Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

1 Willoughby Road, 1960s

Our house. 1 Willoughby Road.

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Comment by Hugh on June 4, 2021 at 11:38: Thanks for adding this. Looking at the old OS maps, it looks like there used to be a large double-fronted Victorian on this plot. It looks like both it and the one next door were destroyed by bombing in the War: both were on the 1938 map but not the 1952 one.

1893 OS map

1952 OS map

Comment by Robert Sleigh on June 4, 2021 at 11:56: I lived there with mum and dad from 1956 - 1966. I remember the cinema being the Curzon.

Comment by Hugh on June 4, 2021 at 12:01: I guess the Curzon would have looked something like this in those days.

Comment by Richard Woods on June 12, 2021 at 16:31: This house is directly opposite where we lived in Frobisher Road (86). Back in the 50s, after it was built to fill the bomb site left by the war, it was lived n by Jack and Eve Sleigh. He was the horse meat man who operated in Wood Green (and supplied us with meat for our dogs),

They were very nice people and had family in the Manor House area (I went ice skating with them at Harringay Arena).

On their 10th wedding anniversary Eve awoke to find her much desired Sunbeam Rapier, in white and brown, was awaiting her delights!

As a kid I watched this house, and number 2 (a semi but new-build to fill the gap), being built. We thought them terribly modern! You can just make out at the end of number 1's garden a flat roof building - this was the garage and I spent many happy hours hidden away on its roof.

So to family names of the 50s- from the Regal - 90 (Perry), 88 (Evans), 86 (Woods), 84 (Sharp), 80 (???), 78 (Ward, lower; Doubtfire, upper) miss a couple.... Warrens... miss two, Calendar. Over the road 111 Broad. That's about it.

And, Hugh, it was the Regal from 1946 to 1964 - before the Electric Picture House I believe and later the Curzon and then a Mecca bingo hall and now a church.

Comment by Robert Sleigh on June 12, 2021 at 16:59: Thanks for all that Richard. Dad did have the meat stall and I believe mum worked it sometimes. The Sunbeam Rapier was her 1st ever car and went on to have a Jaguar, Daimler, Mercedes and a couple of others. We went from London to Thorpe Bay in Essex when I was 12 and lived there for 10 years and then came back to Southgate for another 22 years. Then I moved to Westcliff with my family and mum and dad moved there as well for their final years. Dad died in 2006 and mum followed in 2010 at the ripe old age of 95.

Comment by Hugh on June 12, 2021 at 18:44: Indeed it was, Richard. Here’s a short history of that cinema I wrote on Wikipedia.

Comment by Robert Sleigh on June 12, 2021 at 18:59: I drove past 1 Willoughby last year and it's a small block of flats now by the look of it. I remember playing football as a very young boy over the road on Ducketts Common. I used to play with the Louis Chrysanthou who I grew up with. His parents were mum and dad's best friends and they owned the Criterion Greek Restaurant around the corner on Green Lanes. I think there was a shop next door maned Coplanas if I remember correctly.

Comment by John D on June 12, 2021 at 19:02: I went to that cinema to see a wonderful film called " Bhaji on the Beach "

Comment by Richard Woods on June 12, 2021 at 21:58: Thank you Hugh for directing me to your excellent and fascinating history of the old Regal. In fact I do recall the renaming in 59 to Essoldo - it was not popular with the locals!

HoL is an amazing place - I never thought to ever 'meet up' again with one of Jack and Eve's family but here is Robert! I am guessing we never met.

The Criterion Restaurant came to our rescue at Christmas 1957 or 58 when our entire Christmas including food was stolen on Christmas Eve! The Criterion squeezed us in! Very embarrassing as my father was Metropolitan Police Detective - at Scotland Yard!

Comment by Robert Sleigh on June 12, 2021 at 22:08: I doubt if we met. I was adopted around 2 years old and lived in 1 Willoughby until I was 12. Then we moved in with my cousin and her husband in Boundary Road, Turnpike Lane for a year or so until my dad bought 2 places next door to each other in Thorpe Bay. You may remember my cousin Hilary. She came to live with us in 1 Willoughby when her mum Kit died. Then she got married and they moved to Boundary Rd.

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