Lovely old photos
Nice old piccy here of the Cottage of Content on Wells Park Road. This and the wider shot were taken in 1957. The final picture was taken in 1960 - presumably taken after the Council started demolishing the houses. Shame. No wonder my mum didn’t recognise Wells Park Road when I drove her up it a few years ago.
HI
Lovely photos - where on Wells park road were these shots taken?
I believe the postal address was 29 Wells Park Road - but house numbers did change and I haven’t checked that out, so I’ll need to come back to you on that. According to pub wiki, the Cottage of Content stood where Hensford Gardens is now, which makes sense if you compare the houses in the background in these two shots.
More info here …
Have seen your old photos including the one referring to The Duke of Edinburgh pub.
I do have some photos taken probably in early 1950’s which I will sort out and send on.
I lived at the Duke with my Grandfather, Bill Classen and my parents who took over the pub when he died in 1948.
I left home in 1954/5 when I got an apprenticeship in Manchester.
Shame it was eventually pulled done.
Will be in touch, David
Hi David that would be wonderful! Thank you so much. I’d love to see them and learn more. I shall let my friend know. She and her family used to go there and were really sad when it closed. She was talking about it just last week. She still lives in Halifax Street.
Attaching first 2 photos.
1: Close up of the Duke of Edinburgh taken from across the road.
2: Inside from Public Bar looking across to the Saloon Bar.
I have several others that might be of interest including a group photo of the Dart Team, not taken by me.
I will sort them out and send on in a few days.
Hope you like these two.
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David these are wonderful! Thank you so much. It’s so good to see these. I didn’t know the Duke as I moved away from the area as a child and only moved back 20 years ago, but I’ve heard it was a really happy and much missed pub and no one seemed to have a photo of it. Lots of people will be really glad to see these.
The pub wiki quotes from the 1871 census that one of the Duke of Edinburgh’s occupants was a “culinary artist”. I found that intriguing.
Not sure what year my grandfather took over as Licensee of the Duke, might have been early 1930’s. My grandmother died in 1938 and that’s when we all moved in to live with him.
More photos attached.
1: View of Bradford Road taken from 1st floor window of the Duke.
2: Photo of Duke darts team celebration, not sure of date.
My mother, now licensee of the Duke, with the group.
3: Local newspaper photo of the earlier full darts team, importantly
showing their names. Photo is pre 1948 since it shows my
Grandfather, Bill Classen, on right hand side when he was still
Licensee.
These are wonderful David. Thank you so much for sharing. It’s great to see people and names too. I hope some people will be able to spot their relatives. Your grandad is listed in the pub wiki entry (link in my last post).
So sad the Duke has gone. The Talma is still standing, but had a big extension and an extra storey put on top for flats. There had been a four bed staff flat there before. The good news is that, after something of a battle, they at least look the part and the Planning Inspector made it a condition that the ground floor and basement always remain a pub. But unless one of the small flats is set aside for staff there’s no staff accommodation now. Sadly, developers don’t seem to try to find landlords to take these pubs on once they’ve had permission for flats above. Still the Talma’s still there so there’s still hope.
Thanks again!
Mary
Hi Mary,
Thanks for your comments, I hope many people will be able to see the photos.
One new one attached. Following your 1955 photo of the station I found one from May 1946 showing the landslide caused by thousands of tons of rubble which had been dumped above the lines from demolition during the war. Only one line kept open causing severe disruption to any service.
I really like your old photos, especially the Peckham Rye ones, quite a collection.
David