They are spending money down there again!!
At Ieast assume the works going on down there are with the aim of improving the place, and not the result of a saturday night tear up.
What a shock yet another Afro hair and beauty shop hits Woolwich.
FFS
How long before there will be no shops in Woolwich except Afro Hair & Beauty, Nail Shops, phone card booths, Halal butchers or fried Chicken shops R.I.P Woolwich
Yep. I remember standing there, peering through the window at the live eels and then the butcher coming over with his apron all bloody, grabbing an eel and chopping it's head off and cutting it up. Luverly.
I used to do that. Stun and kill eels that is, not watch it through windows. My first Saturday job was in a fishmonger's. By Christ that job was character-building
Used to love Woolwich back in the 70's when i was a kid. I watched Bid Daddy and Giant Haystacks at the Odeon for my 10th birthday and i used to spend the whole day with my mates travelling on the ferry back and forth. The place is now a hovel that is full of the lowest form of life. Such a shame.
Playing 'Run Outs' on the boats! being fascinated by the engine room. I was in Woolwich Arsenal station yesterday and the 50yard walk between the Tramshed and the station is horrible it seems every scumbag for miles is congregated around the cashpoints.
Used to get scared looking at the eels (snakes to me) in Manzies then I got older and took in bags of used jam jars. I'm sure I got 1/2D per jar.
My mate and I used to go roller skating around Woolwich and on the ferry/under the tunnel. You might remember me: I wore short trousers, raincoat, balaclava and had a ciggy (Park Drive) in the corner of my mouth, emulating McGill from Man In A Suitcase.
I remember the Tramshed,we went for a xmas" treat" from school in 79 to see a play or panto or something still remember the trip from Bexleyheath on the bus but have no recollection of what we saw there! Also worked at Woolwich Arsenal station in 84/85 was always busy loved it there.I haven't set foot in Woolwich for 20 years, sorry to hear how its gone down the pan
For those with a nostalgia for the old Woolwich, check out my set on Flickr with some old views (some well before my time) but which will doubtless jog a few memories.
Excellent photos Stephen, The photos of Powis street really brought back memories. I worked at Garretts when I was studying my 'A' levels to go to art college. Of course Charlton village and Victoria way were the local shops for people living around the flats where I lived, Springfields, Cherry Orchard's, etc. But Woolwich was the main shopping area that the family bought, carpets, furniture etc. Great seeing the bus's which people used to use getting around!. Not one of my friends parents had a car, so you biked, walked or used buses. I do remember the old boarding to the ferry for car and foot passengers, and the cafe's selling bacon rolls and hotdogs, while we used to ride the ferry back and forward over the Thames!. Probably only 8 or 9 at the time. Went back to Woolwich to work at publishers Morgan grampian publishers a few times in the late 70s and late 80s. Especially during the 80s/90s Woolwich went through a dreadful period of closures! and Urban stagnation. My school Bloomfield used to have it's prize giving in the Poly hall, and went there to see groups on a friday night for the student union late 60s. Strawbs, a break away group from Jethro Tull, Edgar Broughton band etc. Woolwich was never an elegent town, but a decent vibrant working class town, with some decent employers, and the Army based at the top of the hill gave the town some importance!. As the photos show the industry around the river was an important commercial hub for London and the UK.
Cheers Ken, glad you enjoyed them. As you say Woolwich would never have won any prizes for elegance but it was a lively shopping centre and also a centre of some considerable industries. The Arsenal, Dockyard and all of the various industries along the Lower Road right into Charlton. As you say, the Army gave it a bit of distinction as well. I used to enjoy visiting the place but avoid it like the plague now. Like much of Britain's industrial heritage it is now firmly a thing of the past.
Sunday nights at the trad jazz club at the long departed Shakespeare pub in Powis St.were great. Humphrey Lyttleton,Terry Lightfoot,Ken Collyer Chris Barber and all the rest.
Loved the photos tom , especially the 70 's . Sadly places like welling and bexleyheath will become like woolwich in time , just give it 10 to 15 years.
The royal arsenal development along the waterfront is nice and despite the gated nature of it, it will hopefully spread into the rest of Woolwich. Charlton is 'gentrifying' now and i think the key is to have a mixture of all types of people rather than designating certain areas as dumping grounds for societies problems. The recent programme on council estates pointed to the 60's and 70's as being a turning point in govt policy that lead to problem areas. Not easy to solve but i thinka lot of the areas like Woolwich that went through it particularly in the 80's and 90's will regenerate, particularly as they have some great old buildings and old is fashionable now.
1977 - as a kid - first film, Star Wars in the Woolwich Odeon (guess what that is today) and we checked out this new restaurant, the only one of its kind in the country. McDonald's I think it was called. I believe they've opened a few more since then. However let's not get too misty eyed about the decline of Woolwich. I'm sure I heard once that it is the only town in England where a Royal has been mugged. It always has been edgy.
Comments
once (long long time ago) not a bad place but donkeys years of no investment has seen it become the dump it is today.
Flamingos on a Saturday night ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh the memories. Some of ours on the door. BMob in Spooks.
At Ieast assume the works going on down there are with the aim of improving the place, and not the result of a saturday night tear up.
What a shock yet another Afro hair and beauty shop hits Woolwich.
FFS
How long before there will be no shops in Woolwich except Afro Hair & Beauty, Nail Shops, phone card booths, Halal butchers or fried Chicken shops R.I.P Woolwich
You used to do that as well Beds?
Playing 'Run Outs' on the boats! being fascinated by the engine room. I was in Woolwich Arsenal station yesterday and the 50yard walk between the Tramshed and the station is horrible it seems every scumbag for miles is congregated around the cashpoints.
Used to get scared looking at the eels (snakes to me) in Manzies then I got older and took in bags of used jam jars. I'm sure I got 1/2D per jar.
My mate and I used to go roller skating around Woolwich and on the ferry/under the tunnel. You might remember me: I wore short trousers, raincoat, balaclava and had a ciggy (Park Drive) in the corner of my mouth, emulating McGill from Man In A Suitcase.
For those with a nostalgia for the old Woolwich, check out my set on Flickr with some old views (some well before my time) but which will doubtless jog a few memories.
Sunday nights at the trad jazz club at the long departed Shakespeare pub in Powis St.were great. Humphrey Lyttleton,Terry Lightfoot,Ken Collyer Chris Barber and all the rest.
Happy days.
Discusting what has happened to the place in the last 10-15 years.
Really a sad state of affairs.
The royal arsenal development along the waterfront is nice and despite the gated nature of it, it will hopefully spread into the rest of Woolwich. Charlton is 'gentrifying' now and i think the key is to have a mixture of all types of people rather than designating certain areas as dumping grounds for societies problems. The recent programme on council estates pointed to the 60's and 70's as being a turning point in govt policy that lead to problem areas. Not easy to solve but i thinka lot of the areas like Woolwich that went through it particularly in the 80's and 90's will regenerate, particularly as they have some great old buildings and old is fashionable now.
http://www.greenwich.co.uk/news/07318-goddards-pies-to-return-to-greenwich-town-centre/
Good that overpriced fish and chip shop is going too.