50 years on the Wates Estate – by FH

Because my husband was about to take a posting, he worked for Unilever at the time, to Hayes and he thought Ham would be a good place to get to Hayes from Ham by public transport or by car.  We moved into this house, just as it was built.  When Geoff chose it, it was a hole in the ground but he earmarked this site and when the house was […]

Sandy Lane and the surrounding area – by VG

There would be some houses in Sandy Lane that people had just moved in, for instance our immediate neighbours at number 18 he was the Borough Treasurer and his wife and son and they’d moved in earlier that year, it was  September 1956 when we moved in, I think they’d moved in at the beginning of the year and were sort of well established and there were some other houses, […]

Trouble getting the joint from the burchers – by MG

We used to get meat up on the main road there, because that’s another memory…  My sister and I shared this bike and in those days, we didn’t have a fridge, so Mum used to order a joint of meat to be picked up on Saturday morning and she was given one half of like a raffle ticket and the other number was put on the joint.  So, mostly it […]

Shopping in Petersham and Ham – by VG

Well, there was of course what there was opposite the Orchard was the Petersham Post Office and General Store.  It was lovely.  It was a wonderful shop and I would go there every week because I’d get my family allowance there and it sold you know general groceries but I didn’t do my main shopping there because every Friday evening I would phone the Co-op in Ham St and they’d […]

Remembering Ham Parade – by MW

Oh, I tell you what, up on the Ham Parade was Denbys, which was a grocers and you could go in there, you’d give your order and then they would deliver.  Presumably the greengrocers was still next to it.  I mean, there was no supermarkets then, was there?  That’s where she used to go, to Denbys.  Oh, they had a little van, because I think I went to school with […]

Many memories of shopping in Ham – by GS

I can always remember going to see Father Christmas in Bentalls every year, a relative used to take me and my sister and brother to see Father Christmas, and he always said “what would you like for Christmas?” and I must have asked him half a dozen times for an electric train set, because in them days I think you still believed there was such a thing as Father Christmas!  […]

Ham Parade Shopping – by MS

Well we used the Parade for the shops well in the winter when we weren’t away at the weekends, we have had a wonderful collection of shops, we had another hardware shop as well as Malcolm’s, when we first came here.  There was a greengrocer this side of the Parade which also sold fish, of course we had the Post Office which was good, we had Barclays Bank, and we […]

Dunkley’s, Elson’s, the Co-Op, Burke’s, and Smurden’s – by KS

At the top of Cleves Rd there used to be a grocery shop and next to that was a newsagents and tobacconists.  Mrs Dunkley had the grocery shop and Jessops had the newsagents and Mrs Dunkley, I think her first shop was next to the Ham Tap.  It was a very small shop which she ran with her and her husband and in the summer she used to freeze Tizer […]

Dunkley’s and the Co-Op – by PP

It was – the Crooked Billet’s gone as well – down in Ham Street there’s a pub called the Brewery Tap. Across the road from there are some houses and one of those houses used to be the co-op and Mr Cox ran it like a private shop, really. He was very good, he was terribly disabled with arthritis; his hands were very difficult for him but he used to […]