Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Disinfectant factory?
| lived in Woodlands Park Rd as a child and often walked through to Seven Sisters station using a route round the back of Chestnuts Park. Somewhere along my route I recall there being a factory, possibly in the vicinity of Falmer, Cornwall or Gorleston Roads but I cannot be certain after all these years.
The point being, I remember that the place regularly discharged something into the air which hung around for ages and burnt the insides of your mouth/nose if you caught a mouthful of it (it wasn't visible on the air incidentally).
I have a vague recollection of someone telling me that it was a disinfectant factory but, having recently got in touch with some of my contemporaries nobody seems to remember anything about this.
I've tried a few web searches with no joy and am beginning to wonder if my memory is playing tricks on me. Can anybody out there throw any light on my little mystery please? By the way, bit late, but happy 2013 to you!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by HoL Site Admin on
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A reply via Twitter, Geoff:
@harringayonline. I lived in Etherley Rd.and can remember the disinfectant factory it was called 3 Hands disinfectant .
— sue burrell (@tinks60) January 24, 2013
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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It was one of the factories on Cornwall Road I think. I also seem to recall a Cornwall Road 'smell'.
Or you may also be mixing that memory up with The Oceana laundry on St Ann's Road, where steam would hiss out of out of piping insulated with what looked like bandages. There was also the pungent smell of Chlorine all around St Ann's Road and that end of Cornwall Road too.
The Oceana's 'bagwash' service was how thousands of Tottenham & Harringay families, especially those with working mums, got their washing done in the days before widespread use of washing machines. Our first washing machine, a hoover 'Keymatic' http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/images/I011/10240837.aspx , arrived in 1966 and my mum stopped using the 'bagwash' - The Oceana lost most of it's business over time and closed down before the end of the 1970s I think.
The site was mixture of purpose built factory buildings and a few converted 1850s houses. The factory on the corner of Cornwall Road was three (or four storeys?) high and was the most attractive part of the rather scruffy looking complex. I googled to find an image, but only came up with Alan's photo with my own Oceana comments.http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanstanton/5505762444/
There is also a photo, posted by Hugh, that shows one of the Oceana's 'collection' shops on Grand Parade. Those shops had disappeared before I came on the scene, presumably replaced by the bagwash delivery service.
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Here's the link to the Grand Parade photo: http://www.harringayonline.com/photo/844301:Photo:35292?commentId=8...
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Permalink Reply by Geoff Dent on
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Thank you Stephen and others - I am glad that my recollection is not just my memory playing tricks. It certainly illustrates the cavalier attitude adopted to chemical usage/storage in those days. I can recall my father taking me to a yard in Turnpike Lane (I think it was between Clarendon and Hornsey Park Roads) to collect some stuff in the 50s. The yard was behind the large hoardings in the main road so you couldn't see in which was just as well as there were carboys all over the place and huge amounts of paraffin and diesel stored there. This was my introduction to acid (the chemical not the drug thank you!!) as you had to walk through puddles and I later found the soles of my shoes had been burnt. I think the site has since been built on - I wonder what grows in the gardens there now? Oh, happy days!!
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Hello Steven, a school friend of mine's father ran the Post Office on the corner of North Grove and Gorleston Road. It turned out that his father was embezzling money from the P.O. and eventually, around 1963, he commited suicide.
My friend always had lots of pocket money, much more than any other kids, and we used to go on trips to Central London together. Being a transport fan and bus spotter, I was much better than the others in navigating around London, so was always asked to go along. I wasn't aware where all the money came from. We had teas out on our trips. I remember one particular time at Covent Garden in between the market trucks.
After his father died, they moved away.
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Thanks for the attachments. I've still got a ticket from West Green Station from the last day of passenger service.
I used to go to the Post Office quite often. We played upstairs in their flat. I met the father a few times and I knew that he'd gassed himself and while Terry, his son, was at school!! In those days, no fuss was made about things like that. But thinking back, I was very shocked, but nobody ever really talked about it.
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