Wilkies Fish Shop

A Memory of Mitcham.

As a small child I remember going to Wilkies fish shop in Western Road and from the counter you could see into their living room at the back. They had a huge fish tank filled with bright coloured fish and I felt very priviledged when Mr & Mrs Wilkie let me go into their living room to see the tank. I can also recall a shop called (I think) Maidments? Again in Western Road, the owner used to make fruit lollies in a tea cup with a rough bit of stick poked in for a lolly stick, health and safety would never allow it today - but it didn't hurt us kids back then. I use to love going into Peters pet shop too, I once begged my Mum for a kitten but went home with a tortoise instead. We had 'Fred' for years, until mum put him in a box under the stairs to hibernate him and forgot to get him out again, mum was hunting the house out for days to find out where the horrible smell was comming from then (Whoops!) My sister Susan worked in a shoe shop near Woolworths, the owner Mr Parker showed me how to fake a tummy ache to get off school and I tried it a few days later forgetting Mum was with me when Mr Parker showed me what to do. Another fun thing us kids use to do was to take an old tray and slide down the 'Hill' at the side of the railway at the Three Kings Pond. I can also remember rolling down a mound that use to be on the grass opposite the The three kings pond, but it's not there anymore my husband thinks it might have been a grassed over air raid shelter that was taken away? As I got older and was allowed to roam Mitcham on my own, I use to go into the Wimpy bar with friends before we went to the Diso at the Merton adventure centre in London road.