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Then and now:1950 and 2008

The modern view of Hereford Street Kemp Town, with all the cars parked on one side and double yellow lines on the other, contrasts with the black and white picture of me on my tricycle taken about 1950. There is one old car to be seen parked in the road.

The view is looking towards the Stag Inn end. I lived at 19 Hereford Street which was a two bedroom top floor flat. At the end of the road towards which I am cycling was a factory that made gas mantles.My Mother used to sew them at home for a pittance per box.

Hereford Street 2008

A young Dennis

Comments about this page

  • Just a shot in the dark. Does anybody know of my father, who I believe lived with his parents in this road, His name is George Roberts. and married Mary Fulker. He often spoke about fishing, winkle picking, and a mate called Joey Leach, who seemed to be a very loveable bloke. All the best for 2009 and a happy New Year.

    By Clive Roberts (01/01/2009)
  • I can remember during the late 1950s to mid 60s packing the gas mantles with a friend whose mother had died when she was a child so they could have money for their food. Families didn’t receive benefits like they get today, even young children had to earn their keep in those days in one parent families!

    By Marion Goodwin (01/01/2009)
  • Hi, my mum was born in Hereford Street in 1924.

    By Julie Annets (01/01/2009)
  • I do not recall the Roberts but the family Leach lived on the south side of Hereford Street roughly adjacent to where my tricycle is postioned.They had a black labrador dog called by a name that would be totally inappropriate to publish today. I used to call out the dog’s name from the safety of inside our garden gate and it would come bounding along for a stroke on the head. It would have unintentionally flattended me I think. I thought nothing of the name then and, at that time, I had never heard it used in any other context. Mr Leach was a fisherman and often a barrow would appear in the street selling winkles which we used to eat for Sunday tea; armed with one of my Mother’s hat pins for digging them out they were great with vinegar and pepper and bread and butter (or was it “marge”?). I believe Brighton Library has old copies of Kelly’s Directory which covered business and private addresses. You could start there to at least find out where the Roberts lived. Hereford Street was certainly listed and an index at the back in later additiions might show where they moved to if appropriate.

    By Dennis Parrett (02/01/2009)
  • My aunty was called Mary Fulker who married a  Roberts. They used to live at Moulscoomb Way in the 1950s. My father was Thomas Slater Fulker.

    By Thomas Victor Fulker (17/02/2009)
  • My great great grandmother was born at 63 Hereford Street in 1843.

    By Kaz (02/05/2009)
  • My Morrison family lived at 55 Hereford Street in 1859 and are there in the 1851 and 1861 UK census. They had moved to 7 Paradise Street by 1871. Thanks for the photos.

    By Lynley (22/08/2009)
  • My family lived in Hereford Street. Their names were Emery. Does anyone remember them?

    By Janet Seabourne (12/09/2010)
  • My nan’s family lived at 13 Hereford Street. Their house was bombed on the 9th April 1941- my nan’s father Fred Young and his wife Elizabeth Young were killed along with my nan’s younger sister and brother Alfie and Doris.

    By Rachel (25/07/2011)
  • Hi my name is Bob. I was born at 19a Hereford Street in 1947. I can remember laying in my cot and seeing the flats in Essex Street being built. And the bombed out site by the gas mantel factory in Hereford Street. My family lived there until I was about four or five years old, I can remember going to Queen’s Park School and having a afternoon sleep on a cot bed there. We moved from Hereford Street to Whitehawk.

    By R H Scott-Spencer (18/12/2011)
  • Hi Bob. My parents and I moved to the top floor flat at 19 Hereford Street and that must have been about 1947. It was certainly before I started at Queens Park Infants School at the age of five. We moved to Lower Bevendean when I was 10.

    By Dennis Parrett (20/12/2011)
  • Hi there, my name is Peter Humphrey and I lived at No 28, Hereford street. I would like to hear from anybody who lived in the street and anybody who went to St Mary’s Junior school and Queen’s Park Sec school.

    By peter humphrey (23/07/2013)
  • Hi there, I am now resident at the far end of the street near what used to be a gas mantle factory. I have wondered for a long time if the Cheeky
    Chappy lived in this street and if so ,what house number? I would love to know.

    By Corinne (15/11/2020)

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