please empty your brain below

When I was a schoolboy I passed through Bromley on the bus each day during the time that the wonderful "New" theatre burnt down. They promised us a replacement. The intended name of the theatre was shrouded in secrecy but we told it would be be named by someone with local connections.

Nearly everyone expected it to be calls the Wells Theatre or even H.G. Wells Theatre because of the very local connection you mentioned. Most residents we understandably peeved when it got called the Churchill Theatre and they queried what the local connection was. Apparently Churchill passed through Bromley on his way to Chartwell. Of course it was just a coincidence that H G Wells was an outspoken socialist and the council was then, as is now, staunchly Conservative.

By the way, as a child I thought Chislehurst Caves was fantastic and still think it is one of the most underrated or simply unknown tourist attractions in Greater London.

I've been scratching my head over 'post-medieval Britons came down here in search of flint for weapons.' Finally I clicked. You're talking about the kind of flint you strike to make things go bang.
I've been through Chislehurst any number of times by train. Wished I'd known about the caves - so close to the station - I could have got off and had a look.

Does the scarily huge Christian Bookshop still exist? When I lived in this borough I only visited Bromley twice, and it was a huGe shock to come accross a shop the size of a Books etc devoted to just Evangelical Christian tomes.

at last - a post that i can reply to! my parents owned one of the many georgian houses near another, smaller station which i simply can't recall the name of, a bus ride away from bromley high street. i spent several holidays there (being at boarding school) and vaguely recall chislehurst caves as i think one of my brothers went. i wish i had too, now.

the high street has changed a lot - when i lived there ann summers didn't even exist!

and pedantic - i remember the churchill theatre too ... my memory is so bad that it's nice to find a post that i can vaguely relate to

thanks for bringing back memories - however feeble mine may be

Loving the last sentence. Very good. Those caves sound really interesting. I've never knowingly set foot (or car tyre) in Bromley, so I have no anecdotes to add.

I spent many a happy weekend hitting people over the head with latex swords.

Don't know why I ever gave it up...

Thanks for another fascinating fieldtrip.

Odd that they'd paint over the HG Wells mural with a Darwin mural. Seeing as how they're both visionaries... why not just have two murals and boast a bit?

If you didn't visit either of Kennedy's pie shops - one a few yards up from Bromley South Station, and the other near the mural - you missed the best part of Bromley.

I missed the pie shops, and I missed the Christian books megastore. That's what happens when you only have an hour to research where you're going...

Am just re-reading the Bromley stuff.
"No one would have believed it in the last years of the nineteenth century." Hmm, that sounds vaguely familiar. Oh yes, of course, HG Wells wrote it, in The War of the Worlds (was it the opening sentence?). I see that Chig spotted it.
Nice touch, DG. And so apt, too.











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