Letchworth memories 1970s

Memories of Letchworth,1970s.

Like other posts here, I grew up in Letchworth from 1967, my Dad moving to the town from St Albans to be nearer BAE in Stevenage. We had a new-build bungalow in Berkeley, with allotments and a field above, now all built on. As 18 year olds, my friends and I went to the Palace flea-pit cinema and the Broadway, with its velvet blue seats heavily marked with cigarette burns. So different now!

So many shops now gone. Davids Bookshop in Station Place moved to Eastcheap, but many gone forever. Munts toys, Sudbury s cycles, Hawkins outfitters, and the centre of the town rebuilt as a new precinct, with a Sainsburys, no less

I worked in Spinks men’s shop briefly, now a Christian Bookshop, and spent long summer days at the pool. Myself and my late father always loved the library on the corner and took out new books on Saturdays, long before the internet. My Dad also loved Letchworth art Society at the settlement, when Peter Gilman was tutor.

I live in Somerset currently but visit the town most years and, although unrecognisable for shops, the layout is much the same. I’d live there again and may do so when I retire. Happy days.