#023

[@shakeenjatt4824]

wow another great video with historic pics of ilford thank you again

[@IlfordRetro]

You're most welcome!

[@jdavis460]

I was the assistant manager of the ABC Ilford (and Southend) back in the sixties. Great days. I believe I was the last to get someone to play the organ which was in full working order then. Would love to know if anything survives inside now if it still there not passed it for 10years.

[@IlfordRetro]

That is a great claim to fame relating to the building's history. I can imagine it was quite something to attend a concert in the venue. From what I read at the time of writing this episode, I think some of the original features were covered over rather than destroyed, so I too would be interested in seeing if any original features live on. The exterior of the building, while rebranded over the years, seems as it was when first built, which is nice to see.

[@johnstill164]

I knew Steve Burgess, Manager during the 60's. Later, he was at the Romford ABC Cinema. I was with ABC Bowling during the 60's...Small world! I still have a Percy Faith LP that Steve gave to me, around 1961, I reckon. It was an 'interlude music' album...called "American Seranade". Great music!! Take care, 'Jdavis...

[@IlfordRetro]

@@johnstill164 lovely to hear this little anecdote! A beautiful album title for the music too.

[@afrancis1582]

My mum worked at the ABC in the mid to late ‘70s. As a result I used to get free entry. Saw my first X rated film there (Alien) when I was too young. :) Before that I went to St. Peter & St. Paul junior school, which is just beyond the cinema. (You can see the linked church on the left of the opening shot.) Moved far away in 1984, so don’t really know Ilford now.

[@IlfordRetro]

Would have have been great to get into the cinema for free let alone see an X while underage :D Ah yes, the famous SS Peter & Paul school, now located in Gordon Road a short distance away.

[@simonharford2262]

i saw et at that cinema,and went to st peter and pauls school just down the rd

[@IlfordRetro]

One of the classics! Always nice to have a cinema near school as well (although that's much rarer these days)

[@Mark-h2l3t]

I used to live in Pyrmont Road. My Grandmother also had a house in the road along with my uncle. People didn’t move that far in the 60’s and 70’s. My school was a short walk from my house, the lovely St Peter & St Paul’s. I will never forget our teacher Miss Phaup drooling over Mr Morris 😂

[@IlfordRetro]

Great to hear from someone who lived in Pyrmont Road. Definitely was common for family to live near each other, that's true. It's so funny to hear how you remember a teacher from back then having her own crush - we never forget those sorts of things! 😂

[@deniseharris4631]

Remember a nice shop that sold bath racks, the see through cups with the coloured holders with handles on a tray, and all sorts of other household niceties, you could get almost anything there, just on the other side of Queens Road to the Palais. Also Barry Shooter, Chemist, where I used to get my films developed by Tudor in the late 70s. There was a Rossi Milk Bar style, less prestigious than the Rossis in Cranbrook Road. I thought this was nearer Lockwood Road! Not far before the cinema! But if that parade was called Market Parade between Pyrmont and Lockwood Roads, perhaps it was not! And was the Pyrmont end of the Queens to Pyrmont block! I just somehow remember it being nearer Lockwood Road than that! Also a friend of mine from school says her mum bought clothes from a women's clothes shop that way! I don't really remember the shop! Only vaguely rings a bell! But again, was it in the Queens to Pyrmont Roads block?! Further towards Pyrmont Rd than the household bits shop and Barry Shooter the chemist?! Or was it in the Pyrmont to Lockwood Road block?! My friend lived in Kingston Road, near to Sunnyside Road. Prior to me knowing her, she lived in Stanley Road, so it made sense her mum would shop from a clothes shop at that end of the High Road! Much nearer to them than the main shops in the High Road!

[@IlfordRetro]

You're right that when the High Road was much longger and the shops continued towards Seven Kings, it was good for the people who lived at the Sunnyside Road end or area near the start of Green Lane, to go shopping. I don't suppose the women's clothes shop you're thinking of was Hammertons? That was more of a haberdasher though I think. It was where Big Al's was in this episode. The Rossi style ice cream bar and Shooters Chemist - we honestly don't remember those, you have a brilliant memory!

[@rajnirvan3336]

That cinema was called The Island if I remember rightly. With this being Summer 1983 was the time I left Manor Park to move to Goodmayes and grandparents moved 7 Kings and just lived round corner of this video Sunnyside Road. Ilford was always our point of shopping but still went East Ham because Woolworths was still there. Couldn't understand why Ilford shut down and was a bigger store

[@IlfordRetro]

When it was a cinema it was known as the ABC, but later as a live music venue it was called The Island. Always was a strange decision to close Woolworths on the High Road.

[@rajnirvan3336]

@@IlfordRetro yes I remember The Island MTV had a show live from there once in 90s. It's now a Indian Banquet Hall and restaurant

[@IlfordRetro]

@@rajnirvan3336 Wow, I didn't know MTV once did a show from there. Those were the days.

[@rajnirvan3336]

@@IlfordRetro yes it was around 93 to 94 a show called Headbangers Ball. When MTV was music and music was MTV

[@IlfordRetro]

@@rajnirvan3336 Those were the days.

[@awsanteina5152]

Oasis played a gig at the Island on 3rd June 1994 my older brother went. Shame I was only 11 at the time!

[@IlfordRetro]

I had no idea they played there. Another stellar act that came to Ilford. We'll leave out the fact that Ant & Dec also performed at The Island (oh, sorry!)

[@pandora8478]

It's one place I never went to in Ilford.

[@IlfordRetro]

I think many from Ilford didn't venture that far down the High Road, unless they lived in the Seven Kings direction. It's even less of a destination now without the cinema/music venue.

[@mickwatson7215]

Could never under stand why there Was 3 old lamp posts on the pavement

[@IlfordRetro]

That's a really good point Mick. I almost mentioned something about them in the video, but couldn't be sure. I believe they are gas lamps, remnants from a bygone era and my guess is that they had something to do with the car dealership that was once there. Or maybe they were to light up a former tram/trolleybus stop? Perhaps someone else will enlighten us (pardon the pun).