Love these videos. I went to Alalees in late 1982 but I can't remember it being on the corner then, the entrance was in the side street and it was a tiny place, you went in through the door into a corridor and the one bar was on the right, a bit later on they had another bar, but that was on the left so further from the corner.....? Saying that, my memory is crap.....
sounds like your memory isn't too bad at all! Someone else mentioned the side entrance to Alalees, but likely when it became Stop Out the refit changed things around a bit. Someone else who did the carpentry on it at the time said it was quite extensive work.
Another great video; could you go about a mile eastwards and do a video on jakes burgers by seven kings Station .it's been there for 50 years with no change in signage, banner or decor! It's like going back in time
Thank you and that is a very good suggestion. We don't have a particularly old photo of that place, so it might crop up much further down the line when some other things may have changed (although hopefully Jakes will live for ever)
Sorry but I do not remember these places ... in those days I rarely visited this part of Ilford. But I do remember some of the computer / video games. Its just that I was too busy working to play them!
From the late 70's I knew the family very well who owned Ilford Radio cars. The owner lived at the top of Tomswood hill Barkingside and had a transmission aerial on top of his house which was connected via an early kind of internet to the office @ 281 & consequently 315 high road Ilford. Ilford cars had the best reception in east London and on good days ( weather permitting) they could receive messages out as far as Heathrow and was a very successful mini cab business. But with the slow and inevitable upsurge of fly by night competitors and their constant undercutting of fares the business started to struggle and so in the early 2000's his son decided to sell the business for a piffling amount (which included the good will it had built up over the years) to a consortium made up of the Asian drivers that had worked there. I don't know what happened to the business after 1999 but it looks like they struggled before giving up. None of this is confidential as the original owner sold his house at the top of Tomswood hill and retired to the coast in the early 2000's and has sadly since passed away.
Great insight into the company. It was the only taxi firm anyone used to call in the 80s. It seems the owner was ahead of his time and for that small period really had cornered the market. While researching the episode I couldn't find much about the present company at all and its office on the High Road is vacant, identified only by the firm's signage. A real shame he didn't receive what the company's real value - as you say, figuratively you cannot begin to put a price on a good reputation.
oof i used to go to bee jays when i was young play rtype and a few other games ,remember the guy in it covered head to toe in tattoos that took me back🙂
I've heard some people say that there was a tattoo parlour above Bee Jays - although it's not clear that there is one at the time of our photo. It's possible the owner you speak of opened one up there a bit later in the 80s......
Nice suggestion. I don't remember Lords by name but is it what became Wild Jack Henry's opposite the park gates, or was it the one next to the park gates?
It was right next to the park gates, 198 Cranbrook Road where the London Dubar is now. It was originally Cranbrook Hall until about 1980, then it was revamped and opened as Lords of Ilford, or simply Lords.@@IlfordRetro
Great information @@darrenward-n2c as that venue, while I recall it was there, is a bit of a blank in terms of our photos and what it became and when. I think it was called something else after Lords and before London Dharbar(?). Will have to trawl through again to see if we actually have something we missed. Thanks for mentioning it.
![The Wall Song ร้องข้ามกำแพง | EP.213 | กรีน อัษฎาพร | 3 ต.ค. 67 [1/5]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3KrlLbCsadI/mqdefault.jpg)
Interesting to see the before and after . Thanks again for the info
You're welcome as always Yasmeen
Love these videos. I went to Alalees in late 1982 but I can't remember it being on the corner then, the entrance was in the side street and it was a tiny place, you went in through the door into a corridor and the one bar was on the right, a bit later on they had another bar, but that was on the left so further from the corner.....? Saying that, my memory is crap.....
sounds like your memory isn't too bad at all! Someone else mentioned the side entrance to Alalees, but likely when it became Stop Out the refit changed things around a bit. Someone else who did the carpentry on it at the time said it was quite extensive work.
Another great video; could you go about a mile eastwards and do a video on jakes burgers by seven kings Station .it's been there for 50 years with no change in signage, banner or decor! It's like going back in time
Thank you and that is a very good suggestion. We don't have a particularly old photo of that place, so it might crop up much further down the line when some other things may have changed (although hopefully Jakes will live for ever)
Lovely times
Thanks for stopping by Raj
Sorry but I do not remember these places ... in those days I rarely visited this part of Ilford.
But I do remember some of the computer / video games. Its just that I was too busy working to play them!
Forging ahead in a career at that time was probably more time savvy than shooting aliens and asteroids!
i grow up in oakland park ave in the 70s went to st peters and pauls then dane . this made me emotional lol
So nice to hear it brought back some memories June! It was a great time to be around, with everything literally on your doorstep
My mrs worked in there. Used to go in there too.
I remember playing asteroids pinball and other games there then going over the road to the ABC to catch a movie..
such great times weren't they, when there was plenty to be entertained by in the town centre
From the late 70's I knew the family very well who owned Ilford Radio cars.
The owner lived at the top of Tomswood hill Barkingside and had a transmission aerial on top of his house which was connected via an early kind of internet to the office @ 281 & consequently 315 high road Ilford.
Ilford cars had the best reception in east London and on good days ( weather permitting) they could receive messages out as far as Heathrow and was a very successful mini cab business.
But with the slow and inevitable upsurge of fly by night competitors and their constant undercutting of fares the business started to struggle and so in the early 2000's his son decided to sell the business for a piffling amount (which included the good will it had built up over the years) to a consortium made up of the Asian drivers that had worked there.
I don't know what happened to the business after 1999 but it looks like they struggled before giving up.
None of this is confidential as the original owner sold his house at the top of Tomswood hill and retired to the coast in the early 2000's and has sadly since passed away.
Great insight into the company. It was the only taxi firm anyone used to call in the 80s. It seems the owner was ahead of his time and for that small period really had cornered the market. While researching the episode I couldn't find much about the present company at all and its office on the High Road is vacant, identified only by the firm's signage. A real shame he didn't receive what the company's real value - as you say, figuratively you cannot begin to put a price on a good reputation.
oof i used to go to bee jays when i was young play rtype and a few other games ,remember the guy in it covered head to toe in tattoos that took me back🙂
I've heard some people say that there was a tattoo parlour above Bee Jays - although it's not clear that there is one at the time of our photo. It's possible the owner you speak of opened one up there a bit later in the 80s......
@IlfordRetro yeah remember that now,I lived on sunnyside Rd used to go to bee Jay's after school sometimes
Any chance of doing something similar to Cranbrook Road by the park where Lords nightclub used to be? That would be fantastic....
Nice suggestion. I don't remember Lords by name but is it what became Wild Jack Henry's opposite the park gates, or was it the one next to the park gates?
It was right next to the park gates, 198 Cranbrook Road where the London Dubar is now. It was originally Cranbrook Hall until about 1980, then it was revamped and opened as Lords of Ilford, or simply Lords.@@IlfordRetro
Great information @@darrenward-n2c as that venue, while I recall it was there, is a bit of a blank in terms of our photos and what it became and when. I think it was called something else after Lords and before London Dharbar(?). Will have to trawl through again to see if we actually have something we missed. Thanks for mentioning it.