Maria Louise Hynes wrote: "My grandparents lived above a shop at 48 Station Road during the late 60s-early 70s.  Can anyone tell me what the shop sold? Also, what became of my grandparents?"
That is a mystery. In Station Road there was Band & Co. at 43, the Post Office at 44, then St Aubyn's Road, the Congregational Church and then Baker's the undertakers at 52.  So I don't think that 48 existed as a shop.  I guess that numbers 46-50 had been houses, and that they were demolished to make way for the church when it was built in 1932. There was a house or shop at 48 Boundary Road (Hove). In 1956 Jn A. Hynes lived at 336 Mile Oak Road

I don't know if anybody can help me - my grandfather (William Jones) grew up in Brighton and in 1908 joined Sainsbury's in Hove as an errand boy. The record in the Sainsbury's archives says he had a reference from an indecipherable name in Boundary Road, Portslade (no number). The name could be Hoyes, or even Squires, but has an initial of F. I'd be interested in whether this was a "business" or "personal" reference. I can send a picture of the entry, if that would help. Thanks, Derek Hathaway

We live at 43 Station Road, above the current shop and think it is haunted, can anyone throw any light on it?

Does anyone remember a small cafe that was in Station Road, quite near the corner of North Street? (I think it was 2 or 3 shops down from the North St corner, going towards the sea.) I worked there for a short while in one of the school holidays, in the early 1960s. It was run by a couple who had two boys, younger than I was. It was an excellent cafe: there would be a choice of hot meals - casseroles, braised liver etc all freshly cooked in the oven every day. There was no stinting. I was told by the owner I hadn't put enough butter on a customer's toast one day. The kitchen was kept spotlessly clean and the oven scrubbed out every afternoon after the lunch-rush was over. The place was always jammed full at lunchtimes. I was supposed to be the waitress but I was pretty hopeless and much too slow - especially as some people just asked for their "usual" and I was too shy to ask what that was. I gave in my notice because I just couldn't cope and felt totally inadequate - but the owners were really nice, hard-working people. Anyone remember what the cafe was called? I lived in St Andrews Rd, by the way.

Oh, yes, and there was a small stationer's shop nearby and a second-hand (antique?) shop that used to have a display ouside with old costume jewellery etc.

I remember the cafe mentioned in Station Road but, unfortunately, cannot recall what it was called nor who owned it. The stationery shop (Portslade Stationers?) was on the southern corner of Station Road and North Street, next to two houses and then the cafe. When I was growing up close by in the 1950's, I seem to remember the cafe was not the sort of place to go, as some Teddy Boys used to hang around there in the evenings. As a result, when I started work in April 1964, I used to go to the cafe in Seaford Road for lunch. For 3s/0d (15p) you used to get a two course lunch (either a choice of three mains plus dessert or three mains plus a cup of tea). The plates were always piled high and the menu changed every day, although every Monday was the same as the Monday before, every Tuesday was the same as the Tuesday before and so on. The business belonged to a young chap who literally ran around serving table with, I think, one helper, and his wife doing all the cooking. When the price went up to 3s/3d (16 1/2p) a day I stopped going as I couldn't afford it anymore!
In the 1950's, I was looked after every day by my Grandmother at 9 Seaford Road (right opposite the cafe) and remember seeing a line of police motor cycles parked outside almost every day when the local police instructor brought his latest brood of learner motor cyclists in for a cup of tea. The instructor's bike was always parked at the Boundary Road end of a line of grey Ariel learner's bikes. Come rain or shine, the police riders used to wear long macs with what looked almost like black pith helmets, goggles and long gauntlet style gloves. One day, aged about 3 or 4 years old, I ran down the hallway at my Gran's place and pushed the door shut on her in the pantry. I couldn't reach the door-handle and, apparently went over to the cafe where I managed to convince them something was wrong. When they let my Gran out of the pantry she found me sitting at the bottom of the stairs happily eating an ice-cream. "Come here you little bu**er, I'll tan your ar*e for you". How many more times was I to hear that? Great times though, looking back on it.

Thanks for the interesting comments, Alan. By the time I worked in the cafe, I'm pretty sure it was only open in the daytime, closing in the late afternoon ready for preparations for the next day's cooking. Maybe the previous owners had got fed up with the Teddy Boys. The clientele in my day consisted of local workers, presumably from the local shops and businesses and I think from Shoreham Harbour. Portslade Stationers sounds about right - the man who ran it had a very high, husky voice. I think the stall or table of secondhand jewellery etc that I recall may have been set up outside one of the private houses you mention between the stationers and the cafe - possibly not a full-blown shop premises.

Thanks for your contribution.