Photographic miscellany

Comments about this page

  • Does anyone know about Thomas Rogers’ Bakery at 90 Southover Street in 1936? Was there ever an Express Dairy in the area at that approximate time?

    By Jennifer Lywood (25/04/2004)
  • Does anyone know more about Austen House opposite the Greys, 104 Southover Street? It seems like it used to be owned by a brewery before it was converted in 1982, according to my land registry searches. E-mail: claritadeb73@yahoo.co.uk

    By Claire B (20/06/2006)
  • If it was owned by the brewery it wasn’t after 1970’s as I lived in the pub opposite, the Golden Cross from 1968 to 1997, and that building was always a warehouse come junk shop.

    By sharon (18/10/2006)
  • I would be grateful if anyone can remember, or has an old photograph of, my grandfather’s baker shop(s). During the 1930s/40s my grandfather, Charles Towner, owned 5 baker shops, sadly none of which are around today. They were either called Towner’s Bakery, when my great-grandfather owned the business, or Goldsmith and Towner’s, which it became later on. There was one in Edward Street, Southover Street, St. Georges Road, Richmond Parade and Blatchington Road, Hove. My dad has been searching for a photograph of any of them for over 50 years. It would be lovely if anyone can share their knowledge of them too. Thanks.

    By M. Towner (11/11/2006)
  • Does anyone know of an accident that was puported to have happened – perhaps in the 1920s? A steam roller crashed into a house in Southover Street, on the corner of Hanover Street? I lived there in the 1980s and had heard that a man was crushed to death by a steam roller in our front room. I don’t know where we heard it from or how we knew it – but we believed that the house was haunted as a result. Another story linked to that house was that it was haunted by the ghost of a prostitute called Mary who was murdered on Hanover Street. This I heard a year after I left the house from a man called Owen who had grown up in the same house. I would love to know if there is any truth to these stories!

    By Moyra Scott (08/02/2007)
  • I remember the Goldsmith and Towner’s bakery; Charlie Towner had his bakery in Toronto Terrace, just a little way in from Albion Hill. We lived in Windmill Street, so my mother used to send me round to his bakery early in the mornings for the bread and rolls – all hot. The best tasting bread in Brighton. In the 50s he updated and invested in a bread slicing and wrapping machine. The bakery was a converted house with an archway to one side where he loaded his small van for deliveries. I think it was the mid 60s when the house was converted back and extended over the arch. There was a shop on the corner of Southover Street and Montreal Road. The Edward Street shop was almost opposite Chapel Street. Unfortunately I do not have any photos, just memories of buying three crispy rolls, taking out the middle, filling them with salad, then off to the Palace Pier for a day fishing.

    By Ron Burtenshaw (26/02/2007)
  • My great grandfather Harry (born Henry) Packham used to run the Hanover public house. You can see his name on the sign, but I have no dates. Before taking over the pub he was a carpenter, he was also a prize fighter and used to fight up on the race hill. My grand father told me how as a young boy having to sit all night with his father Harry holding his hands in a bowl of vinegar to harden his hands before a fight. If any one has infomation about prize fighting on the race hill in the late 1890s, I would like to hear from you.

    By Ralph Packham (07/05/2007)
  • Does anyone have any information about 107 Southover Street, which is now the tearooms?

    By Simon (08/11/2007)
  • Anyone any details about past and present of 24 Southover Street?

    By Jenny Bridger (22/11/2007)
  • Does anyone have any information on a bike race up Southover Street at some time in the past? I’m sure I remember seeing something about it on the internet, but can’t find anything now.

    By Tim (16/05/2008)
  • I love this site. What memories of Goldsmith and Towner’s bakers. I can clearly remember the street party at the end of the war. Our house was chosen to distribute a treat donated by the baker, we lived in Toronto Terrace. The children formed a very orderly line at our front room window, I remember standing on a box helping mum to hand out the treat. Also as children we used to stand at the door of the Southover Street bakehouse, watching bread being made, one of the employees was a Mr. Pope.Really enjoying the site from afar….South Australia.

    By Val Collier (30/10/2008)
  • Moyra Scott: Just spoken to my dad who is the Owen who told you the tale. Apparently the ghostly story of the lady named Mary is in fact true. She used to pull his bedclothes off in the night and turn on his radio. He even saw her on the stairs one night!

    By Julie (31/12/2008)
  • I was born in 7 Southover Street in 1957 and Owen is my brother. I know nothing of a steamroller accident, but all my family could tell you strange stories of that house. There was one particular room at the top of the house were small things were thrown at us when we were in bed and the covers being pulled of the beds while we slept. My Mother would always walk up one flight of stairs backwards as she felt someone walking right behind her! I believe Owen once attended a seance and a spirit came through as a woman called Mary, but whether she died in the house I don’t know. I was about 8 when we moved and I was glad to get out of there! I am open minded about the supernatural and I’d be interested if people living there today experience any thing.

    By Sandra Arief (01/01/2009)
  • Hi Sandra. Did you live over the laundry on the corner of Hanover Street. I lived at number 1 Southover Street.

    By Sally Young (18/02/2009)
  • Yes Sally we did live over the laundry and I remember you and Peter very well, in fact we were ‘best friends’ for a long time! I hope you are well and I hope you will email me very soon.

    By Sandra Arief (23/02/2009)
  • I would have been 6 when this picture was taken, iwas born in Scotland Street & moved round the corner into Southover Street in January 1970 and I am still there to this day. I remember the bad snow of 1968 even though I was only very young, it was almost impossible to get up and down the hill with my Mum.

    By Keith Golding (21/06/2009)
  • I remember the Goldsmith bakery in the late seventies it later became a locksmiths & then a video shop. I am 47 and have lived in Southover Street since I was 8. I also remember Tuppens Grocery store now Cox & Taylor at 89 Southover Street. I always used to go in there every Saturday morning & chat with Ernie Tuppen, he was a super man and I always chatted for ages with him. I also remember the old sweet shop on the corner of Finsbury Road/Southover Street & the old chip shop at 1 Scotland Street i was born in Scotland Street in 1962.

    By Keith Golding (21/06/2009)
  • I am not sure this picture was from around the time of 1995. If you look at the trees at the bottom which is The Level, weren’t all the trees destroyed in the storm of 1987? I know a lot have been replanted but would they have grown that much in eight or so years?

    By Fred Hine (22/07/2009)
  • My family moved to Montreal Road (No.16) in the mid 1950s, and our house and garden backed on to the bakery in Toronto Terrace. I can remember hearing the dough mixing machine working late into the night and early hours of the morning. I would be sent to get the bread from the baker’s shop on the corner of Montreal Road and Southover Street, and sometimes as a special treat I would buy 6 pennyworth of broken biscuits. My best friend at Queens Park School was Josephine Brown and she lived in Toronto Terrace, a few doors along from the bakery. Her family originally came from Guyana.

    By Philippa Southwood (20/01/2010)
  • I lived at 76 Southover Street during the 1950s. My parents ran a coal and wood shop, my father delivering coal in the local area. As a child I remember my brother, sister and I helping our mother chop kindling wood and making it into bundles with a machine tied with kerosote string. I have lots of happy memories of the area, including milk bread from Kings the bakers further down. The rag and bone man with the bowler hat and his horse and cart. He stabled the horse in Newark Place. There was the onion johnny man, who stored his onions in Newhaven St, which he strung and delivered on his bicycle. There seemed to be a pub on every corner!

    By John Champion (28/02/2010)
  • I lived in Lincoln Street until 1966. I remember well Mr Measor (greengrocer / coal merchant) with the permanent “dewdrop”, Harry the barber who used to limp round the chair (from what I remember I think it was the result of a war wound). I also remember Stan the barber who would make you wait if he had an adult waiting. Can any one remember Mr Pike with the fish and chip shop in Southover Street, Mr Croydon with the newsagent / sweetshop on the corner of Jersey Street, Mr Ford the butcher and my mum’s favourite Michael Smallwood? So many more that can be remembered from days that we shall never see the like of again unfortunately.

    By Bill Spencer (17/03/2010)
  • I lived in Scotland Street from around 1950, when I was about 7 years old. I remember Mr.Tuppen, his wife and his daughter, and shopped for my Mother there and also at Pikes fish and chip shop. We also shopped at Mr Coliver’s newsagents where Josie worked and Edna’s small fruit and veg shop at the end of Holland street. I remember the penny drinks from the shop at the end of Scotland Street. 

    By Jackie Soutar (17/05/2010)
  • Hello. I’m just beginning to research my family. The family name is Measor. All I know is that my grandparents, William and Constance, lived at 60, Southampton Street, and before they were married they both are listed as living at 63, Southampton Street. I believe my grandmother’s maiden name was Swift.

    By Jane Coleman (29/05/2010)
  • I started life at 14 Montreal Road in 1954 and remember the Bakery and shops well. Times were hard and we were sent for stale bread and cakes for my mum to revamp into bread pudding etc. Also Mr. Tuppen’s grocery shop where we were sent for items during the week to be “put in the book” until friday payday. The ‘Corner Shop’ sweet shop on the corner of Finsbury Road was always a treat and Coleman’s newsagents Albion Hill/Toronto Terrace, where I did morning and evening paper rounds! Such memories.

    By Eileen Valder (nee Carty) (07/07/2010)
  • Hi Philippa, or Pippa as I knew you. I lived at 17 Montreal Rd next door. I remember your mum and dad, Tom and Maureen, and sister Hilary. We lived directly behind the bakery - it used to make quite a noise at night. Great memories of Brighton 7. I also remember Eileen Carty, sister of my pal Patrick,we used to help his father deliver fish on occasions. Hope you are well.

    By Paul Davies (16/09/2010)
  • I too remember Mr Coliver, my Dad went there every day for his paper. He also had a little sweet shop on the corner of St Luke’s Terrace where he used to sell sherbert. I can remember making myself sick with the sherbert and being ‘banned’ from going in to buy more. That didn’t stop me, I sent a friend in. Mr Coliver knew I wasn’t allowed it but bless him he turned a blind eye. It has been fun trawling through these comments and bringing back memories of the shops in Southover Street. At the end of Toronto Terrace was Campbells the grocers and Mr George’s Fruit and Veg store. The Royal Exhange Pub was on the opposite corner and where I spent many a Christmas lunch time with Mum, Dad and my step brothers and sister. The good old days.

    By Yvonne Taylor (nee Granger) (11/12/2010)
  • Does anyone have any information on 64 Southover st? It seems that my family lived there and I am told it was a greengrocers. This is going back to the 1911 census so I’m not sure how long it stayed as a greengrocers, or even the name of the shop. Our family name was Moon. Any info would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

    By Vicky (04/03/2011)
  • As you look down Southover Street the shop on the left was Mr and Mrs Pearson’s newsagents, further down on the right you can see the little sub electric station fence and across the road from that is where Mr and Mrs Simpson’s TV and radio shop door is on the corner of Hanover Terrace and Southover Street which was attached to the house that I lived in. If memory serves me right the shop on the right next to the pub was Stan’s barbers where you got your hair cut and men could get a shave and brush up. The wall on the left corner of Newhaven Street and Southover Street was the brewery. I can remember this being built after the pub on that corner was pulled down. If only I could turn back the clock of life they were very happy days of my life in that area. P.S the best snow was in 1963.

    By Donald Waller (06/07/2011)
  • I remember the cafe in the photograph. It was the first drop on the newspaper round. He liked his paper early and always gave us a large mug of tea. It was possibly the A1 Cafe.That would have been around 1964.

    By Maureen Cullinan (nee Carty) (15/09/2011)
  • Eileen Carty, older sister 14 Montreal Road. Wasn’t there a factory in Finsbury Road?

    By Maureen Cullinan (nee Carty) (15/09/2011)
  • HI Vicky, it is really best to post such queries on the message board, as the comments to individual pages are often not as noticeable to volunteer researchers and hence are easily overlooked. Anyway, 64, Southover Street was a Fishmonger’s until around 1912, after which time it became a Greengrocery. Its proprietor was John Moore.

    By Andy Grant (16/09/2011)
  • I lived in Southover Street from 1971-1979. Oh what happy days. When I look how steep it is I wonder how I used to push a pram with 2 children in it plus a week’s shopping on the pram tray – mind you I was 40 yrs younger!

    By Maureen Howell (06/12/2011)
  • My great grandfather’s brother John Coles, a bricklayer, moved to 55 Southover St following his marriage to Jemima Penn in the 1850s. By 1871 they had moved to no 100 Southover St and John was described as a “General Shopkeeper Grocery.” John and his family remained at this address, with all family members working in the grocery shop, until he died in 1912. I imagine they lived above the shop and worked there, rather than being the proprietors. Does anyone know who the owners of the shop were? Thanks.

    By A Brook (20/01/2012)
  • In 1970 I lived in Islingword Street (no 8a) with my parents (Eileen & Dennis) my Nan, Sister and Brother. I was 13 years old and I had a paper round at Harry Croydon’s shop on the corner of Jersey Street and Southover Street (the lower side, now a house). I had an evening round, which was just delivering the Evening Argus and a Sunday morning round. The evening round was ok as it was just down Jersey St then down Albion Hill to the high rise flats in Grove Hill, Highlea etc. As for the Sunday round, well this was an exercise in fitness itself. For a start I had two bags, one to hold the papers and the other to hold the money. It was safe in those days to walk around with a load of money on you. The papers were the old style massive ones (Times, Telegraph etc with all the supplements) and the money was the old pounds/shillings and pence (big half crowns and florins etc). So as you can imagine I was weighed down quite considerably and on a wet day it was worse. It got considerably worse when I tell you that my round was as follows…down Jersey Street then up Albion Hill. Yes, probably the steepest hill in the area and I had it on my round. Then along Toronto Terrace, down Islingword Road into Ewart Street and down to the shop. All this for 3/6d (17 and a half pence). We used to get 1 shilling (5p) for each evening round.

    By Paul Clarkson (15/02/2012)
  • I remember the baker’s in Edward Street. It was on the corner of Mighell Street- they used to bake the bread and cakes on the premises. I lived at the top end of George Street and you could smell the bakery from there. There was a little row of shops from Mighell Street going down Edward Street. There was a  bakers, a sweet shop then Mr White which was like a ironmongers. Does anyone remember these shops?

    By Kathleen Catt (16/02/2012)
  • Following on from my previous comment, I remember when I lived in Islingword Street from 1967-1971 Southover Street had some nice local shops. Apart from Harry Croydon’s which was a newsagents/confectioners, there was Tuppen’s the grocers on the east corner of Grove Hill/Southover Street, a really good fish and chip shop just down from the Hanover Centre. There was a wet fish shop near Scotland Street, funnily enough the chap who ran this also ran a mobile fish and chip shop in Moulsecoomb where we lived previously. Numerous pubs, The Dover Castle was my Mum and Dad’s local and on a Saturday night my Nan used to send me round to the little off-sales part of The Charles Napier for some ginger ale to go with her whisky. it’s not there now but I always point out where it was to anyone who is interested if I’m in there for a pint. Further down Southover there was The Bricklayers which is now The Greys which I use on a frequent basis (great beer, food and live music). The down-side of living somewhere like Hanover is the weather and it springs to mind December 1967 when we had ‘Snow Friday’ as it is locally known. That was the day when there was no sign of any snow at 8am but by 12 noon the whole of Brighton was under several inches of snow. Does anyone remember any other shops from that time or ‘Snow Friday?’

    By Paul Clarkson (16/02/2012)
  • I remember the Bricklayers. We used to use this public house. I remember they had a great big open fire place with a big mirror hanging above it. I signed a piece of paper saying that if my husband got me a television he could go out on a Friday night with boys. 15 years later when they took the mirror down the note was still there. The pub has changed a lot since those days which was about 35 years ago.

    By Kathleen Catt (17/02/2012)
  • Correction to the input on my name written by Phillipa Southwood – my maiden name was Browne and not Brown. It was my mother’s late sister and family now who live in Guyana. I used to live at No 8 Toronto Terrace.

    By Josephine Ivory (15/06/2012)
  • Does anyone remember my Aunt Florence Jeffery who had a grocers shop at 40 Lincoln Street? In the early twenty’s until 1949 My uncle Humphery Pedrick also lived there. He was a scenery painter in one of the Brighton theatres. Sadly I do not know which one. My great grandmother Sarah Lived there also until she died in 1925.

    By Kathy Jackson (15/02/2013)
  • My parents ran a grocery shop at 39 Lincoln Street during late fifties – early sixties. There were large concrete steps on the corner of the shop and big window (which I see have both now gone after viewing Google earth). How different it now looks. Colourful houses, and cars parked everywhere. Opposite us (on a very small crossroads) were two shops: Thyer’s and Clem’s (?). My parents were Bill and Dorothy Bailey. I have two brothers John and William, and sister Dorothy. If you remember us email me on missbjb@hotmail.com.

    By Brenda Bailey (05/05/2013)
  • Does anyone remember Freda’s hairdressers? It initially was in Belgrave St but moved to the corner of Southover St and Lincoln St back in the sixties. I used to work there along with Freda, June, Heather another Jackie and a few more who came and went. I used to do Mrs Tuppen’s hair and she kindly bought me a wedding present when I left in 1964 to marry.

    By Jackie Thomas/Parker Nee Jones (08/05/2013)
  • Hi Jackie, I lived in Islingword Street from 1967 to 1971 and I thought you might be interested to know that the premises was a grocers before it was changed to a hairdressers in the 60s. I remember a hairdressers on the corner of Lincoln Street but according to the directories it had changed hands when I lived there and is listed as ‘Angela’s’ in 1968. I remember it as I used to deliver papers in Lincoln Street from Croydons the newsagents on the corner of Jersey Street. Do you remember his shop? I remember Tuppens, he was a very friendly man and always willing to help as I remember, a proper shop keeper!

    By Paul Clarkson (09/05/2013)
  • Hello Paul, I believe it was bought by Angela, one of the girls I worked with there in the early 60s. I think it was the Angela who married Mr O’Flynn, the chemist that was opposite the hairdressers then. I don’t remember the newsagents so obviously my observation skills were bad even then, and I can’t blame age as I was only 18/19! I only ever met Mrs Tuppen as I used to do her hair and she was really lovely.

    By Jackie Thomas/Parker Nee Jones (10/05/2013)
  • Forty years have gone by since I lived at 16 Montreal Road, and yet it seems like only yesterday. The time has surely disappeared down that vortex. I remember you Paul (Davies), and Grandma and Grandpa Harris who you lived with at No. 17 before you moved back to Wales. As my own grandparents had died, I adopted yours. I remember Eileen, Maureen and Patrick Carty at No. 14 too, and their dog, Friday. One of my school friends was Sandra Brown. She lived in Southover Street, and my oldest friend Josephine Browne (sorry about the missing ‘e’, Jo), lived round the corner in Toronto Terrace. I’ve known you since we went to St Luke’s Junior School. We went to Queen’s Park School in 1960-1966. Sometimes, if I can’t sleep, I try to remember all the little shops around the area we lived in. The dairy on the corner of Windmill Terrace / Albion Hill, the boot & shoe repair shop on the corner of Windmill Street / Richmond Street and the electrical & radio repair shop / coal merchant on the corner of Richmond Street and Queens Park Road, and opposite in QP Road, the ironmongers, and so many more, all gone now I expect. What a different world we live in now. Hope you are all happy and healthy. Catch up on Facebook maybe?

    By Pip Sampson (Southwood) (18/06/2013)
  • Hello Pipa, good to read your comments particularly about my grandparents. I remember my time in Brighton 7 with great memories. ‘Queens Park’ – I still recall the bus numbers that ran from the Old Steine to the Walmer Castle -  nos 41 and 42. How is Hilary or Cuddy as I knew her, I married Jill who came to Brighton with me around 1968. We have two daughters and five grandchildren. I hope all is well with you -  best regards

    By Paul Davies (02/07/2013)
  • This is a bit of a long shot – my wife’s ‘ancestry’ has come to a standstill. Her father, and then the rest of the family, came from British India in 1946/7; their family name was Lloyd-West and he worked in London for Thomas Cook. We believe they went to live with his cousin at no 42 Southover Street then moved on to live in the Windlesham area in Hove. Any info would be nice and it is his cousin’s (female) name we need. Thank you.

    By Roger Davis (21/08/2013)
  • Have so enjoyed reading the comments on this page. Brought back so many happy memories of the time I lived in Toronto Terrace. I remember the Southwoods who lived just behind us in Montreal Road next door to the Standings. So sad how things changed and all the shops disappeared. George’s the green grocers on the corner of the Terrace and the Bakery at the corner of Montreal Road. Often popped in there on a Friday on my way home from Elm Grove. I lived two doors away from Josephine Brown. 

    By Yvonne Taylor nee Granger (19/02/2014)
  • Hi Yvonne went to Brighton for 5 days got back last night. Always down there walked from Rock Gardens to Zylo, Toronto Rd, Montreal Rd, Southover St, Holland St, Ewart St, where I used to live and all the shops are gone like you said. Mr Tuppens is now a house, Micheal Cheesemans the butchers, gone. Mr Pannetts gone, this time it really hit home felt lost in time before now theres nothing what a shame. I was born 1941, left Ewart St when I was 10. Can’t keep away through. Memories eh.

    By Pamela Carpenter (22/02/2014)
  • Hi Pamela. I’d forgotten the Zylo. As you say it’s so sad how the area has changed. I haven’t been back for many years to look around.  I moved away in 1984.  Have driven up Southover Street to show my daughter where I grew up. Used to walk through Ewart Street on my way to school stopping at the fish and chip shop on the corner.

    By Yvonne Taylor (04/03/2014)
  • Hi Yvonne. Interesting to read your memories of the area. Ewart Street is my old stamping ground from the late 60s as I lived in Islingword Street. The fish and chip shop on the corner of Ewart Street and Islingword Road seems to have been there forever and we used it regularly when I lived there. You may be interested to know that it features (for a few seconds) in the film from 1951 ‘Lady Godiva Rides Again’. The scene, at 2 minutes 25 seconds into the film, shows a young lady looking out across the road towards the fish and chip shop from the upstairs of a house in Ewart Street, she’s looking across the road towards Islingword Road although the scene just before shows she was actually looking out from a shop on the corner of Quebec Street! Quebec Street and Albion Hill are shown at times in the film as well. You can still get the film at a reasonable price and it’s worth having for old time’s sake. It’s also worth seeing for Stanley Holloway and a very young George Cole.

    By Paul Clarkson (06/03/2014)
  • Hi Yvonne. What year were you born if you don’t mind me asking? Did you go to Finsbury Road School then?

    By Pam Smith (07/03/2014)
  • Hi Pam, haven’t been in this page for a long time, sorry I didn’t reply. I was born in 1951. I didn’t go to Finsbury Road but my cousin did.  I went to St Luke’s Infant and Junior school and then Elm Grove Girls School. 

    By Yvonne Taylor (29/01/2016)
  • My father was a baker at Goldsmith and Towner from about 1955 to about 1985. Great memories of fresh bread and time spent watching the bakers at work.

    By Steve Teasdale (17/05/2016)
  • I own the house in the foreground. The bay front which was falling down and was replaced in 1985. The second house from the right has a render finish which was put on in about 1984 so the photo is 1984 or 1985. 

    By Malcolm's Clancy (29/10/2016)
  • That is my childhood in one shot.  It was the view from my scooter at the top of my road.  Lived at 58 Lincoln Street from 1967 – 1975.

    By Richard (20/11/2016)
  • Hi Maureen Cullinan – I have just read your post of yesteryear. I lived at No.3 Finsbury Road (was there a factory in Finsbury Road?) and, yes, there was the company name – no less than the famous Bevan Funnel, opposite Finsbury Road School, who made quality reproduction furniture. And I also recall that the owner was a Mr Funnel and he had a blue Volkswagen Beetle car – the first car ever to be seen in Finsbury Road everyday. This did not however spoil our fun playing in the road: hopscotch, queenie, hot rice, French cricket, riding my sisters’ bikes with cigarette cards flipping the wheel spokes to sound like a motorbike – no speed ramps, no yellow lines, just tarmac. Bevan Funnel eventually relocated to Newhaven and became an international manufacturer and supplier of reproduction furniture throughout Europe, and I think the world.
    I also remember that our back garden was turned into a vegetable washing factory for Grant Curry who grew vegetables in the Peacehaven area. My brother and I, aged about 10, would (help?) Roy, who was the manager, would wash the carrots pushing the crates on the roller system into the washer machine. And at the end of the day we went home along our back alley by the Islingwood Road Mission (burnt down many years ago, now a block of flats) with bags of carrots. Not bad for a day’s graft.
    Getting back to Finsbury Road… I can also remember the Groomes’ 3 wheeler bakery vans going up and down Islingwood Road (was their factory in Kemp Town?) and us collecting the race day betting cards that would be thrown out of the cars coming down Islingwood Road after a day at the Brighton races. And also the Co-op baker parking his horse and cart opposite our house while he had his lunch and watching his horse with its head in the haybag. And, on a less savoury note, the horse relieving himself and mum Sadie telling us to pick up the dung for the garden and watching the stream of horse wee trickling across the road into the gutter. And the next day we would be out there playing marbles and tabs with the cigarette cards and never caught anything life-threatening. Tough as old boots with plenty of carbolic soap – whatever that was.
    I am rambling on and if I have sent you to sleep then I apologise but they were such interesting days. I have lots more but will not bother you at present but I must say that reading other posts does bring back memories that have lain dormant for years. Thanks to you all for your contributions.

    By Brian Clark (05/07/2017)
  • Hi Jackie Parker /Thomas nee Jones. I remember Freda’s the hairdressers I seem to remember the Mears family had the shop before Freda selling fruit and veg and coal similar to Mr Measors shop in Southover Street, but on the south side. I have commented on some of the other sites and have had some replies from people who remember the Clarks of Finsbury Road. I can also remember some of those lovely ladies who worked in Freda’s and one lady in particular who shall remain anonymous a long long time ago now, and the other shops and pubs that seemed to be on every corner in those bygone days. I have not visited the area for many years and would imagine that they have all been converted into houses now. Your post is four years old so I apologise for not commenting before but believe it or not I have only just discovered mybrightonandhove and am finding it just so interesting reading.

    By Brian Clark (12/07/2017)
  • I was born at 50 Hanover Terrace in 1956, just along the road on the right where the sub station is in the picture. My mother, Nina Pirolli, was also born in the same road in 1935. We moved to Cobden Road off Islingword Road in ’68 and I left to go on many travels in ’78! Last year I went back for the first time in 20 years; has hardly changed, everything seemed so small and crowded. Wonderful memories of growing up in a much better, simple time!

    By Peter Paolella (11/11/2017)
  • I remember when I got my first job with the DHSS at Boundary Road Hove, I used to walk down and up Southover Street to catch a bus at the Level everyday. As soon as I was 16 and got my prov license, I bought a scooter to ride to and from work. I used to love to take a run at the hill on the way home and go full speed in 3rd gear up to Islingword Street and turn left to get home to Cobden Road. That love of freedom on two wheels never left me and I have always ridden from those days. These days I have a huge 1600 cc black and chrome Harley with 18 inch apehangers, but I will never forget the thrill of hammering up Southover street on my Lambretta. I wish I could turn back the clock to those carefree days although I can’t complain now. I guess I miss being young and my beloved Mum and Dad.

    By Peter Paolella (14/11/2017)
  • In September 1939 my father Albert Goldsmith took over the bakery at 73 Southover Street, tradition has it that the 1st weeks takings were £5.
    After the war finished his brother ( who was a baker in the army during the war) was demobbed and dad bought 34 Widdicombe Way, Higher Bevendean , a bakers shop and house , with a bakery in the back garden, where his brother and family lived.
    I think they made cakes at Widdicombe Way and bread at Southover Street. After a while Ted Goldsmith left for pastures new and we moved to Widdicombe Way.
    Not long after Mr Towner joined the firm and moved into Southover Street (Mr Towner’s father had a shop in Edward Street which was demolished when Edward Street was redeveloped, they rented a shop in Richmond Parade to replace it, which was run by Mr Towner’s sister)
    In the mid 1950s we took over the shops of Homemade Bakeries, Blatchington Road Hove, St Georges Road and 90 Southover Street, and for a while we had a shop in Cowley Drive Woodingdean.
    meanwhile we had bought 4 Toronto Terrace and turned it into a bakery, and closed the bakeries in Widdicombe Way and Southover Street.
    Around 1950 we also started catering for wedding receptions and used Southover Street as a store for the Equipment.
    In the mid 1960s I came back into the firm after National Service. I took over from Mr Towner who wanted to move on
    About 1970 my father retired and moved to Australia and I ran the firm with Mr Frank Teasdale who had joined us when we took over the Homemade Shops.
    Mid 1970s I sold the bakery and shops but kept the catering side of the business which my wife and I ran from a base in Union Road by the Level. about 1983 my son Graham took over the catering and we managed a small Hotel on the sea front.
    in 1987 we sold the hotel and catering.

    By Peter Goldsmith (18/08/2023)

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