Fish Street Hill from Lower Thames Street, 28 January 1912

1. Roy permalink

   June 17, 2012

   17th June 2012.
   In the 1940’s and 50’s I lived at number 36 Fish Street Hill, The Old Britannia Pub from birth till I was 11 yrs old. What a wonderfull time that was the whole city was a playground for my brothers and I, the damage had been caused in WW2 so we really could not be blamed for the little things that we got up to, like the fish head fights we had and our parents made us take our smelly clothes off before they would let us in the pub. Those really were the good old days. My two brothers and I still talk about the wonderfull years we spent liveing in the Square mile.
   We all went to the Sir John Cass Foundation School in Dukes Place Aldgate.
   Tomorrow will soon be yesterday so take care young ones you only get one life.
   Roy <{:o)
2. Michael permalink

   December 26, 2012

   Fish Street Hill, which until 1831 was the approach road to old London Bridge, retained its charm until Billingsgate Market closed in 1982. Since then development has swept away most of the old buildings. The site to the south east of The Monument was redeveloped as Centurion House and Gartmore (now Providian) House. A major redevelopment of Centurion House began in October 2011 with completion planned in 2013. In the late 1990s Equitable House was built to the north west. At the same time Regis House, to the south east, was replaced by a much larger building. Plans for the redevelopment of the site to the north east of The Monument were approved in 2007 and it appears that work on this project will start soon.
3. Michael permalink

   December 26, 2012

   Fish Street Hill, which until 1831 was the approach road to old London Bridge, retained its charm until Billingsgate Market closed in 1982. Since then development has swept away most of the old buildings. The site to the south east of The Monument was redeveloped as Centurion House and Gartmore (now Providian) House. A major redevelopment of Centurion House began in October 2011 with completion planned in 2013. In the late 1990s Regis House, to the south west, was replaced by a much larger building and Equitable House was built to the north west. Plans for the redevelopment of the site to the north east of The Monument were approved in 2007 and it appears that work on this project will start soon.
4. Steve Russell permalink

   November 14, 2017

   In and around 1974/1975 I worked in a printing company in Fish Street Hill. I have a very good idea that the company was called John Proctor or something very similar. It was towards the far end on the left hand side if you were heading towards lower thames street.There was a public house almost directly opposite the printers. However, the name escapes me. But I know it wasn’t the pub mentioned elsewhere in this (The Old Britannia) as I used to go in that one. Can anyone remember the Printing company or indeed did anyone even work for it?
5. Rodney cope permalink

   February 3, 2019

   I worked at John Proctor 1958-1960 what a strange environment it was
6. Steve Russell permalink

   February 12, 2019

   Hello Rodney Cope,

   I realise it is a bit of a shot in the dark. But do you remember the name of any of the employees in your time at John Proctors? It was a strange but intriguing place to work and very archaic in many respects. I remember having to carry reams of paper up about 5 flights of stairs to the guillotine and warehouse room. There was no lift and the cut paper had to be carried back down to the machine room. Still, I have happy memories of working there.
7. George permalink

   May 20, 2020

   I worked at John Procter is printers in fish street Hill Around the 70s I worked in the delivery packing room delivering all the printing material to Claridges Simpsons in the Strand the Savoy own towel and some insurance companies at home street I remember Chris he worked in the office he wore glasses bit like Jerry in the around the 70s I worked in the delivery packing room delivering all the printing material to Claridges Simpsons in the Strand the Savoy and some insurance companies I remember Chris he works in the office he wore glasses then I worked in the machine shop cleaning up the machines And being shown down to do some printing and being shown down to do some printing on the Dawson S and taking forms up to the comp room can’t remember any of their names but there was about 4 to 5 working there And about the same in the machine shop and about the same in the machine shop I know one guy came from Maidstone and the foreman was always on the guillotine can’t think of his name there also was a printers on the top floor and if you went out along the balcony at the top do you have the silk screen people can’t remember any names
8. George permalink

   May 23, 2020

   And I think Dennis works on the Arab machine, I think Stan was the foreman worked on the guillotine and Norman works on the Heidelberg And I can’t remember the guys name but he worked on the S Dawsons i used to clean those up and of course Chris worked in the office and I remember carrying up the reams of paper from the road worked there for three years
9. Rodney Cope permalink

   November 25, 2020

   The foreman on the guillotine 1958-1960 was Ernie Conners on the Heidelberg was a guy called shorty for obvious reasons never did know his real name. John twitchet worked in the comps room. The manager at the time was a Mr Brown but Ernie the foreman was really in charge
   It was my first job and I found it a very strange old fashioned place not moving with the times but remember it like it was yesterday
10. Grant permalink

    January 19, 2022

    Hello everyone, yes George (if it’s the same George I remember from 1969-70)… I was in the comp room with Harry Puccine as foreman, he was very old and at the end of his working life. Two sisters owned the company but were very old and we all put in to flowers at Christmas for them. I remember Mr Brown the manager, he got shot with an air rifle through train window on way to work, still came in though with his head all bandaged. There was a strange character called Dunphy in comp room who had some mental problem and drove Harry mad and always causing arguments. George do you remember Harry Biggs? The ref from Ali Cooper fight. He was a fish porter I think and you used to shout out the window HARRY! as he walked by below. Do you remember the type fights we had when Dunphy thought someone was chucking things at him? It got so bad sometimes a 6×6 em metal went flying through the air and almost caught Brown as he came through the door! It was a very Dickensian place with sloping floorboards and mice droppings in the type cases and stairs that led down to the fish market below. I got married and left in 1970, but will never forget the weird and peculiar world of John Proctor!
11. Steve Russell permalink

    October 1, 2022

    Thank you all for populating this page with your memories. Yes, I remember now that the manager at my time in John Proctor was indeed a Mr Brown, and I also remember a chap called Stan he was a bit of a joker if I remember correctly. I was working in what I can only describe as a packing room with a guy called…I think…Rob or Robin. I was desperatly trying to get to work in the machine room on the Heidelberg platens (Think there was a youngish guy called Paul working one). However, Mr Brown had a different agenda for me and wanted me to be trained on the finishing side. Guillotine folding warehouse etc. So I left and went to work at Surrey County Cricket Club in their print department where I did get to run the actual presses. But weirdly still have some fond memories of Proctors. I also used to get to deliver the weekend menu to Simpsons in the Strand on a Friday evening and was allowed to go straight home afterwards (I thought that was really cool) getting away about 10 minutes before I would otherwise have finished.

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