Church Street market and Gateforth Street School

Taylor's shop at 317 Edgware Road

The old Met, just before it was demolished

My father's shop at 301 Edgware Road

By David Bailin

My sister, Elizabeth, and I both attended Gateforth Street school immediately after the end of the war until I left to go to Westminster City School (in Victoria) in 1949. We used to walk both ways through the market twice daily, returning for dinner (i.e. lunch) at our house above my father's shop: William Bailin, Bespoke Tailor, at 301 Edgware Road, not very far from the old Metropolitan Music Hall (that was demolished around 1961 and replaced by the new Paddington Green Police Station). On the corner of Church Street and Edgware Road a family acquaintance, Mr Westbury, had a stall selling household products, polish, scrubbing brushes etc. He used to regale Elizabeth and me with the achievements of his son, Gerald, who became an eminent surgeon at Westminster Hospital, admonishing us on the need to work hard in order to prosper. At that time Church Street had many bomb sites, especially on the west side. I was always fascinated by the live eels stall, standing on the way home watching them writhe, until they were sliced for sale. I wondered how the purchasers cooked them, but we never tried them in our house. After school we always went round the corner from Gateforth Street to my Uncle Syd's shop Taylor's, Confectioners, at 8 Church Street, where we invariably met our mother enjoying the company of her dear sister-in-law, Auntie Nellie. Her daughter, my cousin Coral Taylor, also attended Gateforth Street in the same class as me. Next door to Taylor's, at number 6 I think, was a dairy, owned by a Welshman, Mr Davies. Further down, but before Gateforth Street, was a second-hand shop owned by my grandfather's (Will Taylor's) friend Bill Allen; my grandmother, Nan Taylor, would buy her glasses there when they needed changing. Nobody would have called it an antique shop though! (The other Taylor's shop at 317 Edgware Road, eight doors from our house, was also the home of my cousins Margaret and Gill Taylor, but they never attended Gateforth.) I particularly remember two teachers: Miss (Irene) Ellis - her sister Audrey gave us piano lessons - and Miss Judd, a real martinet who terrified me. The Headmistress was Miss Wilkinson. I remember too being passionately in love with Betty Clark, and later Jean Kemp, and often wonder what became of them. They both lived in Church Street, or just off of it in Jean's case. The only contact I had with my classmates after leaving Gateforth was with Carol Comben. She went to Greycoat Hospital, the sister school to Westminster City, also in Victoria, so we occasionally met on the number 16 bus. I am delighted that my gorgeous granddaughter, Anya, will be attending Greycoats from September 2014.