I was there , arther brown came on stage singing fire and set the curtains on fire, thinking it was all part of the act, when announcement telling us to evacuate the building, when outside we were confronted with fire engines and police , trying to control us away from the venue , in opposite direction was loads of mods trying to pick fights with us, a night I will never forget
Anyone interested into their 'dancey dancey ' stuff might know Vision Fm. Always try & get it on in work on a Thursday at 10 & Sunday at 10 for a DJ called Froodge, the fella is quality. I believe he's from Sidcup. Frequently makes reference to the Downham Tavern.
Anyone interested into their 'dancey dancey ' stuff might know Vision Fm. Always try & get it on in work on a Thursday at 10 & Sunday at 10 for a DJ called Froodge, the fella is quality. I believe he's from Sidcup. Frequently makes reference to the Downham Tavern.
Cheers I just had a listen on there reloaded (mad hatters) & that’s great stuff. These internet shows are great now , back in the day there was a pirate radio station in whitstable (wicked fm) run above the record shop , no way of telling how many were listening but with the dodgy transmitter u couldn’t really get it outside of whitstable & I think all those that new of it were all in the flat it was recorded from every Fri/sat night! There was another much better one in hernebay in the back of the old rave shop run by the people who put on the old reincarnation raves at the kings hall , that was a crazy place.
Was great as in Kent it was impossible to get signal from London pirates other than the original kiss fm. If u were waiting for a venue to b announced via pirate we would be driving miles towards London till we would get signal then quite often had to drive back again once we heard where it was.
Things have come so far since then with internet, but I think like the old raves it was great to know you were in the know & part of a select group.
I sometimes think people get the wrong impression of Downham. It was originally built for decent working class people who paid a substantial rent for the chance to live on the 'garden estate', in a house with an inside toilet and bath.
In the early days inspectors would visit to make sure that standards were kept up, doorsteps scrubbed, gardens kept and the inside well maintained. Residents would be told in no uncertain terms if they failed to maintain standards.
The Downham Tavern served the residents in all sorts of ways. Yes the biggest pub in England, but also facilitated tearooms, shows and even had a really grand room for dances.
This video is before my time, but features the dance hall at the back of the Tavern, you can still make out its former splendour. The people talking could easily be my parents / grand parents - I feel that I'd heard all these stories before, as I grew up on the estate from the mid 50s. There were a few rotten apples around of course, but by and large the Downhamites were a pretty decent lot and as for us kids? We were perfect in every way
My dad comes from the Downham Estate & I didn't believe him when he said they built a wall across a road to segregate them from the "posher" people from Bromley. Then I saw it on a tv programme a few years back about WW2 & they talked about this "wall" being built & the time a German fighter plane straffed a road along there.
I sometimes think people get the wrong impression of Downham. It was originally built for decent working class people who paid a substantial rent for the chance to live on the 'garden estate', in a house with an inside toilet and bath.
In the early days inspectors would visit to make sure that standards were kept up, doorsteps scrubbed, gardens kept and the inside well maintained. Residents would be told in no uncertain terms if they failed to maintain standards.
The Downham Tavern served the residents in all sorts of ways. Yes the biggest pub in England, but also facilitated tearooms, shows and even had a really grand room for dances.
This video is before my time, but features the dance hall at the back of the Tavern, you can still make out its former splendour. The people talking could easily be my parents / grand parents - I feel that I'd heard all these stories before, as I grew up on the estate from the mid 50s. There were a few rotten apples around of course, but by and large the Downhamites were a pretty decent lot and as for us kids? We were perfect in every way
My dad comes from the Downham Estate & I didn't believe him when he said they built a wall across a road to segregate them from the "posher" people from Bromley. Then I saw it on a tv programme a few years back about WW2 & they talked about this "wall" being built & the time a German fighter plane straffed a road along there.
Sadly true although in reality they had little to fear from the Downhamites who were the aspiring working class. It is well documented as to who could live there and the standards expected of the original occupants.
A lot of people may not realise that of Downham's 522 acres, 461 came under Lewisham and 61 Bromley. I lived in the Bromley bit. I attended Bromley schools, even though my nearest secondary school was Mallory. My infant/junior school was Burnt Ash, a school that was probably equally attended by the so called posh part of Bromley and the kids from the estate. As I went through life giving my address, I lost count of the raised eyebrows when I said Bromley. So many people tried to tell me that I lived in Lewisham or got upset that part of Downham had a Bromley address line.
By and large the kids from the estate went to the local secondary modern school following the 11 plus and the Bromley toffs went off to the Grammar school. There were of course exceptions, including my brother. My brother actually qualified for a scholarship to Dulwich College. He steadfastly refused to go there as he was already aware of the class system that existed. Besides he had to get home safely and doing that wearing a stripey blazer and straw boater may have been a step too far. In the event he went to Bromley Grammar where he was mercilessly teased and verbally bullied by the posh kids who assumed to their amusement that our father was a dustman - which he wasn't - although that was hardly the point.
Maybe that wall was a good thing. It did protect us from the utter snobbery and hypocrisy that existed at the time.
I sometimes think people get the wrong impression of Downham. It was originally built for decent working class people who paid a substantial rent for the chance to live on the 'garden estate', in a house with an inside toilet and bath.
In the early days inspectors would visit to make sure that standards were kept up, doorsteps scrubbed, gardens kept and the inside well maintained. Residents would be told in no uncertain terms if they failed to maintain standards.
The Downham Tavern served the residents in all sorts of ways. Yes the biggest pub in England, but also facilitated tearooms, shows and even had a really grand room for dances.
This video is before my time, but features the dance hall at the back of the Tavern, you can still make out its former splendour. The people talking could easily be my parents / grand parents - I feel that I'd heard all these stories before, as I grew up on the estate from the mid 50s. There were a few rotten apples around of course, but by and large the Downhamites were a pretty decent lot and as for us kids? We were perfect in every way
My dad comes from the Downham Estate & I didn't believe him when he said they built a wall across a road to segregate them from the "posher" people from Bromley. Then I saw it on a tv programme a few years back about WW2 & they talked about this "wall" being built & the time a German fighter plane straffed a road along there.
Sadly true although in reality they had little to fear from the Downhamites who were the aspiring working class. It is well documented as to who could live there and the standards expected of the original occupants.
A lot of people may not realise that of Downham's 522 acres, 461 came under Lewisham and 61 Bromley. I lived in the Bromley bit. I attended Bromley schools, even though my nearest secondary school was Mallory. My infant/junior school was Burnt Ash, a school that was probably equally attended by the so called posh part of Bromley and the kids from the estate. As I went through life giving my address, I lost count of the raised eyebrows when I said Bromley. So many people tried to tell me that I lived in Lewisham or got upset that part of Downham had a Bromley address line.
By and large the kids from the estate went to the local secondary modern school following the 11 plus and the Bromley toffs went off to the Grammar school. There were of course exceptions, including my brother. My brother actually qualified for a scholarship to Dulwich College. He steadfastly refused to go there as he was already aware of the class system that existed. Besides he had to get home safely and doing that wearing a stripey blazer and straw boater may have been a step too far. In the event he went to Bromley Grammar where he was mercilessly teased and verbally bullied by the posh kids who assumed to their amusement that our father was a dustman - which he wasn't - although that was hardly the point.
Maybe that wall was a good thing. It did protect us from the utter snobbery and hypocrisy that existed at the time.
Comments
These internet shows are great now , back in the day there was a pirate radio station in whitstable (wicked fm) run above the record shop , no way of telling how many were listening but with the dodgy transmitter u couldn’t really get it outside of whitstable & I think all those that new of it were all in the flat it was recorded from every Fri/sat night!
There was another much better one in hernebay in the back of the old rave shop run by the people who put on the old reincarnation raves at the kings hall , that was a crazy place.
If u were waiting for a venue to b announced via pirate we would be driving miles towards London till we would get signal then quite often had to drive back again once we heard where it was.
Sadly true although in reality they had little to fear from the Downhamites who were the aspiring working class. It is well documented as to who could live there and the standards expected of the original occupants.
A lot of people may not realise that of Downham's 522 acres, 461 came under Lewisham and 61 Bromley. I lived in the Bromley bit. I attended Bromley schools, even though my nearest secondary school was Mallory. My infant/junior school was Burnt Ash, a school that was probably equally attended by the so called posh part of Bromley and the kids from the estate. As I went through life giving my address, I lost count of the raised eyebrows when I said Bromley. So many people tried to tell me that I lived in Lewisham or got upset that part of Downham had a Bromley address line.
By and large the kids from the estate went to the local secondary modern school following the 11 plus and the Bromley toffs went off to the Grammar school. There were of course exceptions, including my brother. My brother actually qualified for a scholarship to Dulwich College. He steadfastly refused to go there as he was already aware of the class system that existed. Besides he had to get home safely and doing that wearing a stripey blazer and straw boater may have been a step too far. In the event he went to Bromley Grammar where he was mercilessly teased and verbally bullied by the posh kids who assumed to their amusement that our father was a dustman - which he wasn't - although that was hardly the point.
Maybe that wall was a good thing. It did protect us from the utter snobbery and hypocrisy that existed at the time.