How grim was mid 1970's London?
Discussion
SpudLink said:
WindyCommon said:
Fascinating thread. Have Irish Republican attacks been discussed?
My first real awareness of the bombing campaign was one evening when my mum had to explain dad would be late home. He had phoned to say he was ok, but I distinctly remember how frightened she was until he phoned. In ‘83 I walked past the Harrods bomb about 5 minutes before it exploded. I still remember the sound and the mushroom cloud over the buildings.
When I was a Prison Officer I met a prisoner from London convicted of importing Canabis on a huge scale, ie tons. His families haulage business had grown when tarmac was being laid over the granite blocks or wooden blocks on the streets of London. They had made a lot of money selling the discarded spoil (wood/granite). There are images of where occasionally the wooden blocks resurface as the tarmac wears away
Mikebentley said:
When I was a Prison Officer I met a prisoner from London convicted of importing Canabis on a huge scale, ie tons. His families haulage business had grown when tarmac was being laid over the granite blocks or wooden blocks on the streets of London. They had made a lot of money selling the discarded spoil (wood/granite). There are images of where occasionally the wooden blocks resurface as the tarmac wears away
Did you met any prisoners who knew if victims of The Krays were entombed in the pillars of the Bow flyover? 
This seemed to be an urban myth when I was young.LaurasOtherHalf said:
some nice period footage in the new Madness doco
It's a great little film. Looking forward to the next instalment.
It really does bring home how gritty London (and most cities )were in the 60's and 70's.
Not saying I am a fan, but I got married in 2019, and our first dance was Night Boat to Cairo, shove that up yer arse Celine Dion.
SpudLink said:
Mikebentley said:
When I was a Prison Officer I met a prisoner from London convicted of importing Canabis on a huge scale, ie tons. His families haulage business had grown when tarmac was being laid over the granite blocks or wooden blocks on the streets of London. They had made a lot of money selling the discarded spoil (wood/granite). There are images of where occasionally the wooden blocks resurface as the tarmac wears away
Did you met any prisoners who knew if victims of The Krays were entombed in the pillars of the Bow flyover? This seemed to be an urban myth when I was young.Johnspex said:
SpudLink said:
Mikebentley said:
When I was a Prison Officer I met a prisoner from London convicted of importing Canabis on a huge scale, ie tons. His families haulage business had grown when tarmac was being laid over the granite blocks or wooden blocks on the streets of London. They had made a lot of money selling the discarded spoil (wood/granite). There are images of where occasionally the wooden blocks resurface as the tarmac wears away
Did you met any prisoners who knew if victims of The Krays were entombed in the pillars of the Bow flyover? This seemed to be an urban myth when I was young.
I knew the Krays.
Well, when I say I knew them I mean I knew of them through my Grandad who drank in the Blind Beggar in 1997 and bumped into a bloke who was there on the infamous night.
He saw nothing.
Lovely people they were.
And it was the A40 elevated section between Portobello Road and Ladbroke Grove.
Well, when I say I knew them I mean I knew of them through my Grandad who drank in the Blind Beggar in 1997 and bumped into a bloke who was there on the infamous night.
He saw nothing.
Lovely people they were.
And it was the A40 elevated section between Portobello Road and Ladbroke Grove.
In 1995 I lived in Chingford as I met a girl from there. She worked at a pub called Wheelwrights run by a Chinese man. Frankie Fraser used to sit at the bar on an afternoon. I spent many an hour chatting to him about this and that. I didn’t know who he was until I was told and I never talked to him about the obvious.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Thankyou4calling said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
The Houndsditch.....warehouse.........a world full of bargains just waiting for you in our store. (or something like that)
Was that “The big red building in Petticoat Lane” ?The Houndsditch Warehouse was located on.....wait for it.....Houndsditch, EC3.
Castrol for a knave said:
LaurasOtherHalf said:
some nice period footage in the new Madness doco
It's a great little film. Looking forward to the next instalment.
It really does bring home how gritty London (and most cities )were in the 60's and 70's.
Not saying I am a fan, but I got married in 2019, and our first dance was Night Boat to Cairo, shove that up yer arse Celine Dion.
t asked for some Adele crap as the last dance of the night and I made them hold the busses so we could have something else after-I'm not having my last dance of our wedding as some soppy ste.Back on topic, I love the historical griminess of it all back then, it still feels like my childhood (we were country kids so going into the city is really burned in my memory).
We watched the Son Of Sam doco on Netflix last week and I just adore the utter s
thole that was the Bronx and most of central New York between the mid seventies to early eighties.If I had a time machine it would be the first place I'd visit. I remember visiting the area around Union Square years ago and it still had that crummy vibe to it-only a couple of blocks but boy was it good. I was in a bit of a punk period with bleached blonde hair and skinny women jeans before they were a thing and some massive-about 7 foot tall-black gangster stopping me in the street and asking "where you got that hair done kid?"
Blib said:
I loved the Houndsditch warehouse. I used to sell stuff to them through our family's Commercial Road based, job buying business.
I also spent many 70s Sundays working on a stall in Commercial Street (Petticoat Lane) selling reproduction pub mirrors.
Spent all day shouting "pound yer mirrers!". We were close to a proto-punk stall which was attacked by Teds on many occasions.
No fun trying to keep the fracas away from our mirror stall.
I knew the guy who owned Goldrange. They moved to Golders Green and he died about 4 or 5 years ago.
I remember the Houndsditch warehouse. My Dad worked nearby . We used to go up on a Saturday and I got a bike from there as well as all our camping gear.I also spent many 70s Sundays working on a stall in Commercial Street (Petticoat Lane) selling reproduction pub mirrors.
Spent all day shouting "pound yer mirrers!". We were close to a proto-punk stall which was attacked by Teds on many occasions.
No fun trying to keep the fracas away from our mirror stall.
I knew the guy who owned Goldrange. They moved to Golders Green and he died about 4 or 5 years ago.
Edited by Blib on Sunday 18th April 15:25
Before that, we used to go to Gammages which was similar.
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