And In 1933

 The majority of the items of news appearing in the Herts Advertiser in 1933 were not sourced from our East End, but from within the 1879 city boundary.  It took a considerable number of years for the outer areas to become established and for news on the east side to become routine.  Consequently, if you lived in Camp, Fleetville or further East you may have become knowledgeable about the established city, but residents of the inner areas may have been less inquisitive about their neighbours in the East End.  

Here is a random selection of topics reported in the Herts Advertiser  during 1933.

Behind this frontage was the cattle market with its vehicle access where the planters have been
placed.  Bon Marche and then British Home Stores arrived.  But behind these buildings was the
Market Hall and the market.  Travelodge is responsible for the wonderfully blue skies in its
recent photograph. 
Courtesy Travelodge

The Market Hall (behind where BHS was until recently replaced by Travelodge) was an essential part of the cattle market.  Meals were dispensed on market days and meetings on other days. It was a civic restaurant during the war.  Entertainments probably began in 1933 when the hall was first used for recreational and occupational activities for the unemployed.

A view of the Handley Page buildings from the Midland Railway.
Courtesy St Albans Museums

Anyone who could  afford the five shillings (now 25p) could take a flight over St Albans from St Julians Aerodrome – where Handley Page Aircraft was shortly to arrive, and where in future there may freight movements!

Doggetts Way was one of the early St Julian's estate streets developed adjacent to 
St Stephen's Hill.
Courtesy Google Street View

A number of homes were for rent or sale at St Julians estate.  Guided by the new Town Planning Act 1919, it was reported to be "well town-planned".  These houses were in Wilshere Avenue and Doggetts Way, but the item made no mention of them being adjacent to the Gas Works; instead "next to St Stephen's Hill" was emphasised.

A photograph appeared of the four generations of the Rollings family, who arrived in the mid 1920s and developed an important wholesaling business.  East Enders would have recognised this family name.

Gas street lighting in George Street.

The council had recently agreed a contract for providing electric street lights to replace the gas lanterns.  Many Camp and Fleetville residents would have been grateful for any kind of street lights instead of relying on moonlight.

The Cross Keys Public House on the corner of Chequer Street and London Road, where 
Burton's store was later developed.  Adey & White's gave way to Benskin's. Those with
specific knowledge of pub licences will probably know more of this story.

Benskins Ltd was granted permission to transfer its licence from the Cross Keys. which stood on the London Road/Chequer Street corner, to Beech Bottom where new housing was going up.  The name of the new public house was the Ancient Briton.  Until recently only two pubs were open for trade in wider Fleetville and Camp (The Camp and The Crown); recently added by the Rats' Castle which was just a toddler having opened six years previously.

A early photograph of Stanborough swimming pool when it first opened and before more features
added.

Stanborough Swimming Pool has opened.  This lido-style facility attracted many East Enders, as no progress had been made on sites at the top of Victoria Street, Grange Gardens, St Peter's Street North, Verulamium, or Pondwicks.  We made do with Cottonmill, although in the same year St Albans School opened its own pool (now replaced) in Belmont Hill.

Various public events which had taken place at Clarence Park transferred to Verulamium from 1933 as the site was more spacious. But it was significantly further away from Fleetville, Oaklands or Smallford.

The three well-known pageants which entertained the masses in 1907, 1948 and 1953, were joined by a lesser known and smaller  version in 1933: The Nautical Pageant staged by Rotary on August Bank Holiday Monday – a recreation of a famous war incident, the attack on Zebrugge and other scenes.

Oak Farm, a short distance from Sandpit Lane in Coopers Green Lane, provided space for letting off steam.  A grass track was prepared for off road motor racing.  An East End bonus!

Hundreds of aspiring employees from St Albans were taken on at "de Havs."

de Havilland began moving onto the site around Hatfield Aerordrome; another East End benefit for later years which provided employment benefits at the growing firm.

Most definitely an East End benefit was the Twelve Acre Estate developed in 1933.  Houses for rent in Valerie Close, Campfield Road, Roland Street and Sutton Road.

The Chequers Cinema, first called St Albans Cinema, had played to the St Albans public since 1912.
Entrance to the car park was in front of the large poster board.

East Enders who could walk that far, or pay the bus fare, were able to benefit, along with everyone else, from an enlarged cinema at The Chequers.  The building was lengthened, pushing the screen end further into the car park.  For those who only know The Maltings may be surprised to discover the Chequers Cinema and the Chequer Street Car Park had been here since 1912, the former site of a brewery.

Most of our main post offices have now been dumped into shops but in 1933 the Post Office opened its equivalent to the longest bar.  The new building in Beaconsfield Road for all services extended a full 120 feet long.

The above, of course, were merely the highlights of the year.