Bromley Gloss - London Borough of Bromley - Current, Upcoming, Historic

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LONDON BOROUGH OF BROMLEY! PLUS occasional pieces on ANYTHING from ANYWHERE. You Can Share EVERYTHING Local Bromley Borough & there Abouts to This Page.

This Page: facebook.com/BromleyGloss Featuring LONDON BOROUGH OF BROMLEY plus occasionals about ANYTHING from ANYWHERE. Photos, Videos, Gems, Legends, Info, History, Nostalgia, Topical, News, Muses, Music, People, Artists; Places, Facts, Memories, Long Lost, Alternative; Surprises, Stores, Stories, Sport, Fashion; Events, Comedy, Nightlife, Nightclubs; Pubs, Peculiarities, Pick'n'Mix! All the Bes

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BG TEAM
Debz: facebook.com/dzadewalsh
Page Founder/Manager/Editor/Narrator, Researcher - Historical/Topical, Post Creator, Administrator, Videographer/Photographer. Bjorn: Page Researcher, Videographer, Photographer
Dave: Page Researcher; Historical Detail, Current Affairs. Lucas: Page Researcher; Historical Detail, Current Affairs.

30/08/2026

💙
⬆️click hashtag for stream of Bromley Bus posts.

30/08/2026

✨ MEMORIES OF CHARIOT WHEEL RESTAURANT AT HARRISON GIBSON The elegant Chariot Wheel Restaurant was once the ultimate destination for luxury dining on Ringers Road, Bromley.

✨ ELEGANCE
Opened around 1960 on the top floor of the Harrison Gibson store, it offered a premium, high-society dining experience. The main room exuded mid-century glamour with stylish customer booths, dangling minimalist light fixtures, and white-gloved waiting staff serving cream teas and gourmet meals. Its most striking design details included historic bust sculptures and prominent timber chariot wheels integrated seamlessly into the ornate support columns.

✨ ROOF TERRACE
The jewel of the restaurant was its sunlit roof terrace. Shoppers could step outside to enjoy meals and drinks with panoramic views over Bromley town centre. It was considered the trendiest spot in town for celebratory lunches after purchasing high-end furniture from the store.

✨ PRECINCT MOVE
When the main Harrison Gibson store caught fire and was reduced to rubble, the building housing the restaurant directly across the street on Ringers Road actually survived completely untouched. However, because the main department store could no longer operate, the Chariot Wheel was forced to move. To keep the beloved brand alive, the restaurant packed up and relocated further down the High Street into the newly built Bromley South Shopping Precinct near Safeway.

✨ ARMY & NAVY OVERHEAD BRIDGE
When the Army & Navy retail group took over the Harrison Gibson town centre footprint, they completely reshaped the landscape. They constructed a great department store package that true to form featured a signature enclosed pedestrian walkway bridging directly across Ringers Road to connect the main shop to the warehouse.

✨ HIDDEN UNDERGROUND TUNNEL
Shoppers knew the bridge, but few knew the secret beneath their feet. A hidden subterranean staff tunnel ran directly under the tarmac of Ringers Road, allowing employees to safely transport heavy stock between buildings.

❓ DOES IT STILL EXIST?
While the old warehouse side is now replaced by residential buildings, it makes you wonder... does that secret staff tunnel still lie intact and sealed up deep beneath the asphalt of Ringers Road today?

30/08/2026

FORGOTTEN CORNER WHITE HART SLIP circa 1984. This snapshot catches the final chapter of a lost corner right construction began on The Glades Shopping Centre.

LEGAL CUT-THROUGH RIGHT OF WAY
The narrow turning on the left is White Hart Slip, leading into the demolished Lownds Avenue. Because the path holds an ancient public right-of-way status, developers had to design the shopping centre around it. The Glades must legally keep this Market Square entrance open to the public 24 hours a day for access to Queens Gardens.

BUSINESSES AND PREMISES
The redeveloped corner building on the left where Starbucks is today sat next to Dunn's, but the exact name of the small shop trading in that specific unit when this photo was taken remains a bit of a mystery that hopefully someone reading can shed some light on.

EAST SIDE OF THE SLIPWAY
To the right sits the historic David Greig building (built in 1912), which at this time housed Ratners Jewellers and Andrews & Partners estate agents side-by-side. While the Ratners chain later collapsed, this building survived and now houses Crepe Affair.

MYSTERY GABLED BUILDING
The striking, gothic-gabled red brick building standing in the center of the frame was demolished to clear the footprint for The Glades Shopping Centre. While some local historical discussions suggest it may have originally been a government branch building connected to science and art education, its exact history, usage and the names of its final tenants remain unconfirmed. If you know, please let us know. Many thanks.

QUESTION
The modern building that sits around the site of that long gone red brick building, is it right that this was in its early days home to Bromley Job Centre?

30/08/2026

OLDEST SHOP IN BROMLEY: DEMOLITION OF MATES OCTOBER 1984👗🕺. This 1974 photograph captures a vanished landmark of the town center—the striking, dark facade of Mates by Irvine Sellar.

🛍️ The Oldest Shop in Bromley: For several years, this building housed the popular Mates clothing store. However, its history went back much further. When the building was demolished over a weekend in October 1984, the Leader newspaper published an article mourning its loss, noting it was believed to have been the oldest surviving shop building on Bromley High Street.

🛍️ The Unisex Fashion Pioneer: Founded by fashion entrepreneur Irvine Sellar, Mates holds a major legacy as the very first unisex fashion boutique chain in Britain. It changed the traditional high street theme by offering both men's and women's clothing under one single roof, growing from its Carnaby Street roots into a national empire.

🛍️ The Shard Connection: In a remarkable twist, the man behind this flared-trousers boutique, Irvine Sellar, later left the fashion trade to become a prominent London property developer. He went on to become the visionary developer who conceptualised and built The Shard at London Bridge.

30/08/2026

EDWARDIAN BROMLEY MARKET SQUARE EARLY 1900s. A glimpse into old Bromley Town:

The Oriental Bazaar: Managed by A.J. Bendy, this unique corner shop specialised entirely in imported Japanese goods and exotic trinkets, bringing an unexpected taste of the Far East to Edwardian Kent.

Buckland Greengrocers: Sitting next door, the beautiful building featured highly intricate windows, with ornate brickwork carvings visible above them, and a central shop window entirely covered by a traditional blind.

Roads and Sidewalks: Notice the complete lack of tarmac on the road, leaving it a churned-up mixture of dirt and wagon tracks. Pedestrians walked along a very shallow, raised path—frequently referred to in old English literature as a "sidewalk" long before the word "pavement" became the standard British term.

The Man Behind the Lens: This postcard was captured by Mr. John Curwood, an amateur photographer who ran a stationers and newspaper depot at 2 Widmore Road. Curwood documented the changing architecture of the town before passing away in May 1927 at the age of 55.

Photo and info credit from the Stanley Hallworth Collection.

30/08/2026

FINAL DAYS OF BROMLEY’S ORIGINAL WOOLWORTHS BUILDING CIRCA 1982 🛍️ This photograph captures the final days of the original, middle-section branch of Woolworths on Bromley High Street.

ORIGINAL WOOLWORTH EXPERIENCE: What made this particular old Woolies iconic was the timeless, oversized lettering on the brick fascia and the classic character of its interior. Long-time shoppers remember walking through the doors to the legendary Pick 'n' Mix counters and browsing the huge vinyl record department, navigating the cosy traditional floor layout.

BRUTALIST RISE NEXT DOOR: The looming concrete structure further along is the Central Library and Churchill Theatre complex under construction. 💡While the theater auditorium itself opened its doors in 1977, structural work and extensions to the main library wings continued directly into the early 1980s. The scaffolding spreading down from the new concrete facade shows the moment this large municipal project began swallowing up more neighbourhood Victorian shopfronts that had not already gone in earlier decades.

HIGH STREET TRANSITION: The scaffolding and hoarding lining the pavement show a town center undergoing major changes. The 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s marked the specific time period when the vast majority of Bromley's vintage High Street architecture was demolished.

SIMULTANEOUS DEMOLITIONS: This branch was not coming down alone. Several other long-standing landmarks were cleared during the same redevelopment wave. Neighboring structures like the Lilley & Skinner shoe store and the historic Hennekeys (The Rising Sun) pub were demolished simultaneously to modernise the street layout.

SECOND CHAPTER FOR WOOLWORTH BROMLEY: After this building was leveled, Woolworths returned to the area. The resurrected branch took over the former C&A building further down the High Street, occupying both floors where Poundland and the upstairs PureGym are located today.

A big thank you to photographer Mark C. for documenting this significant street scene just before it changed forever.

29/08/2026

PENGE HISTORY: THE DAY OAKFIELD ROAD CLINIC COLLAPSED 🏥 If you remember visiting the old Penge Clinic shown in these 2008 and 2015 photos, you might wonder what happened to this familiar local landmark. Behind its sudden closure lies a rich century-old history and a dramatic weekend event that shocked the local community:

The History: Long before its modern era, this grand Victorian building at 17-19 Oakfield Road was built in 1907 as a local Poor Relief Station and dispensary. For over a century, it remained a vital public health pillar, transitioning over the decades into an active NHS family planning and antenatal clinic.

The Shock Collapse: The clinic was a busy, fully functioning service when disaster struck. Over a weekend while the building was closed, an upper internal floor suddenly and catastrophically collapsed in on itself. It was a miracle and a blessing that the structural failure happened when it did, as the clinic would have been packed with staff, parents, and newborns just a day prior.

The Rebuild: Left completely unsafe and structurally compromised, the clinic had to close immediately. The site was eventually demolished and replaced by the modern, purpose-built Oaks Park Medical Centre. Today, it continues the site's medical legacy by housing Oakfield Surgery and The Park Practice (which formerly sat on Anerley Road) under one state-of-the-art roof.

29/08/2026

EDWARDIAN BROMLEY: LOOKING UP THE BROADWAY circa 1905

On the Left: the brick walls and mature trees in the immediate foreground belonged to large residential villas. These grand properties lined the west side of the hill, sitting directly across from the new shops before the entire street became commercialised.

The Gabled Giant: Looming further up on the left side is Attwoods, a premier multi-floor Victorian drapery and haberdashery shop that stood as the main architectural focal point on that side of the hill.

The Street Clock: Look closely at the shops on the right to spot the projecting bracket clock. It marked Segar & Victor, high-class confectioners. Broadway traders funded these clocks to catch the eye of commuters walking up from Bromley South station.

Hidden Details: The hand-cart parked on the curb sits right outside Singer, which operated one of its earliest Kentish sewing machine showrooms in this terrace.

29/08/2026

SOUNDS LIKE BROMLEY 🎵 by BILLY JENKINS. The iconic cover of this 1982 album features the looming concrete Mall Car Park on Elmfield Road (designed by the Owen Luder Partnership and built between 1967–1969). Whether you grew up in Bromley during the great concrete redevelopment boom or not, that view will feel familiar—the structure remains standing to this day as a prime specimen of 1960s architecture.

This is the brilliantly biting album "Sounds Like Bromley" (1982) by avant-garde guitar legend Billy Jenkins with The Voice of God Collective. Make no mistake, it wasn't an affectionate tribute. Billy detested the mass demolition that tore through the town in the 1960s and 1970s. He watched in horror as vintage architecture was bulldozed to make way for grey slabs, multi-storey structures, and endless tarmac. Instead, the album acts as a somewhat grudging nod to his old stomping ground.

The tracklist serves up dry, satirical frustration about life amongst the suburban concrete. SOUNDS LIKE BROMLEY 1982 tracklist:

1. High Street/Saturday
2. Fat People
3. Parking Meters
4. Sunday Morning
5. Supermarkets
6. Council Offices
7. Growing Up In Bromley
8. Exodus From Bromley

💿 Give your ears a treat😊 Billy's sonic tour of suburban madness is streaming free at this link: https://billyjenkins1.bandcamp.com/album/sounds-like-bromley

29/08/2026

MASONS HILL: UP MEMORY LANE. This 1970s photo shows Masons Hill in Bromley South featuring a sloping row of Victorian terraced shops on the left with a prominent "SOLD BY Levens" estate agent sign and a row of parked mid-century cars. On the right is an elevated grassy embankment with the now-demolished Bromley Hospital sitting just out of shot. Far up ahead sits the historic Tigers Head pub.

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