NW3 Belsize Park, Hampstead, Swiss Cottage
The depths of Finchley Road |
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I am a retired Optometrist. My practice was on Frognal Parade, about 120 yards from Finchley Road tube station. Originally my office was situated at No. 4. |
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Some time in 1961, after a long holiday weekend, I arrived to find water pouring out of the front door of my premises. On entering the tiny half-shop location, I found much of my equipment that was on ground level was ruined. The water was pouring down a wall from 'above.' It was soon established that someone in the flat above had left a bath tap fully opened and thousands of gallons of water had rushed down the walls. I called a plumber and in my panic, the fire-brigade. These two services arrived simultaneously and soon demonstrated that most of the water that was entering the premises was not in fact leaving under the front door. It was continuing its downward journey past the rear boundary wall of the premises and disappearing through an ever-enlarging crack in the floor. |
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The on-site firemen, realising that the water build-up was excessive, insisted that they had to see where this cascade was goiing. They decided to smash a hole in the floor. With powerful lights, the hole revealed wooden chairs floating on a sea of other debris below. |
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Inquisitive passers-by during the day told me that Frognal Parade was built on the site of the Bijou Cinema (previously a skating rink), the first cinema of North London. This was demolished in 1930 for the present block of shops and offices to be built. An article was written in the 'Ham & High', the local newspaper and successive editions carried letters from people who remembered the Bijou. One letter was from a lady whose father was the pianist who played to accompany the silent films shown at the cinema. Many of my patients who had read the letters told me that they had regularly attended the cinema. |
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