John Howell
Ah Shepherds Bush market! I remember a fellow that peddled a ‘miracle’ wireless aerial. He had a pre-war wireless with a visibly long piece of wire plugged into the aerial socket and showed that it didn’t receive much except splats and bangs when a Met’ line train passed overhead. But plug in his miracle aerial and the stations came pouring in. This special aerial consisted of a Plessey high voltage smoothing capacitor, (Visconol, brown cylinder with a small terminal on the top and a big mounting stud on the base.) with a ‘probe’ 6 Inches long attached to the top terminal.He claimed it worked on television sets as well! Of course the demonstration worked because the ‘visibly long’ piece of wire had a break about an inch from the plug into the wireless, or so we reckoned!
Dave Mundy
… and don’t forget the colour TV converter for your B&W set! Actually it was two coloured gels one green, one blue, which worked on the occasional golf, cricket, racing etc. pictures but on the news reader made them look quite ill!
Mike Giles
I once had a piano teacher who watched television during my lessons, on a set with something like a nine inch screen and a big magnifying glass in front of it to make the picture bigger. It made it look as if the action was taking place inside a thick-sided bottle.
Mike Jordan
My neighbour in the 1950s had exactly the same setup with a 9” or 11” TV with the magnifying glass hanging on straps over the front.
Geoff Fletcher
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Taken from the top of the fire escape at Lime Grove in August 1964, this shot shows part of good old Shepherd’ Bush Market. I used to comb the bookstalls in there for SF mags for Algy the engineer in Pres B when I was seconded to Pres. I did three stints up there, the first in Pres A ‘cos I didn’t know any better, the other two in Pres B – a much more congenial set-up.
Ian Hillson
The only bookstall etched on my memory was the smutty magazine one – adjacent to the fishmonger’s stall.
The only other thing that sticks in my memory, or rather to the soles of one’s feet, were the carpet tiles in the Cafe Rest.
Bill Jenkin
Sad to say that 100 year old Shepherd’s Bush Market is going. Like so much of London it is to be ‘Regenerated’, i.e. demolished and 200 flats built in its place. There will be some new identikit stalls but not at prices that any of the old stallholders can afford.
Although the independent planning inspectorate found in favour of the stallholders they were overruled by the previous Tory planning minister Brandon Lewis.
Another bit of old London gone.
Robin Sutherland
Recent postings on the ever changing face of Shepherds Bush area with more and more familiar places disappearing interested me. Occasional drives down Goldhawk Road recall crew meals of yesteryear in the various cafes favoured by different crews I worked with. Most are long gone but the enduring presence of The CafeRest was a comfort that something remained…but sadly no more. A recent visit revealed that it has finally succumbed and though still a food outlet has a new look, name and menu. This despite a smart update to the decor a few years ago. Only memory now is on the Google map page – as below!
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