Adaptations: ethnicity, independent retail practices, and Localism in London’s urban margins. Environment and planning A, 43 (11) Suzanne Hall (2011)

Indian restaurant may be the most obvious example that comes to mind, but as a city that hosts 50 non-indigenous communities with populations over 10,000, London has so much more to offer. Ilford, whose borough Redbridge has a 25% South Asian population, now presents more nuanced Pakistani, South Indian, and North Indian establishments. Leyton offers cuisine from Romania to Nigeria, South Norwood has Jamaican and South African, Tooting varies from Spanish to a Halal steakhouse, while Woolwich hosts Eritrean, Tibetan, Vietnamese and Celebrating diversity of course Nepalese cuisine. 7 At a time when many independent Food is not the only way that retailers on the high street are London celebrates its diversity. struggling against big brands, Not every Outer London borough substantial minority cultural can support major cultural festivals populations are helping to keep like the Notting Hill Carnival or these high streets vibrant. These Trafalgar Square celebrations, but communities support a demand for these outer London boroughs are small high-street businesses that championing culturally diverse can offer familiar goods, services or programming at their local festivals language that, for example, a big-brand - such as the South Norwood supermarket can’t provide. Community Festival, the International Of the multitude of customs that Youth Arts Festival in Kingston, migration has brought to London, and the Greenwich and Docklands none has been more widely welcomed Festival - which provide all-important by the incumbent population than open and welcoming environments cuisine. The spread and anglicisation for communities to explore each of the (largely Bangladeshi) generic other’s cultures.

Indian and Pakistani citizens (including those from modernday Bangladesh) also took up this invitation in large numbers; more than 60,000 arrived in the UK by 1955, with further waves in the late 50s/early 60s. These included foundry, airport and railway workers, and medical personnel recruited to the newly-formed NHS. So from the beginning, these South Asian migrants were spread across multiple urban areas of the UK.

ABOVE The HMT Empire Windrush underway © IWM (FL9448) RIGHT Advert for W. Poupart & Sons 1911. Image courtesy of Richmond upon Thames Local Studies Library and Archive

LEFT Notting Hill Carnival 1992 © Dun.can BELOW Notting Hill Carnival 2012 © K Alexander

ABOVE Imperial Dhol Drummers in Ilford, July 2015 © The Streets

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Markets and Fairs

The high streets that can trace their trading history back to the Medieval period would have predominantly traded through weekly markets and/ or annual fairs. Kingston hosted a weekly market from at least 1242 and was granted two annual fairs by King PREVIOUS PAGE Edward III in 1351, and later a third W. A. Smith Stationary by Mary Tudor in 1555. Woolwich Shop on Leyton High may have had a market back in Road, c. 1900. Image the 11th century, but there is better courtesy of Vestry evidence for an annual fair in the House Museum, area from 1398.8 London Borough of The market tradition continues Waltham Forest in various forms, and could even be said to be enjoying a renaissance. Ilford and Woolwich have outdoor market stalls on the high street most days, while Leyton hosts a food market in Coronation Gardens on Saturdays. Kingston hosts a daily market in the medieval market square, supplemented by a visiting market each Monday. Twickenham offers weekly community and famers’ markets, and now the relatively new Clocktower market in South Norwood is bringing a market tradition back to the area. Tooting, however, brought its markets indoors and made them a permanent fixture on the high street:

RIGHT Morris Family Bakery on Church Street, Twickenham 1905 Image courtesy of Richmond upon Thames Local Studies Library and Archive

the Tooting Market dates back to 1930 and Broadway Market opened in 1936. Ilford also experimented with the covered market model, opening Pioneer Market in 1921. It was refurbished in the 1930s but closed in 2008. It is now the site of Pioneer Point; a 35-storey block of flats. Wholesale markets are still a fixture of London, but their constant need for expansion is pushing them out of the centre of the city. Spitalfields wholesale exotic fruit and vegetable market can now be found in Leyton, as ‘New Spitalfields Market’.

High Street Shops Over time, the balance of trade gradually favoured permanent shops and fewer transient markets, and by the late 1800s, much of the current retail architecture of these seven high streets had was in place, though many of the resident businesses have changed over the years. In 1870 we know that South Norwood High Street included a fishmonger, a saddler, and a milliner (hat-maker). In the 19th century, the shops along Church Street, in Twickenham, included a saddler, draper (cloth-seller), and an umbrella-maker.

LEFT Tooting High Street Date Unknown Image courtesy of Wandsworth Heritage Service

8 Online Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516, Samantha Letters (2006)

But some of our needs haven’t changed; booksellers, chemists, florists, bakers and greengrocers were already common fixtures of the Victorian high street and, despite these roles now being taken by supermarkets in some places, these services are still a local necessity for Londoners today. The expansion of the railways in the mid-19th century led directly to the appearance of fast food on these high streets, in the shape of fish and chip shops. For the first time, large quantities of affordable fish could be transported from the harbour to the consumer before it spoiled. Reliable reports of exactly when and where these takeaways and eat-in restaurants appeared first are hard to find, but Charles Dickens referenced a “fried-fish warehouse” in Oliver Twist (1838), and then the first written use of the word ‘chips’ in A Tale of Two Cities (1859). The first combined fish and chip shop in London may have been opened by Jewish immigrant Joseph Malin sometime between 1860 and 1865.

Expansion: Departments and Chains The typical Victorian and Edwardian shop was open six days a week, and family-run, with the family living above the shop. Goods were kept behind the counter, to be weighed and wrapped by the cashier. This time-consuming process caused long queues at peak hours. The move to self-service shops began after the Second World War, and was based on a model already established in the USA. A British Pathé news-reel dated 6 December 1948 claims to show the UK’s first self-service supermarket, possibly a Co-operative shop in London, and lauds the benefits of not having to wait to be served. Less than two years later, Sainsbury’s converted their West Croydon store to self-service. Not all shoppers were initially happy with the change – there were general fears that the move would cause job losses, and one frustrated shopper reportedly threw their basket at Alan Sainsbury himself. Widespread growth of department stores really took off in the mid-late 19th century, and it’s from this era that there are records of local shops expanding their

TOP LEFT Crowds on the Opening Day of the first UK McDonald’s in Woolwich 1974 © McDonald’s TOP RIGHT McDonald’s Employee in Woolwich c. 1974 © McDonald’s

ABOVE Illustration of a Bentalls Removal Van c. 1920s. Image courtesy of Kingston Museum and Heritage Service

RIGHT Moulton’s Department Store in Ilford c. 1960, Image courtesy of Redbridge Museum and Heritage

“I remember Ilford with fond memories. Shops such as Fairheads, Wests, Plessies and Woolworths. Sadly missed!” — Ilford Resident

businesses in the seven Outer London high streets. Drapers seems to have been prime candidates for this kind of expansion: in Kingston, Bentalls opened in 1867, and acquired multiple adjacent shops until they commissioned a new building from Architects Webb and Son in the 1930s. This iconic façade, based on Wren’s design for Hampton Court, is listed and was retained when the rest of the building was rebuilt in the 1990s to create the current Bentalls Centre. This shop also claims to have held the first British-made escalators, in 1931. Fairheads in Ilford (1908 – 2008), Bodgers in Ilford (1890 – present day), and Smith Bros Tooting (early 1900s – purchased by Morleys in 1955 and now trading under that brand) also all began as Drapers. Though there are exceptions to the rule: the Harrison Gibson department store in Ilford began as a furniture shop. Founded in 1902, the store was destroyed in a major fire in 1959. The store was quickly rebuilt, but the company folded in the late 1960s. The name and building was used under franchise until the early 21st century. Another business model that proved a successful basis for

expansion was that of low-price stores. Marks and Spencer began life in 1884 as the Penny Bazaar (where everything cost one penny), a market stall in Leeds founded by Jewish Belarusian refugee Michael Marks. Having joined forces with Tom Spencer, they purchased the London Penny Bazaar company in 1914, but it wasn’t until the 1930s, when branches of the store - now focused on food and clothing - appeared in Ilford and Woolwich. The Royal Arsenal Cooperative Society (RACS) had similarly valuefocused beginnings. The social enterprise was founded in Woolwich in 1868 initially to provide cheap, unadulterated food to the workers in the local munitions factory, later also giving profits to education and opening Woolwich’s first public library. Its services expanded to include a huge variety of goods and services and the brand expanded across southern England, but faced with increased competition from supermarkets, RACS merged with the Co-operative. Woolwich’s current Travelodge resides in RACS’s former Central Stores building. Outer London’s high streets also become the target of brand expansion from abroad: McDonald’s first UK

branch was opened in Powis Street, Woolwich in 1974. McDonald’s had already enjoyed considerable success in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico before opening this as their 3,000th restaurant. At that time a Big Mac cost just 43 pence, and the branch’s first manager, Paul Preston, recalls an early customer asking him what ‘french fries’ were.

site of the Leyton Mills retail park. Woolwich’s position on the Thames offered easy access to naval vessels. Weaponry has been manufactured here since 1651. Ilford sits on the river Roding, which was navigable by barges from 1737, so as the area developed, the local mineral deposits lent themselves to brickworks, cement works and coal yards.

Early Industry

Coming of the Railways

Industry, especially the post-industrial revolution of the 18th century, typically doesn’t take place directly on the high street. However, high streets certainly feel the impact of local industry, as it creates jobs, drives migration to the area, increases wealth, and in war, unfortunately makes the area a target. Early industry in these seven boroughs was largely shaped by the local geography. The Temple Mills were built along the River Lea here during the medieval period, initially to mill grain. As industrial processes progressed in the 17th and 18th centuries, these mills also became involved in processing leather, making brass kettles, twisting yarn and making gunpowder. This is now the

The coming of the Railway in the mid-19th century affected industry in these seven boroughs in multiple ways: firstly, the building and maintaining of the rails, stations and rolling stock created new industrial opportunities, as in the Temple Mills area in Leyton. By 1921 these works employed 800 men, producing 10 new wagons and repairing 500 each week. Secondly, it was much easier to transport materials and finished goods around the country, making it feasible to open Handley’s Brickworks in South Norwood, which operated from 1915-1975. Improved distribution around the country also allowed niche businesses to flourish, such as Ilford Photo Ltd, founded by Alfred Harman at his

home in Ilford in 1879. The company made ‘dry plates’; growing to an international photography company that specialises in black and white film. Thirdly, the railways created a new commuting class, who required a more sophisticated range of service industries in their new home towns, including laundries, collar-makers and stationers.

Industrial Philanthropy William Stanley (1829-1909) was an inventor, manufacturer and philanthropist. He moved his mathematical instrument factory to Norwood Junction in the 1870s, having already lived in the area for around a decade. The business enjoyed considerable success, and Stanley himself retired when William Ford Stanley and Co Ltd was floated on the stock market in 1900. Stanley then designed and built two charitably institutions for his local community. The Stanley Technical Trades School taught 12-15 year-old boys essential technical skills that Stanley felt was lacking from the company’s young technicians, and was the first of its kind in the UK. The building is now part of the

Harris Academy South Norwood. Next door, William Stanley built Stanley Halls; a multi-space venue hosting theatre, music and other performances, as Stanley believed that music could lead to cultural enlightenment and the reaffirmation of moral standards. In total, William Stanley invested over £80,000 to education projects in the last 15 years of his life. As a mark of appreciation for Stanley’s work, local residents of South Norwood had an ornate clock tower erected at the top of Station Approach in 1907, on the occasion of Mr and Mrs Stanley’s Golden Wedding Anniversary. William Stanley died in 1909, bequeathing much of his estate to trade schools and students in South London.

Industry in War Many local industries benefitted from the boom in production during the two world wars. This was however a double-edged sword: manufacturing materials for war made factories vulnerable to bombings, and the slump in demand in the following peacetime years caused ruin for some. During the Second World War, the Ilford based company Plessey moved

their factory - manufacturing electrical components - into the underground tunnels at Gants Hill, Redbridge and Wanstead stations to escape enemy bombing. The Royal Arsenal in Woolwich was at its peak of production during the First World War, employing 80,000 people. In quiet periods between and after the wars it occupied itself making steam locomotives, ‘death pennies’ (memorial coins for the bereaved) and knitting frames for silk stockings. The Royal Arsenal closed as factory in 1967 and since 1994 has not been a military site. During the First and Second World Wars, Kingston was also the site of an industry which was geared towards the war effort. The Sopwith Aviation Company’s first factory premises were based on the site of the old roller skating rink, close to Kingston station. With just 20 employees in 1912, the company grew to have 3,500 employees by 1918 and a large factory in Canbury Park Road. Sopwith developed many planes which saw service with the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. The company is best known for the Sopwith Camel, a biplane fighter designed by Herbert

Smith and introduced to the Western Front in 1917. Sopwith Aviation shut down in 1920, however its founder, Thomas Sopwith, and many of Sopwith’s directors, went on to have a long career in aviation manufacture with the H. G. Hawker Engineering Company (later known as Hawker Aircraft). For much of the last century, the aviation industry was a leading employer in Kingston. During the Second World War, Hawker provided Hurricane fighters which played a crucial role in winning the Battle of Britain in 1940. Later in the war,the Hawker Typhoon and the Tempest and the Hurricane II played major roles in the Royal Air Force. During the war, the second floor of the Bentalls department store in Kingston was used by Hawker as an office as the company expanded. The Canbury Park Road factory was in use up until 1958 before Hawker moved to a larger factory a mile north on Richmond Road to build their jet aircraft.

LEFT Munitions Workers at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich 1918 © IWM Q27872

RIGHT Spitalfields Market Porter Badge c.19901991 © Museum of London

BOTTOM LEFT William Stanley 1883. Image courtesy of Museum of Croydon

BOTTOM RIGHT Workers at Canbury Park Road, Kingston 1944. Image courtesy of Kingston Aviation Centenary Project

TOP Henry Ovenden and his Bootmaker’s Shop, 423 High Road Leyton c. 1908 Image courtesy of Vestry House Museum, London Borough of Waltham Forest

BOTTOM Smith Bros. Store on Mitcham Road, Tooting 1915 Image courtesy of Wandsworth Heritage Service

TOP Ilford Craftsman Camera c. 1950 Image courtesy of Redbridge Museum and Heritage RIGHT Identification Card for Hawker Aircraft Ltd, c. 1940 © Private Family Collection

LEFT Bentalls Store on Clarence Street c. 1963. Image courtesy of Kingston Museum and Heritage Service

RIGHT Frank Bentall Date Unknown. Image courtesy of Kingston Museum and Heritage Service

BELOW South Norwood High Street at Christmas 1909. Image courtesy of Museum of Croydon

POPULAR CULTURE

PREVIOUS PAGE Unveiling of the Stanley Memorial Golden Wedding Clock in South Norwood c. 1907. Image courtesy of John Gent Collection Museum of Croydon

The Arts before the First World War The population boom in all urban areas in the latter half of the 19th century led to the greatest era of theatre-building to date, with c.1,000 professional theatres opening in Britain between 1880 and 1914. This can be seen on the seven high streets under study, with Ilford, Kingston, South Norwood and Twickenham opening new theatres during this period. Libraries also appeared on most of these high streets during this time, as a consequence of the Public Libraries Act of 1850, which granted local councils the power to establish free public libraries, followed by the Education Act of 1870 which increased literacy. Woolwich, Tooting, and Kingston certainly established libraries between 1901 and 1903 and Ilford’s Town Hall hosted a library from around this time. The Carnegie Library on Lea Bridge Road near Leyton was established in 1906. Around the turn of the 19th century, the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor regularly took to the stage at Stanley Halls - an arts and performance venue

in South Norwood opened by local philanthropist William Stanley. Coleridge-Taylor was of part-Creole descent, born in London in 1875. Raised by his English mother in Croydon, Samuel studied at the Royal College of Music, drawing on his heritage and the music of the African continent for his work.

Cinema The next great growth in entertainment on the high street came from the birth of cinema. Traditional theatres such as the Grand Theatre and Opera House in Woolwich (opened 1900) began to show short (silent) films as part of their variety performances from 1907. Following safety concerns about the flammable nitrate film use, the Cinematographic Act of 1909 required any theatres commercially showing film to house their projectors in a separate, fireproof room. By this time, cinema was growing in scope and popularity – by 1914, approximately 5,000 venues in Britain were showing films - so theatres had to adapt, rebuild entirely, or miss out.

ABOVE Stanley Halls in South Norwood 1973 © London Metropolitan Archives RIGHT Cherub’s Head taken from the Ilford Hippodrome. Date Unknown. Image courtesy of Redbridge Museum and Heritage

TOP LEFT Leyton Town Hall at Night 1918. Image courtesy of Vestry House Museum, London Borough of Waltham Forest RIGHT Eel Pie Island Hotel in the 1900s. Image courtesy of Richmond upon Thames Local Studies Library and Archive

The Ilford Hippodrome (opened 1909) was originally built as a playhouse and variety theatre, but was converted to also show films in 1930, probably based on the success of nearby exclusively cinematic neighbours the Ilford Empire Cinema (opened 1913) and the Super Cinema (opened 1922). Kingston, Tooting and Twickenham certainly gained their first dedicated cinemas by 1914, but reliable records for cinemas in Woolwich and Leyton begin in the 1920s, and it seems that South Norwood residents have always had to travel to Croydon for movies. TOP RIGHT Programme for the Luxor Cinema in Twickenham 1929. Image courtesy of Richmond upon Thames Local Studies and Library

Theatre Early 20th century cinemas, like earlier theatres, were designed to create an atmosphere of opulence. The Ilford Hippodrome was one of 120 designed or refurbished by architect Frank Matcham, and its auditorium ceiling was said to resemble one in the Palace of Versailles. However in the interwar period, tastes changed to striking Art-deco design and exotic theming.

Twickenham’s Luxor Theatre on King Street (opened in 1929) was decorated with a then-fashionable Egyptian theme, and staffed by usherettes dressed in Queen Nefertiti costumes. The opening screening was arguably less high-brow, with a showing of the film Mickey Mouse in the Opry House. More and more former theatres were moving to exclusively showing cinematic films, including the Cinema Palace Theatre Kingston, not long after its opening in 1909, and the Woolwich Hippodrome Theatre (formerly the Grand Theatre and Opera House) in 1924. Further adaptations or rebuilds were required of all cinemas in the early 1930s to accommodate the sound requirements of the new ‘talkies’, and the Cinema Palace Theatre was one of those demolished and replaced, here by the Regal Cinema in 1931.

“When I was young my brother took me to the Eel Pie Island with his friends, we had a nice time enjoying music there.” — Twickenham resident

The Rise of Celebrity in Outer London South Norwood was home to one of Britain’s most famous authors, when he moved to Tennison road in 1891. Though only staying for three years, Arthur Conan-Doyle incorporated a number of local landmarks into his well known Sherlock Holmes stories, including describing the then local police station in his story, The Sign of Four. The Adventure of the Norwood Builder is actually set in nearby West Norwood, but one of the characters uses Norwood Junction station. DH Lawrence also worked at a school in South Norwood for a time before the First World War. Performance venues in these outer London high streets were powerful enough to attract big-name performers in the early 20th century. Vera Lynn, Max Miller, George Formby and Gracie Fields were no strangers to theatres such as the Ilford Hippodrome. Later, in the 1960s, Twickenham hosted an enclave of the rock ‘n’ roll scene, as the Eel Pie Island hotel, previously a tea-dance and jazz venue, presented performances

from acts such as The Who, The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart and Eric Clapton. Their performances gave the hotel, and the island, a legendary status it retains today. Despite its success, the hotel closed in 1967, unable to meet the cost of urgent repairs.

Decline, Destruction and Conservation Ilford lost three of its cinemas to bombing during the Second World War. Cinema provision in the remainder of these high streets survived but began to decline not long after. These cinemas worked hard to adapt to changing tastes and technology, many changing hands several times over the years or diversifying again (the Woolwich and Tooting Granada cinemas both hosted live music performances by the likes of Buddy Holly, the Beatles, Frank Sinatra and The Rolling Stones), but the rise of personal television ownership since Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation in 1953 made it impossible to sustain the sheer quantity of local high street cinemas. Between the mid-1950s and

mid-1980s, most of the Edwardian and Art Deco cinemas mentioned above closed. While some buildings such the Luxor in Twickenham and the Empire in Woolwich were demolished, others were saved: the Granada in Tooting was Grade I listed and now houses a Gala Bingo hall, while the Woolwich Granada is Grade II listed and now a church. However, newer theatres and venues have gradually replaced older venues in these outer London high streets: including the Kenneth More Theatre in Ilford, the Rose Theatre in Kingston, the Tramshed in Woolwich, and the Mary Wallace Theatre in Twickenham. The Tramshed began life as a generating station for local tram services, but in more recent times the theatre has hosted well known names such as Julian Clary, Harry Enfield and Billy Bragg. Today, the Tramshed is used by the Greenwich and Lewisham Young People’s Theatre. Tooting presents live music at the Tooting Tram and Social, while Leyton has pubs also showcasing live music and is not far from Stratford’s theatres. Stanley Halls in South Norwood is enjoying a recent revival as a local arts and community centre. From

its original opening in 1903, the venue has become something of a community hub, hosting educational classes, exhibitions, and political debates – as well as music performances. Parties were hosted here to celebrate the Festival of Britain in 1951 and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953. In the late 20th and early 21st century the hall fell into disuse, but in 2015 a community group called raised funding and council permission to renovate and reopen the buildings to the public once more. Within a year it is a thriving theatre, gallery, studio and cafe and home to resident artists and theatre groups.

BOTTOM LEFT Granada Cinema in Kingston 1968. Image courtesy of Kingston Museum and Heritage Service

RIGHT The Tram Shed in Woolwich c. 1970s. Image courtesy of Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust

RIGHT Bomb Damage to the Ilford Hippodrome January 1945. Image courtesy of Redbridge Museum and Heritage

SPORT

Parks and Recreation

Despite ever-increasing urban development, London retains a large number of protected green spaces. This is thanks to the Victorian belief that all citizens, no matter their wealth or status, should have access to parks to improve their physical, mental PREVIOUS PAGE and moral health. While this public Kingston Regatta, park movement began in the 1830s, it Date Unknown. Image gained momentum with the passing courtesy of Kingston of the Metropolitan Commons Act of Museum and 1866, which allowed local authorities Heritage Service (within the Metropolitan Police District around London) to use tax income to protect and maintain publicly accessible parks. Many of the public parks near these seven outer London borough high streets were created or protected in the decades that followed: Tooting Common in 1873, St Mary’s Gardens Woolwich in 1893, Richmond Park near Twickenham in 1872, South Norwood Recreation Ground in 1889, Valentine’s Park in Ilford from 1898, Canbury Gardens in Kingston in 1890 and Leyton’s Coronation Gardens in 1903, named in celebration of the crowning of King Edward VII.

Sport as Leisure While these public parks initially concentrated on promenading, the enjoyment of horticulture, and entertainment such as brass bands performing on the bandstands, more and more space became set aside for the playing of sports as the 20th century approached. Some of London’s nowprofessional football teams had humble beginnings as local teams in outer London parks. Leyton Orient Football Club actually began in Clapton, where the local Eagle Cricket Club started playing football in 1881 as a way to keep fit over winter. By 1898 the football team had its own name: Clapton Orient, either because Orient means ‘East’, and they were in East London, or perhaps because some of the members worked for the Orient Steam Navigation Company (now P&O). Either way, they moved to Leyton in 1937, and became Leyton Orient a decade later. Arsenal Football Club, now resident in North London, most probably derived from one of two teams based at the Woolwich Arsenal munitions factory; both an 1884-founded team and one from 1886 (which used the name Woolwich Arsenal from 1891) are

“The Coronation Gardens in Leyton are beautiful all year round.” — Leyton resident

likely candidates. South Norwood’s amateur football club was founded in 1870 and played their home matches at Portland Road close to the high street. However, the area is better known as the home of Crystal Palace Football Club, which was founded in 1905. The oldest amateur rowing races on the Thames date back to the early 18th century, but Kingston and Twickenham were among the first proper clubs to become established on the river, claiming to have been founded in 1858 and 1860 respectively. Kingston has hosted an annual rowing regatta since 1857. Swimming in the Thames has never been an attractive option, however. The 1920s and 30s saw a growing fashion for tanning, and promotional health campaigns lauding the benefits of swimming, a combination of which created a boom in the number of outdoor swimming pools - or lidos - with nearly 170 being built across the UK during this time. All of the seven high streets under study were in close proximity to a lido in the 1930s. Most of these lidos had closed down by the 1980s, arguably as foreign summer holidays became more affordable, and local authority funding was cut. Indoor pools were more economical and could guarantee

business all year round - though Leyton’s public baths (opened 1934) failed to survive and was closed in 1991 and demolished to make way for a superstore. Some of London’s lidos remained open, and the city is now enjoying something of an outdoor swimming renaissance. Within these seven boroughs, outdoor pools are currently operational at Tooting Bec (opened in 1906 and one of Britain’s oldest open air pools), Hampton (near Twickenham) and Charlton (near Woolwich). It is hoped that some more of the mothballed pools will come back into operation, but others are gone for good: Twickenham Lido closed in 1980 to be replaced by a garden in 2005. The lido had opened in 1935 and was exceedingly popular. This would be enlarged and renamed the Diamond Jubilee Gardens in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne. The diving board has been retained as a feature.

Sport as Entertainment

London 2012 Olympic Games

South Norwood sits very close to the Crystal Palace FC ground, Selhurst Park. Match days must bring a welcome boost to the local economy, but the high street’s pubs are manned with multiple security guards and strictly marked ‘home fans only’. Match day disruption is something that Twickenham residents are only too aware of: the 82,000-seater Twickenham Stadium is the largest rugby stadium in the UK, and hosts international and club fixtures as well as concerts, NFL games and conferences. These crowds dominate the small town before and after matches. Twickenham stadium was built on a former market garden in 1907, after the Rugby Football Union had seen the success of international rugby matches at Crystal Palace and decided it was time for a home of their own. The first match held at the new stadium was played between the Harlequins and the Richmond team in October 1909. The ground is affectionately known as ‘The Cabbage Patch’, although England Rugby claim the area had actually been used to grow fruit.

On Leyton’s doorstep, and just a few suburban train stops from Ilford, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford brought a new wave of investment, infrastructure and tourism to these parts of East London in 2012. Some of the benefits of this are still being felt. Leyton’s ‘facelift’ - for its starring role in the Olympic Torch Relay - has already been noted. World-class sporting facilities in the shape of the London Aquatics Centre, VeloPark, and the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre are now at the disposal of local residents. Woolwich’s borough, Greenwich, hosted equestrian, gymnastics and shooting events during the Games, but no permanent infrastructure remains.

ABOVE Leyton Public Baths at Night, 1934. Image courtesy of Vestry House Museum, London Borough of Waltham Forest RIGHT The Swimming Baths at Tooting Bec, Date Unknown. Image courtesy of Wandsworth Heritage Service

“History brings communities together with shared common interests and values” - Cllr Wayne Trakas-Lawlor, Mayor of Croydon

Conclusion

Ilford, Kingston, Leyton, South Norwood, Tooting, Twickenham, and Woolwich. These seven high streets span a width of 19 miles, and before the 1800s, had very different beginnings. This all changed in the middle of the 19th century as the railways brought trade, diversified industry and drove a dramatic population rise in these Outer London areas. Having first been defined by geography, these high streets were later shaped by technology, philanthropy, societal changes and tragically also by war. Technological advances have threatened these high streets too; traffic and internet putting strain on local businesses and services that rely on continued footfall and cannot be replaced by a website or out-of-town shopping centre. But there is so much to celebrate in 2017. Redevelopment initiatives and community groups are focused on bringing trade and social enterprise back to local high streets. Much of our high street architectural heritage has been preserved. And high quality performing arts have seen a renaissance in small towns not just in London, but all around the country. Discover Your High Street is one small part of this celebration; a project that invites residents to explore their local history, and discover the shared heritage that connects them with their neighbours in other RIGHT Perhaps Contraption Outer London boroughs. performing in Tooting, This publication is the result of several months of historical research November 2016 © conducted by volunteers and heritage partners across the boroughs. The Streets The researchers drew on a range of material - images, newspapers, council minutes, company documents and adverts – to showcase the shared experience of the development of all seven high streets. The book covers the most complex and fast-moving period of history that this country seen to-date, so given its scope, the presented results can only give an overview of the vast quantities of information collected. For further reading on a particular borough or high street, contact the local museums and archives listed on page 78, or look up the local historical societies who investigate their local areas in much greater depth.

As part of Discover Your High Street, students from Kingston University and Redbridge College were asked to take photographs of their local high streets. Here is a selection of some of their fantastic photographs of Ilford, Kingston and Twickenham.

BELOW Market Stalls in Ilford, 2017 © Photography by Blue Orange RIGHT A sign in Ilford town centre, 2017 © Photography by Blue Orange

ABOVE The bridge to Eel Pie Island in Twickenham, 2017 © Photography by Tiana Thomas LEFT A mock Tudor façade in Kingston, 2017 © Photography by Tiana Thomas

Acknowledgements

Discover Your High Street is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project could not have been possible without the excellent work of our volunteer researchers, who conducted historical research across seven local archives and study rooms. We are grateful to the members of The Streets consortium, and a knowledgeable group of heritage partners and experts who helped guide us in our historical research and have provided some of the insightful images, maps and documents you see reproduced here. The Streets consortium also acknowledges the support of the GLA and Chenine Bhathena. We would also like to thank The Streets producers and the venues across London who have hosted The Streets and Discover Your High Street events, exhibitions, talks, and tours. The Streets was a two year project which received funding from the seven Boroughs that make up The Streets Consortium and Arts Council England. Originally conceived by the GLA and the London Culture Forum, the project has been produced by internationally acclaimed music producer Serious.

Ilford Samantha Goodey Culture Team Leader Vision Redbridge Culture and Leisure

Kingston Kathryn Woodvine Arts Commissioning Manager Cultural Services, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames

Leyton Emma McGovern Special Projects Manager Waltham Forest Council

Tooting Justine Kenyon, Arts Programme Manager Wandsworth Enable Leisure and Culture

South Norwood Tony Kavanagh Regeneration Manager London Borough of Croydon

Twickenham Emma Cookson Arts Festivals Manager London Borough of Richmond upon Thames

Woolwich Tracey Sage Culture, Tourism and Heritage Manager Royal Borough of Greenwich

Heritage Partners Ilford Redbridge Museum and Heritage Service Redbridge Central Library

Tooting Wandsworth Heritage Service Wandsworth Museum Battersea Library

Kingston Kingston History Centre Kingston Museum Kingston Aviation Centenary Project

Twickenham Richmond upon Thames Local Studies Library and Archive Twickenham Museum Twickenham Local History Society East Twickenham Centennial Group Memories of Twickenham Riverside

Leyton Vestry House Museum Waltham Forest Archives and Local Studies Library Leyton and Leytonstone Historical Society Waltham Forest Oral History Group South Norwood Croydon Museum & Archives John Hickman Stanley Halls

Woolwich Greenwich Heritage Centre Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust Better - Royal Greenwich Library Service McDonald’s

Archives Redbridge Museum & Heritage Service Redbridge Central Library Clements Road Ilford 020 8708 2414 Kingston History Centre Guildhall High Street Kingston upon Thames 020 8547 6738 Waltham Forest Archives and Local Studies Library Vestry Road Walthamstow 020 8496 4381 Croydon Museum and Archive Service Katharine Street Croydon 020 8253 1022

Project Team Wandsworth Heritage Service 265 Lavender Hill London 020 7223 2334 Richmond upon Thames Local Studies Library and Archive Whittaker Avenue Richmond 020 8734 3308 Greenwich Heritage Centre Artillery Square Woolwich 020 8856 3951

Consortium Lead Emma Cookson Heritage Coordinator Daniella Hadley Heritage Assistant Grace Lindley The Streets Project Manager Ian Nolan iannolanevents.com Writers Daniella Hadley Debbie Forwood Design Sophie Dutton sophiedutton.co.uk Proofreader Mary Bennett

79 Copyright Every effort has been made to credit the copyright holders for images. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. © 2017 London Borough of Richmond upon Thames

Typeface Thames Capsule. This typeface was thrown into the River Thames in 1917 by one of the partners of Hammersmith’s Doves Press following a feud. The punches, matrices and metal types were recovered from the Thames in 2014 and has since been digitised.

ILFORD KINGSTON LEYTON SOUTH NORWOOD TOOTING TWICKENHAM WOOLWICH