Kensington Revisited

On Thursday, as I had a ticket for a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in the evening, I decided to make use of the journey to Kensington by going in the afternoon to look up some of the family's old haunts from when we lived there from 1953 to 1959. I parked the car at West Ruislip and took the Central Line to Holland Park. I entered the park from the unfamiliar entrance in the north. It was only when I arrived at the southern end did I recognise the surroundings. The sports field where we used to play football is still there. Where there is now a marquee, there were cricket nets where we tried to improve our batting and bowling.

Leaving Holland Park at Kensington High Street, I walked past Earls Court Road to try to identify where Dad managed a large grocers called John Buckle. The next photo shows the only original block from the fifties that is still there today.

This block is situated between Abingdon Road ( previously Newland Street) and what was Allen Terrace. The map below is described at www.british-history.ac.uk/.

It is not as far down the High Street from Earls Court Road as I had remembered, but that was when I was a boy. Thanks to Graham Carruthers, I now know that John Buckle is now Trailfinders, the shop to the left of the white van in the photo above. See posting of 7th February 2012.

There is a reference to John Buckle on the Internet as being No 1 Newland Terrace. And now today (18th February 2015), I have found an old photo which confirms this.

Walking on down Kensington High Street, I came to St Mary Abbotts Church where we had the occasional church parade, and in the fairly new quiet gardens at the back, near the infant school that Paul attended.

Then it was on to Kensington Gardens. I had never been inside Kensington Palace, so this was a good time to take a look round. A distinctly plain looking ground floor gave way to the fabulous King's Staircase and the fine state apartments.

Leaving the Palace, I had to stop by The Round Pond where we spent many hours sailing our toy yachts.

Finally, a walk towards Lancaster Gate took me to the fountains at the end of the Serpentine, where I crossed into Hyde Park and found myself on Buck Hill. This was where we used to play footbal for the cubs on Saturday afternoons. We would meet Dad at the shop after lunch, where he would pick up the poles we used as goalposts, and catch the bus to Alexandra Gate. Buck Hill would have a number of games as there were a lot of cub packs in Kensington. But all are home games were sited on the same spot at the southern end. The hill (more pronounced than the photo might indicate) made for interesting matches.

Leaving the Park at Lancaster Gate meant I was back on the Central Line to pick up my car at West Ruislip to drive back and park near the Albert Hall for the concert after the congestion charge and parking restrictions were over. I had time to grab something to eat before Jackson Browne started at 8pm.