Banstead Village

An interesting image, David. Some 40 years after this photograph was taken, I remember this area very well, because in the late 1950s and most of the 1960s when I was a boy, I lived in Diceland Road.

From Diceland Road, I crossed the Brighton Road and walked up The Drive to and from my secondary school in Picquets Way. I remember the houses in The Drive being, to my eyes at least, quite posh. I was also very familiar with the rebuilt Wheatsheaf pub, for no other reason than Bob and Lil Hill, the parents of one of my friends, ran the place (see picture #114 and picture #550). In those 1950s days, the pub had a large-ish car park fronting onto the Brighton Road.

In the image above, just in front of the Wheatsheaf I can see what appears to be a detached building, which was (or later became) Chandler’s petrol garage. The house next to it, in the foreground, was demolished at some stage and replaced by another petrol garage, The Prospect.

I lived almost opposite the telephone exchange in Diceland Road, and I visited it a couple of times with school friends. It was always a hub of activity, with lots of ‘number please’ operators connecting callers via a multitude of cords and wires. The highlight of our tour was when the supervisor invited us to press the Emergency Call button, available in every public telephone box. A loud bell would ring in the exchange and a red light would flash, alerting all operators to the urgent call.

In Diceland Road itself, at the Brighton Road end, I recall a large detached house. This was the home of Stanley Bailey, the local coal merchant, and his family.

Going back to The Drive, just to the north of its junction with Brighton Road, the land opposite Garratts Lane was occupied by Banstead Fire Station. Very exciting for a 10-year-old!

I can remember the change over to automatic in 65, it seemed strange to be able to dial the number yourself and not to have to ask the telephonist. The extra digit, a 5, was then added a year or so after, giving us a five digit number.

At first I couldn't picture where this was, but the Diceland Road sign post immediately identified it and it became obvious.

I remember the changeover and 5 being added, but I wasn't at home much then so not in detail. As a young boy I found waiting for the operator to say "number please" and giving the number I wanted quite daunting!

Also next to the fire station was the ambulance station. Both types of vehicle had warning bells (as did police cars) which I found much more directional than the current two tone sirens. The fire engines were regularly called to fires on Burgh Heath and, being nearby, could respond quickly. Now the heathland has gone I presume fires there are very few today. I recall the ambulances were white Daimlers with a long flat bonnet with the characteristic Daimler rippled top of the radiator.

The Prospect garage was on the corner of Garratts Lane and I'm fairly sure a driveway to the garage service station was on Garratts Lane. Also nearer to Diceland Road (on the corner??) was Runnalls the engineers who dealt with engine repairs.

Further memory recall. The Prospect Garage definitely was on the corner of Garratts Lane and Brighton Road ie on the Sutton side of The Wheatsheaf. It sold Regent brand of fuel.

At the Wheatsheaf bus stop there was a punch card machine with a clock on it. The conductor had to put a card into this and pull lever to punch the card. The card was kept in a purpose made slot at the back, I think, of the platform. There was a similar machine near at the bus stop by the bomb site next to Hodges Dairy.

On the Burgh Heath side of the Wheatsheaf towards Diceland Road there was another garage which I thought was called Highfield Garage. This had two pumps very close to the main road and the main building was relatively high up (the house that Peter mentioned?). The house was demolished and the garage expanded. That garage sold Cleveland Discol petrol and other fuels. Cleveland Discol had a small amount (5-10%?) of ethyl alcohol added that was supplied by the Distillers Company - hence the name. Was ?Highfield Garage? owned by Greatleys??

Brian Wright who lived in Diceland Road was a very good tenor and sang at Banstead Methodist Church and Banstead Choral Society.

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