Never Let Go

Hello John

Many thanks for your comments. I'm glad my history was useful.

Attached is the picture of Chichester Place in the early 1900's.



On the left of the picture, which is taken from Harrow Road looking down the street, is the Bayswater Synagogue. At the bottom of the street is the Maze Works, used as the exterior of 'Meadows Garage', in the film and owned at the time of this photograph (c 1905) by F. Morley. On the extreme right of the picture is 2a Chichester Place, my grandfather's four storey shop on the corner of Chichester Place and Chichester Street (you can see the sign for Chichester Street on the wall). This was used for the exterior shots of the 'Victory Cafe'. The shop was on the ground floor and you can see some of the contents of the shop. My mother and grandparents lived on the first floor which was very large inside. My grandfather's uncle and his wife and daughter lived for a time on the second floor before moving out shortly after he handed the business over to my grandfather in 1904. The top floor was rented out to a single woman of independent means.

The building on the right, further down the street, with the carts outside, is the Maze Hotel. The street leading off to the right of the Maze Works at the bottom of Chichester Place, which also featured in the film, is Chichester Road which lead past Westbourne Terrace and straight to the Grand Union Canal and Little Venice. A lot of my grandfather's clients were well heeled and lived in the town houses that proliferated in the area of Paddington and Maida Vale. My mother went to the Paddington and Maida Vale High School for Girls and would have walked that way to school. Incidentally, a contempory of my mother at that school was the actress Irene Handl, who appeared with Peter Sellers on his long playing records and in the film 'I'm All Right Jack'. She was born in 1901 in Maida Vale and was two years older than my mother.

Kind Regards

Colin


Thanks Colin, most interesting

Best wishes

John