London My Penge

Penge Early 1880s

Ward's directory of 1880 says "houses being erected", but only the Vicarage and Albemarle College (now demolished) were in occupation in the 1881 census. Nos 59 & 61 appear in the 1882 Kelly's directory, but this directory required people to send in their names rather than anyone going round collecting them. By the 1891 census, the houses at the Sydenham end were all built. Many of them have names Mail-me if you want to know yours (send a small range of numbers if you don't want to give me your exact address).

Post reply -->London Penge Chris Doran 30 Aug

Penge Supermarket

There used to be a supermarket in Green Lane opposte the Police Station it closed and later the building became an extension of Edgintons, the Supermarket was there in the 70/80's does anyone know the mame of the supermarket I think it might have been something like Pricerite.Any info would be appreciated.

Post reply -->London Penge Brian. 23 Aug

Penge 46 Green Lane

From the street and telephone directories I have to hand, it was F J Wallis Ltd from 1969 to about 1980, then Shopper's Paradise until about 1990.

Post reply -->London Penge Chris Doran 24 Aug

Penge

The supermarket at No.46 Green Lane used to be called Wallis's Supermarket when I first moved to Penge in 1974. I think it was later reincarnated as part of a different retail-chain (Somerfield's?) for a while before Edginton's took over the premises. As you probably know, this is the site that Bromley Council would like to purchase for accommodating the library that will replace the Maple Road Library.

Post reply -->London Penge Reg Adams 17 Sep

Penge 46 Green Lane

From your street and telephone directories would you know when Ladyman's fish and chip shop (the best there was) and Hunt Bros the Tailors both of Green Lane, disappeared? I remember them from the fifties.

Post reply -->London Penge brian 26 Aug

Penge 3 & 6 Green Lane

Both went around 1971. I say "around" because directories are never accurate.

'Phone books list T H Ladyman & Son at No 3 from 1950, but the name goes back much further, as 1901-13 directories have Thomas Henry Ladyman, fishmonger (rather than fryer), at that address. Between the wars the names shown are Alfred George Hillier (1922-35) and Arthur Young (1936-39), also fishmongers. The later Ladyman's were part of a chain with shops in SE23, W7, SW6, and Beckenham described collectively as fish merchants/caterers so it is not clear when they actually started frying at Green Lane. It is now the Elkervan takeaway.

Hunt Bros at No 6 appear in 'phone books from 1957. It is now a private house.

Post reply -->London Penge Chris Doran 28 Aug

Penge 3 and 6 Green Lane

Thanks for that, Chris.

Post reply -->London Penge brian 28 Aug

Penge Parish Lane Penge

Tracy, are you there? Little bit of info you may be already aware of, The Essoldo Cinema was definitely the Penge Empire Theatre which was built in 1915 as a music hall and in 1950 became the Essoldo Cinema. I think I misled you when I said it was on the corner of Maple Road, it was in fact nearer to the nick than that by Burnham Road I understand. I'm told there is a square called Empire Square now in memory of the old Empire. By the way the nick was built in 1872 and is the oldest in London. best wishes

Post reply -->London Penge brian 24 May

Penge Penge Conservatives Bowls Club

Penge Conservatives Bowls Club
55 Croydon Road
Penge
London
SE20 7TG

Tel: (020) 8325 6837
Email: Mail-me

Bowls Club requires new bowlers.

Post reply -->London Penge Penge Conservatives Bowls Clu 7 May

Penge Parish Lane Penge

Hello Tracy, Sorry for the delay just got back from Germany. Tracy, I've looked high and low for pics of a bygone Penge but I can't find anything, I suppose anything I had has got lost in various house moves, sorry.

Post reply -->London Penge brian 6 May

Penge Parish Lane, Penge

In the Arts & Crafts Markets (covered section), Greenwich on a Sunday morning is a stall that sells 'old' black & white photographs of south-east London. The photogragphs are catologued according to location, e.g Woolwich, Plumstead, Penge.

I don't know if this stall-holder has anything as regards what you are looking for; and I don't know what he charges for his photographs, but it might be worth popping along and talking to the guy as he might be able to help you or know a man who does.

The local bus routes are 177, 199, 180. I hope the above information might help!

Post reply -->London Penge Chris Miller 23 May

Penge Parish Lane Penge

Hi Tracy, just got in from playing golf. I'm sure there was not a zoo in Crystal Palace in my day. I don't think I have any pics but I'll look. When I lived in Wiverton Road it was a road of two halves, well one third and two thirds. The first third was Sydenham SE26 with tarmac road, path and no trees,where I lived and the remainder was Penge Kent with very nice block paths, gravel road and lined with beautiful trees. My house was 106 two floors at the front and three at the rear the name was Mona and painted on the fanlight above the front door, very chic. Penge and Sydenham were lovely places to grow up in and I have very fond memories of my time there. Do you know if Wiverton Road is still the same? I left there to move to Berkshire and then onto The Forest of Dean in West Gloucestershire where I still live, between the rivers Wye and Severn. Thanks for jogging my memory it's been enjoyable.

Post reply -->London Penge brian 25 Apr

Penge penge parish lane

hi brian yes wiverton rd is pretty much the same as you remember it, plse have a look to see if you have any pics wld be great, i have been to the library and got some lovley old pics of penge cant quite believe its the same place you wld probebly not reconise it now its changed and not for the better believe me, and i only remember about the last 30 years. your ship as you called it is still on the corner of avenue road & now a working mans club ( dont know if i already told you that) hope to speak soon tracy Mail-me

Post reply -->London Penge tracy 29 Apr

Penge Parish Lane Penge

Hi Tracy, Well! The Crooked Billet, I'd forgotten the name and it was only about fifty years ago. There was some horrible public lavatories there also, not very nice to bring up the subject but you would have to be pretty desperate, sorry. One of the highlights for the kids of Penge was to watch the Golden Arrow steam train go through Penge East Station on it's way to Dover to meet the cross channel ferry. In the station approach to Penge East there was a row of shops, tobaconists and the like. There were also shops between Tansfield and Studland Roads. From Tansfield Road it was Greengrocer, Ladies Hairdresser, Newsagent, Grocer, Can't remember the next and another Newsagent on the corner of Studland. By the way in Tansfield Road there was a row of garages on the left and next door to them an air raid shelter, incidently four or five houses in Newlands Park oposite Tredown Road were demolished by enemy action, a great playground for the local kids until they were rebuilt. Bye for now.

Post reply -->London Penge brian 24 Apr

Penge penge parish lane

good evening brian, there are still shops there but very run down a news agents is still on the corner thats not bad have been in there once or twice in the past if i were in the alexandra park.theres an indian takeaway and a few others but dont remember which ones of hand.getting back to the public loos outside the billet i do remember them big black railings round them and there was an old horse trough there for years, but that was all filled in some years ago now it is just a so called peice of art there and a bench (yuk) if you have any old pics i wld love to see them,incidently where did you move to back in 1958? bye 4 now tracy Mail-me

Post reply -->London Penge tracy 24 Apr

Penge Parish Lane Penge

Hello Tracy, I sent you a message yesterday but it did not appear, lost in cyber space I suspect. I went to school in Sydenham at St. Bartholomews which is (or was) on the corner of Sydenham Park and Kirkdale then finished my schooling in Lewisham. Maple Road as I remember had a street market, stalls on both sides selling everything. Oposite the end of Maple Road and on the corner of Penge Lane and High Street was a bus stop/terminus where as kids we would sit on the stationary bus and chat, well until the driver came back from his break and "turfed" us off. Crystal Palace Park in those days was very negleted and overgrown but it did have a boating lake (come in No. 4 your time is up) and if you were brave enough to struggle through the undergrowth you may fine a dinosaur or two. In the early fifties they built a motor racing circuit but it lacked basic safety features and I think it closed.

Post reply -->London Penge brian 23 Apr

Penge parish lane penge

morning brian, (thanks for all this imformation by the way) the maple rd market finally finished last year there were only 2 stalls left a fruit & veg & flower stall that belonged to the florest & thats closed now as well. the bus teminus is still there outside the crooked billet pub 227,194 & 354 buses stand there but no chance of the kids getting on them now they never leave them unnatended, crystal palace has had alot of work done in there looks quite nice the cafe is open most of the year weather permitting(great grub). the zoo closed for a few years but has re-opened now,was that there when you were living here? the dinosaurs have a fresh lick of paint every now & then, i used to go on the boating lake when i was a teen (the 80s) but that has also been closed for many years now. so brian if you can tell me anything else about penge that would be great , spk soon i hope tracy Mail-me

Post reply -->London Penge tracy 23 Apr

Penge Parish Lane Penge

Hello Tracy, Now you come to mention it I think the Essoldo Cinema was once the Penge Empire but it was before my time, maybe before the 2nd. WW even. I was in the Sea Cadets in my teens and Sunday mornings we would gather at our "ship" T S (training ship) Sikh which was about 200 yards or so up Croydon Road in a large victorian house on the corner of Avenue Road. Then in the afternoon it was on with the "Teddy Boy" suit and down to the essoldo to chat up the girls! One thing you might not be aware of is that in Studland Road just off of Newlands Park Waynes Pumps had a massive factory producing petrol pumps, (boring I hear you say) but what is there now? Alexandra Park had a kid's paddling pool, a bowling green and pavillion, are they still there?

Post reply -->London Penge brian 21 Apr

Penge penge parish lane

hi brian, alexandra park still has a paddling pool but for the last 2 summers nobody seems to use it shame but i guess parents just dont want to let thier kids out today,the bowling green is still there and used often,i like to watch them play in the good weather but no pavillion sadly. waynes pumps as you call it is now more blocks of flats (surprise surprise) tell me more about what you remember about penge i find it so interesting,did you go to school there? speak soon i hope tracy email Mail-me

Post reply -->London Penge tracy 21 Apr

Penge Parish Lane Penge

I lived in Wiverton Road, just round the corner from Parish Lane until 1958 and I can remember a few shops in Parish Lane but not what they sold. What I can recall is a double decker bus that turned right into Penge Lane instead of Green Lane and had it's roof ripped off by the low railway bridge. Best fish and chips was Ladyman's in Green Lane next door to Hunt Bros. the best gent's tailors just before Penge High Street. Is the "nick" still on the corner of Green Lane and High Street? The Essoldo Cinema was on the corner of Maple Road and The Fifty Shilling Tailor was in Beckenham Road just before the Odeon Cinema, I think.

Post reply -->London Penge brian 17 Apr

Penge parish lane penge

hi brian, yes the nick is still in the same place & looks the same as it ever did ,i remember the odeon cinema in the high street but not the one on the corner of maple road THE ESSOLDO i only moved to penge when i was a kid in around 1972-73 & the old odeon is now flats & a wetherspoons pub the moon & stars. was you in the penge area when they had a theatre called the empire i have pics of it but cant plac where it would have been my email Mail-me

Post reply -->London Penge tracy 21 Apr

Penge penge parish lane

I live in Parish lane & have been trying to find archive record or photos of how it looked years ago I know there were shops here but have had no luck can somebody help please my email Mail-me

Post reply -->London Penge Tracy 14 Apr

Penge SUPERMARKET IN THE 70S

Trying to find out the name of the supermarket that used to be in Thesiger Road on the corner opposite the police station in the 70s it was on the corner with Edgingtons furniture shop

Post reply -->London Penge 4 Apr

Penge 46 Green Lane

From the 1972 Kelly's directory and 'phone book: F J Wallis Ltd. (Green Lane leads into Thesiger Road after the junction with Parish Lane.) Wallis's had another shop at 106 Sydenham Road.

Post reply -->London Penge Chris Doran 5 Apr