St Georges Buildings Borough High St

Hi
I am new to this forum and lived in the Borough till about 1957,we lived in St Georges Buildings Disney Place number 34,which faced onto Borough High St across a bomb site which is now Little Dorrit Park.
I wonder if anybody had any photo's or information about my old buildings.
I do not know if it has been posted before but the building next door to the John Harvey Library,a narrow building used to be the Crown Public house[now offices]If you look up to the top of the building you can still see The Crown sign, many nights i stood outside there with a packet of crisps waiting for my mum listening to them singing all the old songs inside

Hi Walker, do you remember Mence Smith the sweet place?

Hello Jan
Thanks for the reply,I am working my way thru all 344 pages of the se1 discussions and have seen your name quite a few times and have found your comments have really brought back lots of lost memorys of The Borough and Bermondsey as they used to be.
I remember the name Mence Smith but cannot remember where abouts it was.
On the corner of Borough High St and Marshalsea rd there used to be a large tool place i think called Nettlefold and Mouser On the other corner at 215-221 Borough High st just round into Tabard St is a office block facing onto the north side of St Georges church Where my cousins David and Dianna Walker lived in a large flat in the attic which come with there parents being the caretakers of the offices.
Looking at the 1911 census and have found John William Walker who is my Grandfather and Grandmother and 8 children including my father living at 53 Snowsfields all in 4 rooms how times have changed.
Looking forward to the reopening of the Southwark history center to trace these log lost family members.

Hi Walker Do you remember a firm in Disney Place that had a green facade it was connected to enginering?. A couple of my mates worked there It was situated right at the top of Disney Place just off Marshalsea Road.I 've long tried to remember its name. Jan , I recall a George Mence Smith Cheers Rich

Hi Richard
I remember there was a large high brick building backing onto St Georges Buildings in Disney Place and the kids used to throw stones from the bomb site up and on to the roof which was quite high,till one day a steel door opened in the wall and a man in a boiler suit shot out and chased the kids down the road.I belive it was an engineering works,but i can not help with the name sorry.
I know there was a egg packing factory in Disney Place for years,not a great smell.

I have to get my bearings now Walker, going down Union street from the borough, you had Redcross way on the left...going down there you had what we called the old redcross blocks..( good source of income that) anyway,they were on the left hand side and if you turned into them and walked down you would come to the 'wreck/rec' ground, nearby was Mence Smith, don't know why Kendon suddenly sprang to my mind! Mence Smith was the reason that I had a serious brush with the law and was hauled into court at Greenwich.
Some boys from school, 11 year olds had broken in and stole some sweets, which in effort to curry favour with the girls , who incidentally had no knowledge of this heinous crime and unwisely accepted these wonderful gifts..I think sweets had recently gone off ration, or if your parents were poor you never had any! A week later some one had got caught and been made to confess who they had given the sweets to, and policewomen came around to arrest us, lucky for us the magistrate had common sense and gave us a condiotnal discharge!
I remember Nettlefolds and Mosers, they had a truly beautiful display of their goods in the window, a very artistic sunburst of copper and brass screws radiating out like a glorious sunburst I loved it..
Richard I think Mence Smith still produce sweets, boiled fruit sweets in a small round tin.
I can't wait for the re-opening of the library either, suppose thats one good thing about being laid off from work, I'll have plenty of time on my hands to do the things that I have never had time for before!

Hi Jan I used to live in Redcross Way from 1966-1982, the
sweet factory your talking about was Smith Kendon that's why Kendon came to mind, they used to make hard boiled sweets that were packed in round tins, the main entrance was on the Borough High Street opposite the Blue Eyed Maid pub and ran right along the width of the rec almost to Redcross Way, do you remember the bubble gum factory that was on the Borough High Street the back wall we used as a goal when we played football in little dorrit, a lot of the older boys used to break in and pelt us with golfballs from the roof of the factory,I also remember Nettlefold and Mozer and when I live there directly behind ST Georges was a glass factory they also had a small building in Disney place opposite some sort of factory that made shoes for disabled people, does anyone remember the shops in Redcross Way and the people who owned them.

Funny enough Hugh, Richard sent me a mail today which pointed me in the right direction! Last night I kept seeing these small round tins with lemons on them and googled Smith Kendon , now described as travel sweets!

Richard was Mence Smiths almost opposite the borough post office? I remember a hardware store with a big kettle hanging up outside and I still use the all metal fish slice that I bought from there, it was really expensive, ten shillings and sixpence!

Can't remember the Glass Factory though Hugh, when you say the older boys pelted you with golfballs do you mean the big Gobstoppers which changed colours as you sucked them? There used to be a cafe in redcross way but I cant remember the rest..

Good Morning All Yes Jan thats the shop i was thinking of ,it was basically a hardware store ,not far from Stuart Surridge's the sports shop . Stuart Surridge the owner of the sports shop was a well known first class cricketer who captained the Surrey County Cricket team in the 1950s when they won the County Championship many times. They also had a factory in Weston Street where they made sportsware.I had many mates who lived in Stanhope and Mowbray Buildings Red Cross Way and there was a shop there they called "Gambadellas" Cheers Rich

Hi Jan and Richard, i remember the sweet factory one of my windows looked on to the back door of 5th floor the smell was unbearable at times i see you mention the wreck is it still there Jan what happend to you did,nt happen in the 50s did it. Richard you mentioned Stuart Surridge i use to work there back in 58 one of the many jobs ihad befor i joined up, Jan you would,nt know what happend to all the familys by any chance,