Yesterday was an amazing, and at times, exciting day, although it was the kind of pleasure which is only of interest because of my past times, and which anyone else is unlikely to understand, or appreciate. It provided another opportunity to experience the changing nature of greater London as an international city, to visit the outside of the first house bought for £5000 in 1967 as well as visiting its neighbourhood, and to visit Kingston on Thames once more as well as seeing the film Shutter Island and a filmed performance of La Boheme. The ingredients could not have better chosen to mark the nine hundredth piece of writing in this series.
The day had been planned differently with a leisurely morning, writing and relaxing before a walking explore of Wimbledon, the home of the British lawn tennis Association and Wimbledon, the annual international championships where Britain has not one the men’s single since the 1930’s with Fred Perry. I debated visiting the Museum at the stadium and taking the 90 minute tour, as have not visited the centre since the retractable roof has been fitted to the centre court and the new second major court created. There was a spell when I did remember to apply for tickets in the autumn and then arranged to stay with my birth and care mothers for the allocated day, once getting to a final of youth competition and semi final of doubles on the number one court on the finals Saturday, and another occasion successfully queuing from 6 am and gaining a centre court ticket for a Tim Henman Quarter final encounter which he won in style, sitting a few rows from a side front which had its advantages and drawbacks.
I have also visited Wimbledon in the past for football at Plough Lane, a homely club where tickets were taken out of the safe while you sat down in the office for one to be allocated and you were then invited into the main stand club before and after match for refreshments and to watch the match over on TV screens, even in the days when the club reached the dizzy heights of the old first division and commanded the support of three or four thousand, mainly standing enthusiasts. Because of my occasional visits I had successfully gained a ticket for the Cup Final in which Wimbledon beat Liverpool, almost of the same order of shock result as when Sunderland beat Leeds in 1973. I also visited the town in the past for a show at the Wimbledon Theatre and about three or four years ago for visit to Odeon Cinema. However it is one of those places where I no sense of its geography within the greater London area or have had a good walk about the town centre.
On Sunday night I had gone out after the meal in to check out the stop for the Tram and the ticket. According to the online information the national concessionary bus pass is not valid but a one day bus and travel card is available for £3.90 compared to £2 for a single journey although the cost can be halved with the London Oyster card. On Monday morning as the weather was set fare I decided to travel without my shoulder bag and to make the outward journey to Wimbledon by bus and therefore checked the route and times online, finding that an X 26 bus from East Croydon went to Sutton every half hour where another bus would take me to Wimbledon, a total journey time of about an hour. At East Croydon station I then discovered that the X26 went on to Kingston and Teddington where I had lived for over two years from 1967, buying the first house for £5000, and that the bus then went on to London airport, useful information for the future. The next bus was shown at 11.54 some 20 minutes away but it was only about 5 mins before the bus was due that I noticed the stop sign in addition to showing X26 said it was for West Croydon only and I re checked the three bays going in the opposite direct before I was directed to a stop on the other side of the road close to the remaining theatre. Here there was a good size queue with most having suitcases and travelling bags suggesting they were on their way to the airport. The bus immediately arrived and I waited till everyone else was onboard before fining myself a seat near the front. The route was fast and interesting stopping at Waddon and then going past Beddington Park before stopping at the green at the bottom of Wallington before Carshalton High Street and Sutton Post office, the original destination and where my both and care mothers would then take the bust to Kingston for a look at the shops and a fish and chip lunch, and forty five years ago would take another bus to visit my home at Teddington.
From Sutton the route was different turning eastward at Cheam Village going past what had been an Italian restaurant and was now Thai, visited with members of the Drug Advisory Service team in the mid 1980’s and then continuing to Worcester Park and New Malden and where before reaching Kingston there appeared to have developed an oriental community given the number of Oriental shops in a small high street. The other major development was an area of local authority looking flats to west of Kingston although the development looked well established. There were two stops at Kingston, by the station and then outside of Bentalls just before the Thames Bridge going to Kew Gardens in one direction and then to Teddington, Twickenham and Richmond in the other.
However the bus did not go in the direction of Twickenham which would have taken me past the road where I lived and instead went a few yards towards Kew before taking the road which runs the length of Bushey Park, one of the biggest parklands in London similar to that at Richmond. It reached the Teddington stop at the further end of the High Street, the other side of the railway station. This provided the opportunity to walk the whole length of the High Street to Teddington Lock and The Television studios, looking into the estate agents’ windows at the house prices and noting the number of international restaurants and other eating places that have opened up over the years since my departure.
These are listed in terms of type of food and catering rather than in their street order Chinese- Fresh Fare which offered Fish and Chip takeaway, the China Express and China Garden (3) ; Indian- the Indian Tandori, Bombay Spice, The Bilas Tandori, Teddington Tandori, Indian Takeaway(5): French- Brasserie Garard, Auberge, Le Bon?, Teddington Arms Bistro(4): Italian- Sharbls?, Scarpetta, Girasone, Pizza Express(4); Spanish- Bar Estito(1); Mexican- Mimmo(1); Pub restaurants- The Hogarth, The Coach House? (2)Fast Food- Wimpey (1): Coffee house-Nero, Costa, Mocca cafe, The Coffee Mill, Starbucks (5) Others Sammy’s Bar Restaurant Comedy Club and Blues Band, Vinery posh and expensive, Cafe Red Peppers, Cafe Cafe, M and S cafe 2 others (9) In addition close to Munster Road there is an Indian restaurant bring your own wine, A Thai, a Fish Bar and Le Amardine( French with Patisserie)
I have visited the outside the house in Munster Road, Teddington twice since selling the property two years after purchase for £7500, a financial gain of 50%. The occasion in more recent times was about five years ago, the precise date is available, when the property next door was on sale for £640000 just under 50% of the value of the superior property sold in the Northeast. This reflected the differential between properties in good areas of greater London and Midlands and North although it had been greater, about three times during the 1970’s when my first inquiry was made. The problem five years ago is that the property for sale had created an additional floor in the roof but from the front outside it was not evident if any improvement had been to lower level.
There were about twenty semi detached properties on one side of the road with a sunken garden and each property having three to four bedrooms on the first floor and two large living rooms plus a kitchen breakfast room on the ground floor with doors, including French windows opening out to a wooden veranda which led down to an exceptionally long garden, and which I had divided by vertical trestles into areas for growing vegetables, for shrubs and flowers, and for a grassed safe run around. At the rear ground level there was entry into a large garden room some 400 square feet or more, the whole width of the property which was in need of some substantial improvement and behind this there was another large area used for coal storage with a large entrance coal shoot in the front garden. On my visit five years ago the coal shoot metal cover had been replaced by an enlarged skylight indicating that considerable work had been undertaken to the lower level, perhaps to create a utility room, enlarged lounge, games rooms room and presumably an internal staircase.
The rear room above was used as a lounge with a tiled floor which had the effect of being sprung like a dance floor as was found when a party was held to mark settling into the home. I digress. The possibility is that some of the properties had been developed to create four floors, the garden basement level, the front ground level, the first floor and the roof level.
There was a similar row of houses with long gardens backing onto the properties and during my stay there all the properties were circulated by a property development company enquiring if there was interest in selling part of the gardens, if approval could be given to demolish two or more of the properties to create a ramped new road into the back an create a square of new properties. Clearly there was sufficient resistance or the absence of planning approval as such a development had not taken place. Towards the end of the road nearest the river Thames there had been a development of a terrace of new properties built to four floors about four years ago according to the advertisement and where one on the marked for just under £1.2 million. Properties in the neighbourhood of the parkland were available in the region of eight hundred thousand to a million pounds sterling so with my salary as a senior child care officer and then area children’s officer had been stretched to meet the mortgage payments on the £5000 which the property cost in 1967, there is no way I could have afforded to buy the property today even if the current market valuation was closer to £700000 than a million.
My walking had tired me and I decided on the bus into Kingston from a stop a few yards from the end of the road. The journey is a short one passing the Hampton Wick station which is closer to the Munster Road than Teddington. In Kingston I alighted outside of Bentalls and went in to explore their shopping centre. This large established department store and selling top branded had such an enlightened management and local authority planning permission support that to one side they had demolished the four floor rear of the building and a couple of streets of two storey shops to create one of the most attractive, if not the most attractive shopping centre in the UK. There are approximately 50 stores on either side of the wide central area above which is a vaulted glass roof of immense proportions and beauty with the sides of the vault roof a story in height so the atmosphere in the central area in one of daylight rather than artificial. Within this main course there are two sets of escalators and two lifts in addition to the lifts and stairs within the main store
The main store has also cashed in on the development of eating out with large food court type of eating area with some of the seating overlooking the central courtyard walkways. The choice is Japanese Sushi, American Frankie and Bennie, English Roasts and Fish and Chips, Coffee sandwiches and cakes and a delicatessen type of salad and vegetarian. Elsewhere in the store there is an Italian restaurant and coffee shops. On the top floor on my way to gentleman’s cloak room there is a major area of children’s toys including a large area for Hornby Trains, for Leo, Scaletrix and such like and what horrified me were the prices although delighted at the available choice. A second feature of the development is a third floor covered walkway across the exceptionally busy one way road system to a large four story car park bringing access to the shopping centre.
Even though I had enjoyed my lunch of sandwiches and crisps I was in need of a coffee but also was tempted by more food, but looking at my phone clock I realised that I might be in time for the afternoon performance of one of the films I wished to see if I could remember where the town centre cinema was located. I followed my hunch about the its location and although I was wrong, I discovered the new Odeon multiplex, bowling and restaurant centre built on four levels close to the railway station across from main one way road system. Moreover I was within minutes of the start of the programme for the film Shutter Island. I was able to take a seat as the preliminary advertising commenced. Thus the first part of a memorable day was over. The films proved excellent and important. I was able to travel by train to Wimbledon to collect my ticket for the opera La Boheme in time for a good meal at a grill restaurant next to the cinema. I then returned to Croydon on the tram. This will be part of my next writing 900 part 2.
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