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Post by Les on Apr 7, 2016 9:39:58 GMT
Every school day for five years, I stood outside the main post office in King Street waiting for a number 10 or number 109 bus to take me to school. Strange that I remember so little about the street. Vivish and Baker stood opposite the bus stop selling papers, books, artist materials and had a printing works at the rear of the shop. It was many years later when I married that I found out my father-in-law had been running this establishment all those years. Down the side of this shop was an alleyway that we used as a short cut either to Gabriels Hill, or to the Granada cinema. I remember many Saturday mornings walking down this alley to the cinema and there sat an old man with a tin of envelopes. He would place a ten shilling note inside one and mix them up. You could pay him sixpence, and choose an envelope hoping that this would buy you the one with the note in. Surprisingly I never saw anyone win. Haynes had an electrical store in King Street and if my memory serves me correctly it stood off the road a little way, next to a church. Someone tells me that the church is still there, cannot say that I have noticed it though. Avery the weighing machine manufacturers had a showroom on the same side as the post office and next to Clarkes furniture store.
The Church is not there.
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Post by Les on Apr 7, 2016 9:45:10 GMT
goo.gl/photos/eLkF6mXEguw4xeCn6Photo courtesy of KFRS Clarkes suffered a fire in 1994,the heat was so intense that the helmets of the firefighters were melting. Clarkes have then moved to the site previously occupied by the Nestledown bottom of lower road. now at the Corner of Lower Boxley Road /Sandling Road near The White Rabbit Publc House .That was The Officers Mess at the Old Barrack's Next to the Ritz cinema was another alley that we always called Pads Hole. Next to the cinema was an antique shop, the front of this is still standing today, and next to that was Paynes pet shop. We bought tortoises here and took them home in a box; I think they cost the enormous amount of five shillings. There were two large garages along from the cinema, one called Ansteys and the other called Miles. Ansteys sold and serviced Austin cars and Miles sold and serviced Triumph and Morris. Not sure when but they amalgamated and became Anstey Miles. There were two further showrooms in Gabriels Hill and Lower Stone Street.
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Post by Les on Apr 7, 2016 9:52:12 GMT
Cliff Vanns Maidstone I remember it well: I remember my late Gran oh what a lovely old lady living at Number 80 opposite the (funeral directors) it was what they called an Almshouse (don't now why) no electricity lighting was by gas lamp. I think it is an employment agency now who ever agreed to that needs ******* this block of 4 houses should have been kept intact as they were so that school children especialy of today could see what it was really like to have a tough time. Almshouses- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almshouse
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Post by Les on Apr 7, 2016 9:54:22 GMT
Jim Clinch
Maidstone I remember it well: Maidstone: I remember it well. I was born here in 1927. My family had a shop in King Street, 30, next door to the Baptist Church. The shop is still there together with the side passage that led down to a garden under the Baptist church east window. The shop was run by my great grandfather James Clinch, a tin smith, until he died in 1924. His son William took over until he died in 1945 when the business closed in 1945. The shop was full of tin kettles, saucepans, any thing made of tinplate. But nobody wants tin goods these days with aluminium and plastics. Has anybody got a photo of the south side of King Street? There are many photos of the north side, probably because it was in the sun.
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Post by Les on Apr 7, 2016 9:54:35 GMT
Cliff Vanns
Maidstone I remember it well: I also used to work for Anstey Miles between 1967 & 71 at Tudor Garage on the London Road (Opposite Castle Way)& also at their workshop in King Street on the other side of the road from the ABC Cinema. Use to enjoy driving round the town (on road tests of course) in some really classic cars of the time, Triumph Stags, TR6's, Triumph 2000, as well as the Rover range they were certainly good days.
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Post by Les on Apr 7, 2016 9:55:18 GMT
Vivienne Peen (Snow)
Maidstone I remember it well: Maistone I remember it well, I used to work at AnsteyMiles after they amalgamated, it was my first job on leaving Secretarial College, round about 1971. I remember going to the old Cinema and having to stand up for the national anthem. I also used to frequent the Wig and Gown, and met my husband there over 35 yrs ago. We were married at what used to be The Tudor House Pub along the A20 at Bearsted, and is now The Marriott Tudor Park Hotel.
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Post by Les on Jul 18, 2016 4:47:40 GMT
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Post by msmith13 on Dec 15, 2017 19:29:34 GMT
Every school day for five years, I stood outside the main post office in King Street waiting for a number 10 or number 109 bus to take me to school. Strange that I remember so little about the street. Vivish and Baker stood opposite the bus stop selling papers, books, artist materials and had a printing works at the rear of the shop. It was many years later when I married that I found out my father-in-law had been running this establishment all those years. Down the side of this shop was an alleyway that we used as a short cut either to Gabriels Hill, or to the Granada cinema. I remember many Saturday mornings walking down this alley to the cinema and there sat an old man with a tin of envelopes. He would place a ten shilling note inside one and mix them up. You could pay him sixpence, and choose an envelope hoping that this would buy you the one with the note in. Surprisingly I never saw anyone win. Haynes had an electrical store in King Street and if my memory serves me correctly it stood off the road a little way, next to a church. Someone tells me that the church is still there, cannot say that I have noticed it though. Avery the weighing machine manufacturers had a showroom on the same side as the post office and next to Clarkes furniture store. The Church is not there.
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Post by msmith13 on Dec 15, 2017 19:35:42 GMT
I was apprenticed as a Compositor in V & B's Print works that was in George Yard the yard was a short cut to Gabriel's Hill and along with the print works there was a business making trunking and other sheet metal items and also Haynes Bros had a lawn mower servicing and repair workshop Further to that at the lower end of that shortcut there was for a while a unit making pies run by a chap named Peter that may well connect to the Pie Shop thread.
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Post by Les on Dec 15, 2017 20:24:01 GMT
I was apprenticed as a Compositor in V & B's Print works that was in George Yard the yard was a short cut to Gabriel's Hill and along with the print works there was a business making trunking and other sheet metal items and also Haynes Bros had a lawn mower servicing and repair workshop Further to that at the lower end of that shortcut there was for a while a unit making pies run by a chap named Peter that may well connect to the Pie Shop thread. Thank you did not know the yard had a name. just moved this but not mentioned a pie shop there Maidstone I remember it well: I am the son of Peter Stephens who passed on 10 years ago (Stephens Pie Shoppe on Union Street/Peter's Pies of Sittingbourne/Stephens and Sturt Pies on The Broadway - my Grandparents Nora/Joe and of course Uncle Norman as we called him who has also passed away- all started at Tyland Lane). I am happy to respond to direct emails only: karl.stephens166@o2.co.uk the email does not work.
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Post by Martin Baldock on Dec 23, 2017 10:46:44 GMT
Cliff Vanns Maidstone I remember it well: I also used to work for Anstey Miles between 1967 & 71 at Tudor Garage on the London Road (Opposite Castle Way)& also at their workshop in King Street on the other side of the road from the ABC Cinema. Use to enjoy driving round the town (on road tests of course) in some really classic cars of the time, Triumph Stags, TR6's, Triumph 2000, as well as the Rover range they were certainly good days. I worked for Ansteymiles, my first job on leaving school in 1965 was as a trainee in the used car department in Stone Street. My first boss was Paul Martin and the aim was to train in sales, and carry out admin tasks, greet customers etc. They had a one car driving school so I got free driving lessons, the instructor had been a chauffeur for Princess Margeret previously. Paul had raced Mini Coopers and showed me how to do handbrake turns between the display of used cars, when no-one else was about... He was a somewhat spikey character, and was a bit posh, going shooting with the local toffs. He always had interesting road cars, the first one I remember was a white Triumph Vitesse Mk1 with wire wheels and a red stripe on each side, Registration No PM2. He recounted he couldn't get PM1 because Princess Margaret had it! He also had a Series 1 Land Rover, and a Mini Moke. A memorable trip to deliver a car to somewhere near Sittingbourne was the return journey as a passenger in his blue Mk1 Sunbeam Tiger and it was still accelerating at over 120mph as we hurtled along the dual carriagway towards Detling... I later transferred to the Triumph dealership in King Street, partially due to a falling out with Paul, joining Reg Sinclair as my boss. I got on famously with Reg, and he was a thoroughly decent man who encouraged me to widen my horizons. The salaries for salesmen were very much dependent on commission, with a low basic wage plus 7.5% commission, so it was tough to build up enough contacts to get return sales and earn a good wage as a salesman. The best part of the job for me was that I got to drive cars of all kinds, and in particular the sports cars of the day. From Mini Coopers, Austin Healey Sprites, Triumph Spitfires, Vitesses, to the GT6(my personal favourite). Reg wouldn't let me out on the TR5 or 6, because they could be a bit tricky... Although he did let me use the 2.5PI police demonstrator for a few months as a "taxi" to ferry dealers to the out of town new car storage. I left in 1968 to become a sales rep in the food industry where I could begin to earn a much higher salary...
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Post by Les on Dec 23, 2017 11:01:39 GMT
A fiend of mine had a Triumph Vitesses convertible Peter Prince.
Would love driving up the high street and making his real tyres smoke
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Post by Bob Simpson on Feb 23, 2021 10:54:51 GMT
Vivienne Peen (Snow) Maidstone I remember it well: Maistone I remember it well, I used to work at AnsteyMiles after they amalgamated, it was my first job on leaving Secretarial College, round about 1971. I remember going to the old Cinema and having to stand up for the national anthem. I also used to frequent the Wig and Gown, and met my husband there over 35 yrs ago. We were married at what used to be The Tudor House Pub along the A20 at Bearsted, and is now The Marriott Tudor Park Hotel.
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Post by Bob Simpson on Feb 23, 2021 11:03:23 GMT
I worked for miles the standard , triumph, workshop in 1968. I remember when I started I was given a voucher to take to Crows in Union Street, to get my starter tool kit,the guy behind the counter just said you need this and that and so on he was so used to new apprentices, he new exactly what tools you needed . My cousin Bob Ingram also worked at miles until he left to join the army.ansteys used to have a dewaxing bay next to the Ritz cinema roughly where the entrance to the bus station is today. It's a long time ago things have changed not necessarily for the best
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Post by Les on Mar 4, 2021 16:27:38 GMT
Thank you Bob.
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Post by Damian Bramley on Mar 31, 2022 9:45:17 GMT
I am doing some research about a car, a red Austin Mini Cooper 'S' (registration JKK134E), that was originally despatched to Anstey's Limited in Maidstone on the 28 December 1966 and was first registered by them on the 6 January 1967. A few of you have mentioned working for Anstey's and Anstey Miles around that time and, although I appreciate it is highly unlikely anyone would remember my car in particular though it is quite distinctive as not that many Cooper 'S' cars were built, I am currently looking into its history and where it was originally bought from. I have owned the car since 1996 from when I was in my early 20's and although the car has spent many years in storage as a non-runner, I have recently completed the restoration of the car to be back on the road some three years ago. I have restored it to as near original as I can and in researching its history I am aware of the owners since 1978 to when I purchased the car, but before then I have little information. From 1978 the car remained in and around the North London area until I purchased it in 1996 and took it North to Yorkshire. At some point in its history the car appears to have been changed in colour to be black, possibly black and gold with quite wide wheels, though I have restored it back to how it was originally, being red with a black roof.
Not being from Maidstone or being familiar with the area I am trying to do some research about the original garage who supplied the car. I know it no longer exists and the area has been redeveloped. However I wondered if there were any photographs of the dealership in and around the 1960's that anyone may have. I believe Ainstey's were an Austin dealership that were established for many years, possibly from the 1930's though I know very little. I would be really interested to see any photographs relating to the dealership from that era, or if anyone has further information or stories about the dealership from the mid to late 1960's. If anyone has any interesting information or stories of Mini's and in particular Mini Coopers that the dealership sold that would be really interesting to hear about.
I was particularly interested to read about Martin Baldock's piece about working as an apprentice at Anstey's for Paul Martin who used to race Mini Coopers, and I find that really interesting as if Paul was employed by Anstey's at that time he would most likely have taken an interest in my car in the short time it was with the dealership, so if anyone has any more information about Paul and his interest in racing Mini Coopers that would be of interest also.
I would post a photograph of what the car looks like now though I cannot see a way to do that on this forum. If anyone wants to contact me directly my email address is damianbramley@hotmail.com
Thank you very much and I appreciate any help and information anyone may have.
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Post by Steve Foreman on Jan 13, 2024 13:55:15 GMT
Jim Clinch Maidstone I remember it well: Maidstone: I remember it well. I was born here in 1927. My family had a shop in King Street, 30, next door to the Baptist Church. The shop is still there together with the side passage that led down to a garden under the Baptist church east window. The shop was run by my great grandfather James Clinch, a tin smith, until he died in 1924. His son William took over until he died in 1945 when the business closed in 1945. The shop was full of tin kettles, saucepans, any thing made of tinplate. But nobody wants tin goods these days with aluminium and plastics. Has anybody got a photo of the south side of King Street? There are many photos of the north side, probably because it was in the sun. I was an apprentice at Anstey Miles BMC main dealers in Stone Street 1968. I remember two mechanics called Mike and Ron who had an unofficial car club called Micron 1000. You had to have a BMC car of 1000cc or less to join! I remember one mechanic called Tony Jerome, who was a Corporal in my ATC squadron in East Malling. There was an in-house training school run by a Mr. Hepper. I was also 'posted' to Tudor Garage on London Road for some months to learn how to be a tyre fitter. I lived with my mum, dad and young brother in Poplar Grove. I never finished my apprenticeship. I joined the Army instead!
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