queens road

Pam Dor Coffee Bar – Early 60’s Hastings

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supplied by Peter Millington

Peter Millington….Eric behind the counter at the Pam Dor Early 1960’s.

Mick Knights….That’s the ever popular Eric, the owner, serving. I, along with just about every teenage lad, was banned by him at one time or another!! The Pam Dor had the first Discotec in Hastings, which was on the second floor, a place I never entered, nor did very many, as it soon closed. its second incarnation was the Astral club, which morfed into Toff’s.

Peter Pursglove….i did the door up there for a few years until it closed Alan ,Mollly Russell ran it ,busy little club

Tom Boyer….Great times, we loved it, a fabulous place to meet. Tom & Lin Boyer (nee White)

Sue Bartholomew (Nee Finch)… I remember the Pam Dor, it was the best place to go, we paid a shilling entrance and that also got you a coffee or a frothy hot chocolate, and sit in there for as long as you wanted, it was always busy and behind in Middle Street was a long line of Lambrettas or Vespas belonging to some young lad who was in the Pam Dor.

Colin Bell… Love this photo Pete, met my first ‘proper’ girlfriend there…happy days…

Mick Mepham… Who were your ‘improper’ ones Colin and are you still in touch with them?

Nicola Dobson… Spent a lot of time in there…I remember that seating area..they should have coffee bars again Im sure they would be popular!

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Fads Homecare Centre Queens Road Hastings – Fire 1978

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Andy Clarke… I lived 3 doors away from that

Merv Kennard… I seem to remember Pete Prescott was concerned about his home brew as he lived in a flat above the shop.

Andy Clarke… I don’t think there was a flat above fads. Next door was the COOP funeral parlour where my mum and dads friend lived and worked. Next door to that was our neighbours and then us. The buildings were owned by coop and had tied accommodation above. My dad and our neighbour worked in coop furnishing down queens parade.

Pete Prescott…That’s right. Its true about the flat. Next door to Fads was the Co Op menswear Dept run by my father in law Mick Lewsley (lovely man.He got us the flat) We had the flat above that. I was only a few door away from Fads. When I got there the first thing I saw was a few firemen laid on the pavement overcome by fumes. The road was closed. it was chaos ! I wasn’t allowed in. There was also a flat above the menswear Dept (it was a double sized shop) they were ok. Both our flat’s smelt of smoke for weeks. It took a while to clear. I Cleary remember a postman stepped over the barriers the fireman had erected and still posted the mail as if nothing was happening ! He seemed oblivious to all that was happening ! He walked through it all delivering the mail and stepped over the next set of barriers as if nothing had happened !

Andy Clarke… Pete, you must’ve been in 199a then? Front door was on Queens Rd? We was in 200a and door was at the back with steps going up by the side of St. Andrews market. It was also the same way up to get to 201a. 202a was above the funeral directors and door was between them and fads. We moved into 200a in 1970 and my parents were still there till 1997ish. If I remember right in 199a the bath was in the kitchen when I first went in there.

Pete Prescott… That’s right. 199a. I wonder if the bath is still in the kitchen !

Nadia Compagnone… I worked in Sussex Stationers in Queens Road when this happened. I remember a really nice chap who used to work in Fads. Queens Road had so many lovely shops and people who worked in them at that time.

Madeline Reade… Joanne, this was after Fine Fare.

Andy Clarke… I remember it well. We lived 3 doors up from there.

Rumbelows Queens Parade Hastings 1980’s

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Tim Harris… Free hats and stickers Now that’s an offer you couldn’t refuse !

Wendy Weaver… I liked Rumbelows. We bought quite a few things from them.

David Wilkinson… Late 70s, we bought our first washing machine from a Rumbelows. Not soon after we were back in the shop and I noticed that our washing machine was now badged as “electronic”. So I accosted the Saturday lad and informed him that we had the previous model and that I had connected it to the gas, not realising, as it wasn’t stated, that it was “electric”. I wanted him to confirm that what I had done was ok. He toddled off to consult someone knowledgeable, and we slipped out. If he ever came back to the shop floor, he didn’t find us !!! Such fun !!!

Who remembers Howard Swain Queens Road Hastings ?

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Advert 1969

Roy Penfold… They had been trading for a very long time before then – even prior to 1890 as evidenced by this clipping from the Hastings and St Leonards Observer – Saturday 01 November 1890

supplied by Roy Penfold

Alan Esdaile… In the seventies remember Alan Cruttenden worked there.

Nadia Compagnone… I worked with Alan when it was Sussex Stationers in 1977. Queens Road was a great place to work then, so many characters living and working around there.

Chris Meachen… Used to love that shop….

Dave Nattress… As a young lad working in an Architects office and also attending the old Hastings College of Further Education with Iain Cobby, Paul Durrant, and Mick Kemp, all of us construction students, and all in Damaris, Howard Swain in Queens Road was an essential supplier of kit. Special drawing pens, paper, technical instruments, drawing instruments etc. etc. Remember it very well. Was up from Huckells and close to Fab Boutique and close to record shops. This part of Queens Road was thriving back then.

Jackie Lewis… Richard (Dick) Dunk used to work in Queens Rd Shop. He was my Uncle and know he worked there during the 50s & 60s.and early 70s. I always thought he was a rep for the company. A big stout man, always smartly dressed, with a big smokers grin, always carried a brown leather brief case. He drove a firms van.

 

Town Crier Pub Queens Road Hastings 1979

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Samuel Freeman… My Local years ago

Pauline Richards… 1979 !!! Looks sooo long ago

Alan Esdaile… it was Pauline!

Ian Johnson… I’ve played the sound system upstairs back in the day

Fiona Evans… When pubs were pubs – the good old days!. I wonder where that pub sign is now !!!

Lloyd Johnson… Wasn’t that The GI in the 60s?…

Alan Esdaile… Yes it was, I think before it became the New Central.

Lloyd Johnson… was it ever called ‘The Cricketers’……?

Mick O’Dowd… Lloyd, The Cricketers was in South Terrace.

Tony Court-holmes… and up from The Cricketers was The Two Princes and The Pilot round the corner

The Deep Purple – Queens Road, Hastings and Battle photo around 1967

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1st photo supplied by Janine Anne Hemsley, 2nd photo with Graham Bradley supplied by Len Benton.

Janine Anne Hemsley…..The girls are Carol Guyatt and Linda Upton.

Mick O’Dowd….Looks like  early Whisky Mac. Think that is Pete Horton poking in right hand, Len Benton, Ian “Mac” McGilvary, Tich Turner,Tony “Tweet Tweet” Bird & Pete Horton.+ Girls.

John Wilde…..Wow this is a great photo……but where?

Robert Searle…Another great photo. I see Mac there with Tony Bird

Joe Knight….omg!!! tony LOL

Ian McGilvray….Yeah that’s me (Mac ) with Lenny Benton on My right hand side. I’m the one with the magazine and Tich is the one with the Birds as usual.

Andre Martin…..The reflection in this is the Fine Food Supermarket at the end of Queens Pde, you can tell that by the backward spelling of the name Minimarket and the design of the brickwork. Interesting the ” I’m Backing Britain ” posters can be clearly seen on the windows of the shop in Queens Road roughly where Gamleys or Helfords used to be located. Looks as if the group were on the east side of Queens Road, and the photographer on the West side..

Mick O’Dowd….Confirmation from Pete Horton that this is in fact Deep Purple. He reckons it was taken in Canterbury where they used to play at The Beehive Club.

Tich Turner….Hi All, this photo was taken in Queen’s Rd. We had a bunch of photos taken that day, but I’m only aware of three that have surfaced. One is a great pic of us all in a line, hunched up against the cold, in front of some glass doors somewhere. The other one, is of us standing on the steps of the public toilets that used to be in the town centre, near the Carlisle and we’re poking our heads over the wall. This is definitely Deep Purple. we didn’t actually become Whisky Mac after Pete Horton left and Graham joined, as I wrote. It was later than that. It was directly after Len Benton, our Bass player left and we recruited Tim Duke on Bass. Happy Days, Tich.

Ian McGilvray….I agree Tich

Pete Horton…..Hi from Pete Horton. Sorry about thinking that the pic was taken in Canterbury. I seem to be the odd one out. I cannot remember this being taken in Queens Road, but we were all in the nearby cricket ground with a Hastings Observer photographer on Sunday 4th February, 1968.

Ken Copsey… Great picture.

Paul Coleman… Mac!! Bloody hell, I never thought I’d hear about you again. I remember the last time I saw you was when you drove away from my garage at the back of Amherst Rd in Bexhill. Driving a Porsche. It may have been a Speedster. Worth a bloody fortune!
Where did those nearly 50 years go??

Graham Bradley… I didn’t no you had a Porsche Mac, the last time I saw you was in a Jag xj6 with the head lining hanging down over your eyes, we all had some bloody good laughs great band days.

Martyn Baker… Tich looking typically cheerful!

who remembers Tandy Queens Road Hastings?

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Alan Roberts… Yep, I do

Richard Honey… Definitely I bought batteries from them for my metal detector

Merv Kennard… Bought all sorts of things from them.

Roger Simmonds… Yep good shop missed it when it closed.

Daryl Perkins… Remember getting my first calculator from here…ready to start secondary school!!

Alan Wood… Yep, used to walk in and be amazed at some of the things for sale

Ian Johnson… Yep bought my first multi meter there

Mike Waghorne… Yes often bought components from there !

Mick O’Dowd… I virtually built my first disco decks with bits from here. A very handy shop indeed!

Dave Nattress… Interesting range of stuff in Tandy always well worth a look when shopping from Bexhill. A lot of cheaper “Hi-fi” and band gear, speakers, TV/video cables, connectors, all sorts of electrical stuff and then gadgets and toys – in fact all sorts of stuff.

Tim Moose Bruce… Handy store if into electronics. Still got a pair of PZM microphones which have been useful for recording. Another great shop was the electronic shop of the Trading Post in Castle Street. Built my first hifi system with kits from this shop. The other one that did kits was a market stall in George Street market.

Ian Quinnell… Bought loads of electronic components and other hardware from there. Wasn’t always cheaper than Radio Spares, but a lot more convenient.

Ekco radios at Thomas & Crouch Ltd Norman Road St Leonards & Queens Road Hastings 1958

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Peter Bridger… 25 Guineas was two weeks wages for the average worker in 1958 – the same today is about £1200.00! A lot of money for a Radio.

Mick Turner… Who remembers a grey haired Man, I think he was the owner there, he would offer the customers a sweet for going to the shop?

Richard J Porter… That would be best part of £1500 today in comparison to the average wage!

The Record Shop Queens Road – Jack & Sonia London – Video by Andrew Clifton.

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A great video from Andrew Clifton.

Alan Esdaile…..I can remember buying my first album from Jack. It was the ‘Bee Gees First’ and I paid 6d a week and he wrote the amount on the back of the sleeve until it was paid in full. I’ve still got it. As a kid ,I used to love looking in the window  at all the record sleeves.

Jim Breeds….Lovely memories of the man. And I think the video I saw before didn’t have the memorial tribute tagged onto the end, though I had heard that elsewhere. Nice to see it again.

Graham Burfield….first album I got there was Cockney Rebel

Pete Fairless….I used to love the story of how he tracked down the album and went to collect it for you!

Chris Meachen…..Dear old Jack, He would occasionally come out with peculiar questions, like ‘Were you breast-fed?’ he was such a character

Jim Breeds….I mostly used record vouchers and birthday/christmas money when I was a kid and then when I was working from age 17 onwards I used to save up in my post office book 🙂 I particularly remember on one occasion I pre-ordered (as we now call it – I don’t remember that term being used in the ’70s?) a copy of the upcoming limited edition release of The Free Story LP, a best of compilation. I went to the shop on release day and you would have thought his Mum had just died. He was emotionally upset that he had been unable to source a copy due to overwhelming demand. He said he had tried everything, including phoning around to other record shops. He was still apologising for that some weeks late. What a character.

Mick O’Dowd….Jack &Sonia were one of life’s best. He actually sold me my first Dansette record player and knocked 2/6 off the price for my Mum ( God bless Her) as he suddenley found that a bit of the leather cloth was loose! it was precisely 1/8th inches wide. Great couple. He would always call me “Chiefy”. Did he call anyone else this?

Andrew Clifton…..Hello Jim, I’m Andrew’s brother, Steve. We knew Jack and Sonia for many years. We’d go to the Record Shop searching for nostalgic recordings. Unfortunately we missed his retirement in December 2006 and then of course his sad demise in June 2007. I took the video camera to the funeral to chronicle the event as he, Sonia, and The Record Shop became a significant part of Hastings social history. Fortunately the proceedings were light-hearted and sprinkled with anecdotes, so it became a ‘watchable’ record…so much that Sonia asked for several copies for friends and family.

Chris Russel…..Great to see this film of Jack and Son, but so sad to hear that they are both gone. When I worked at Swift in Bexhill in the 80’s and 90’s Jack would come in every Wednesday and buy stock. At first he used to arrive in an orange Morris Marina that was 90% rust but later would get the train over. As far as I know they never had any children but had several cats that Jack would refer to as ‘the kids’, the most famous of which was Monty. Occasionally I would pop into the shop on a Saturday and knew I would be in there at least an hour as Son would insist that I had at least one cup of tea and usually at least one cheese sandwich.

Lauren Gower….The best kind of record shop,along with Alans of course!just before they close they got me a copy of ‘songs for drella’-Lou reed,John cale…when i tried to order it in Hmv(of maybe it was virgin at the time),they asked me who Lou reed was!!! There are no words for that!

Andrew Clifton… Unfortunately Jack and Sonia. Didn’t have any children as for the railway films Jack took. I think a family friend has got them. We got a lot of records through Jack. Also from The Disc Jockey. Both Jack and Al were great people to know.

Sid Saunders… I got all my music from Jack, a true gentleman sadly missed.