On 5 October a new outdoor event was held in the early evening in the area between the Library, The Spa and Venue 28 – which is beginning to be known as the Clock House Hub. Hopefully it will be the first of many.
It’s great to see the Parade come back to life recently with new shops taking over empty properties. Sponsored by Purple Flag and WBRA, this event owes huge thanks to Matt Walden of Three Hounds, Debbie Hoyte of Venue 28 and Zara Green of Link Asset Services for doing the organising and providing the stalls with all the supporting equipment.
The event was a great success with lots of children arriving from school in the early part of the proceedings to hear local author Glenn Lawrence read from his book for small children “Lauren Koala” and there was also PiCatso Drawing at the Library.
There was live music, craft stalls and lots to eat and drink. As the evening wore on and darkness came, people stayed for the bars and food stalls until the event closed at 8pm.
HISTORY OF CLOCK HOUSE PARADE
At the Clock House Celebrates Autumn event, WBRA presented a window plaque, and photo of Clock House Parade in 1919, to Hannah of Love My Hound at No 55 Clock House Parade. Hannah’s stall was packed with colourful, amusing and practical doggy accessories.
This plaque shows the first occupants of ‘Love My Hound’, between 1906 and 1938, were a chemist and dentist, and between 1910 and 1917, No 55 also housed one of the first public call offices of the fledgling national telephone network – the forerunner of street phone boxes where people who did not have a phone could make calls.
The Parade was built by local builders Syme and Duncan in 1906. Some of the Duncan family still live in Beckenham. The Parade cost around £11,500 to build and included building a bridge over Chaffinch Brook which flows below the road at this point. The west side of Queens Road was also built at this time – house numbers 2 to 34, at a cost of £11,300, meaning they cost £665 each!
Purple Flag had a table at the event
WBRA have produced these plaques for all 13 shops on the Parade – please take a look at the plaques when you pass, and do go in and support our enterprising traders.