How the High Street has changed. Orpington 1982 to 2022. The Walnuts - Shopping, Sports, Education

In 1982 I was very concerned about the number of old buildings disappearing in the town so I photographed Orpington high street to create a record
I have gone back at regular intervals ever since to photograph and in 2022 video
So what has changed between 1982 and 2022? Do you remember the Police station built and demolished during the time of this survey!
In this video we look at the newest area of the highstreet, the Walnuts, which has seen probably the most change in the period with a police station coming and going, the DHSS building going and a new cinema and a hotel arriving in the centre of Orpington! The Walnuts - is a predominantly 1970s built shopping, sports and Educational area.
There is also a proposal currently being considered for considerable expansion. Make sure you Stay to the end to see everything that has changed, and also what has not. Some is quite surprising
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Brought to you by Eclectic Experience. Change seen through images

[@keith800]

Thank you for this historical record of Orpington , I was born in 1957 and grew up in Lancing road not far away from here and remember the Walnuts even before it was built , it is amazing how it has all changed over the years .

[@joeroyle1399]

I was brought up in Orpington 1952-66. I loved the town back then. It was a nice little place growing up, but it all looks so different now. I hardly recognize it. The past is a different country. 😐

[@robin-kq7un]

Nice video, thank you for posting. I lived in and around Orpington in the 1950's and 60's. It has changed incredibly and, sad to say, not for the better in my opinion. Then, it was a charming little Kentish town full of friendly, neighbourly people. Now? Just another suburb in the London sprawl. I visited recently and it was a traffic nightmare, old landmarks had been pulled down with ghastly edifices replacing them and swarthy, miserable, immigrant types were everywhere. Only a few days ago 3 young men were shot and injured in Otlinge Road. It's sad.

[@wflack]

Thanks for all the work that must have gone into this.

[@eclecticexperience1]

Thank you!

[@stuartmcconnachie]

10:41 The original walnut trees were on the grass in front of the DSS building before being replaced by the Odeon. In fact I think some of them may have gone before that to make way for the covered market area.

[@stevetaylor8446]

I moved to Orpington in 71 and the changes are unbelievable. The loss of green space behind the walnuts was a terrible idea. In 81 I and a friend named the Saxon (then a youth centre for us). Back in the 70's, the high street and the walnuts was a nice place to shop, although it was never a nice part of the town but even worse today. There's an old saying...you can polish a turd. You can put glitter on it, spray it with perfume, but it's still a turd. I can't see it ever changing for the better. Great footage of the Walnuts, the pool back in the day was awesome, but on a visit some years back, the place was a wreck and very unsanitary. Such a shame to think that back in the day, it was so well looked after

[@eclecticexperience1]

Thanks very much for sharing your memories

[@markdixey3180]

It seems to have started to decline in the early 2000s. I remember needing a Travel Agent's urgently last summer - I went down the High Street and suddenly noticed how the High Street is full of coffee shops / restaurants, estate agents and charity shops. There's not much inside the Walnuts (where Gamley's used to be.) There used to be a cafe inside opposite Argus (which became Wilko's) in the mid - late 90s - used to go there for a milkshake after school. Now, with the closure of Wilko's, another vacant space. With the development of the Industrial Estate in St. Mary Cray into the Nugent Centre, there's not much hope for the High Street - hopefully the cinema will provide some life...

[@maseraticc2834]

I was born in Farnborough, Orpington in 68, and have good memories of growing up there in the 70s and 80s. Spent many years playing various sports in the Walnuts sports centre, and I remember when the paved area in front and to the side of the sports centre was the meeting point for skateboarders in the early 80s when the craze hit here. My aunt volunteered in the Saxon centre as a youth worker to try to help the young and misguided. Fortunately I moved away many years ago - Orpington is now choked with traffic, run down and dirty compared to how it was, and has become just another grey bland London suburb. Shame but it's not the only suburb town that has deteriorated...

[@elephant_pavilion]

The cinema area looked in some ways more futuristic in 1982 with those advertisement stands 😃

[@eclecticexperience1]

I know what you mean, those 1970s advertisement stands really did stand out and I noticed when they went!

[@tonytookmytoblerone5647]

Great upload -full of nostalgia 🥰

[@dannyletchford5746]

what a shithole

[@peterjenkins2789]

I have been racking my brain to try and remember what the area looked like before anything was built there but I came up blank. I do remember the swimming pool starting as I used to belong to Orpington Swimming Club. This was originally based at Darrick Wood Baths but moved to the new pool as soon as it could. Somewhat of an improvement. I haven't been back to Orpington since 2011 so your series has been very instructive.

[@eclecticexperience1]

Thanks, glad you've enjoyed!

[@nuttyboy7164]

Fantastic videos but........... Orpington is not in Kent, it's in the county of greater London and has been since 1965. You even refer to that in the video.

[@mehakus1195]

Thanks for sharing

[@bellaboop1]

Excellent! The Walnuts and Priory were of main concern/interest. I heard plans to pull down The Walnuts and redevelop the prairie gardens into a housing development 😢

[@eclecticexperience1]

Thanks, I think the plans for the Walnuts are currently withdrawn and I am not aware of any plans for Priory gardens.

[@bellaboop1]

@@eclecticexperience1 My pleasure. I heard The Walnuts plans were halted, a SportsCenter such as this is certainly needed in that area. The Priory is of vital importance.

[@smehmet21]

Great video much appreciated

[@leakoe3797]

First time I saw Orpington The walnuts had a large field ..it was a large car park for Orpington. Then I moved away..Saw recently bit different..!

[@tw25rw]

Do you have any views of the interior?

[@eclecticexperience1]

I'm afraid not