My journey last week that took me past Holland Park made me think about where we used to live in London in the 1950s. The photo above is much better than those I previously saw on the internet. The shop used to be a John Buckle, and we lived in the flat above, as my father managed the much larger John Buckle on Kensington High Street. The door on the far left was our own private entrance to the flat. If you enlarge the photo, you would be able to see the number 5a. What is interesting is that the windows of the flat above the shop seem to be quite new. Just compare them with those below; they are much more like they were when we lived there.
Although our address was West Kensington, we were on the border of Hammersmith and just across Holland Road from Olympia, so not at all posh. In the other direction was Abbotsbury Road, and that is where the nice property began. All those film stars to whom my father made all those grocery deliveries. I can remember that our flat had a veranda, but it might not have been safe to walk on. There was no heating installed. I cannot remember if there was a gas fire in the living room, but I do remember we did have a paraffin heater and nothing in the bedrooms. It could be quite chilly.
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