Comments on: Postcards From Petticoat Lane

By: CAROL ANN CONLEY

CAROL ANN CONLEY — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 22:40:19 +0000

My Nan lived in Brune House, Toynbee Street and we could see the market from her livingroom window. After all the stalls had been packed away a dust cart came round and sprayed all the road with water.

By: Francis Ciantar

Francis Ciantar — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 19:06:51 +0000

As a kid in the Mid 1960 use to look at the birds and got to choose a dog in Club row. Liked the different characters selling weird toys like the furry snake that climbed up the seller. Thanks for the pics brings memories back??

By: Susan Lendroth

Susan Lendroth — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 21:14:17 +0000

I noticed one man in a shiny top hat in the very fist picture standing above the crowd. Was he a merchant putting on a show for the punters or was a customer who stepped up and out of that mass of humanity? What a din it must have been. Just the idea of shopping for ANYTHING in person rather than via a computer screen sounds fascinating now.

By: Rogmi

Rogmi — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 20:38:00 +0000

@Amanda
Re the ‘hotel’.

I’ve done some digging around on some NLS maps.

I have found that the pub address was 1 Middlesex St. and called the Blue Anchor in the late 1880s (Pubology). I don’t know if it retained the name until closure.

The hotel is marked as PH (Public House) on the 1951 map, but doesn’t give the name. I’ve not been able to find the name anywhere. It was quite likely that the pub did have rooms for rent, a common thing for larger pubs.

It was located on the west side of Middlesex St on the corner of Aldgate High St and Middlesex St. I don’t know if the pub’s postal address was Middlesex St or Aldgate High St.

Photo 12 shows 146 Whitechapel Rd on the right – Gorton & Sons Chemist:
http://www.theworkhome.com/precedents/146-whitechapel-rd/

Photos 9 and 15 show the ‘Hollington Bros’ sign which appears to be part set back in an alleyway on the right. This is Boar’s Head Yard shown on the 1884 map. The whole area had been cleared by the 1951 map.

Nothing remains of either Gorton & Sons (now a path with a few trees) ot the pub (approximately where the NB St Botolph St is now). Indeed, all of the west side of Middlesex St has been rebuilt, although the east side has retained most of the original buldings although, as Google Street View shows, in a much posher condition!

By: Pauline Taylor

Pauline Taylor — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 10:46:08 +0000

My first visit to Petticoat Lane was in the 1950s when I went to stay with family friends in Hendon on my first solo trip to London as a schoolgirl. Ernie took me everywhere and showed me all ‘the sights’. One of the most vivid memories is Petticoat Lane and the crowds, I was told about pickpockets and to hold on tight to my purse !! I wonder if anyone else remembers the man who juggled with the china he was selling, even the dinner plates flew up into the air but, never to be forgotten, was the man selling fish who blew his nose on a huge hanky and then proceeded to ‘clean’ the knife he was using to cut up a conger eel with it !! I think that helped to put me off fish for life. But it was an incredible experience for a girl who lived in a small country village but the way people spoke was very familiar as my grandfather was born in Whitecross Street where dahn was down and rhyming slang was something I had grown up with, plenty of whistles and flutes and dicky dirts to be bought in Petticoat Lane. More happy memories.

By: Pamela Traves

Pamela Traves — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 03:12:12 +0000

What Wonderful Picures!! I would Love to walk there see all the people and the great things to look at.????????

By: Susan Levinson

Susan Levinson — Sun, 31 Jan 2021 22:26:35 +0000

These photos would make (part of) a wonderful book….

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sun, 31 Jan 2021 21:44:15 +0000

Dressed to the ‘nines’ they surely were. No bare heads.
And yes, more footloose males in flat caps and bowlers than the females in their perky straw titfers.

l noticed those beautiful street lamps too and wondered if the building was a restaurant or hotel? Hope someone knows.

l spotted a constable having a chat and the enterprising tarpaulin visible from every building window of
‘HARRY WOOLF – the Dartboard King.’

My grandparents would have been 45 in this era and the nearby townhouse my granny was born in would now be worth £8 or £9 million.

l hazzard a guess my Gt Uncle John just rented rooms or part of it.

And as soon as l passed my driving test l began shopping here in the 70s for my fabrics when l could just roll up and park my Triumph Herald.
Such freedom and independence.

l am bound to have gone home with those bargain three legged tights too ? revealing the location of my secret Sunday adventure.

Where did you get those? ?

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Sun, 31 Jan 2021 20:42:46 +0000

Amazing images of ‘real life’. Thank you. One of my favourite places was Brick Lane, which also has a fascinating history.

By: saba

saba — Sun, 31 Jan 2021 20:18:56 +0000

So many men on Petticoat Lane! Did men buy household necessities and clothing for their entire families?