Cromer, gem of the Norfolk Coast.

NOW: Almost the same viewpoint today but gone is the narrow street leading up to the Parish Church. In its place is a wider thoroughfare necessary to cope with the traffic, whilst the style of shops has changed with their wares being displayed on the pavement! The buildings on the far left and right of the picture are relatively unchanged.

Jetty Coffee Bar.

High Street
Just around the corner, in High Street, was the Jetty Coffee Bar, with a back door leading into Jetty Street. Many’s the time during the 1960s, I enjoyed a frothy coffee and hamburger there!

a moment in time

THEN: A policeman stands at a point in the town centre where five roads converge: Garden Street, Church Street, Chapel Street, West Street and Hamilton Road. Rising high above the scene is the 159-feet-high tower of SS Peter and Paul, Cromer’s parish church. The building on the right of the picture houses the Burlington Studios of H H Tansley.

FOR its outstanding scenery, both inland and along the cliff tops, together with the exhilarating fresh breezes blowing in off the sea, Cromer has to be the favourite resort for a great many visitors and lives up to its motto ‘Gem of the Norfolk Coast’.

The seaside town, dominated by the tower of its parish church, lies on the east coast of Norfolk, yet faces north. As a result of its situation, standing on the cliff top, one is able to watch the sunrise over the sea from the east, and view the glorious sunsets in the west in the direction of the Runtons, whilst the warm summer inland winds bring with them the soft scents of pine trees and heather.

In the midst of the town, the 159-feet-tall embattled tower of Saints Peter and Paul, Cromer’s parish church, completes a splendid picture as it pushes its way into the wide blue sky. Clustered at its foot are a great many shops, cafés and houses, whilst the locals go about their day-to-day business and numerous visitors explore the town or sit on the church wall eating their ice-creams.

As a defence against the unforgiving sea, a massive bastioned wall was built to protect the town many years ago, and this allowed for parades to the east and west with slopes and steps giving access to the promenade, which is over a mile long.

Midway along the promenade is a 500-foot-long pier, at the end of which is housed the Cromer Lifeboat. When a ‘shout’ occurs, the lifeboat makes a marvellous sight being launched from its concrete slipway at the end of the pier and into the sea. The Royal National Lifeboat Institute’s lifeboats have a fine tradition of saving lives at sea, and, at Cromer, one of its most famous son’s, Henry Blogg, received many medals from the RNLI for his achievements as Coxswain of the Cromer lifeboat. In fact, by the time he retired in 1947, Henry Blogg and his crew had saved over 900 lives, and he was to be the most decorated man in the lifeboat service.

Demolition in Church Street, Cromer.

The Parish Church
A view of Church Street taken in 1962 with much demolition in evidence.

The Gangway
Below we see the start of the slope leading down to the beach where fishermen launched their crab-boats – and still do! On the right are the premises of the East Coast Motor Co.

At the bottom of the Gangway, accessed off the far end of Church Street, is the old lifeboat shed now a museum.

At one time, starting from when the first motor-lifeboat – the H F Bailey – was stationed on the end of the pier, a number-two boat was housed in the shed at the foot of the Gangway and launched from the beach.

Cromer quite rightly deserves the title: ‘Gem of the Norfolk Coast’ displayed on the road signs leading to the town, for, like a precious jewel, it continues to sparkle and attract visitors from year to year. The Pier, with its summertime end-of-pier shows, is also a popular place to take a bracing stroll to the end to watch anglers at work and play!

Cromer Pier and the East Beach
Crab-boats line the foreshore, whilst many people gather close to the Pier or stroll along the promenade.

The Bath House public house can be seen on the left of the promenade.

A great many local groups played their kind of music, that of rock ‘n‘ roll, to a great many local discerning audiences at the Rink, but that was not the end of the matter for the Olympia played host to several well-known ‘pop’ celebs as well, such as Lulu, Cilla Black and the Barron Knights – even Gene Vincent put in an appearance one night! However, although the Beatles played at Norwich, they never made it to Cromer!

Church Street
Looking in the general direction of the sea, with the corner of the Gangway on the right of this picture, we can see a row of shops as they were in the 1960s.

On the far left, is the Baptist Church, next to that a tobacconists, followed by R M Lubbock and finally a white-painted house on the corner selling crabs and shellfish.

Ashley during 1962.

Beatlemania
Lead guitarist with Chubby and The Checkers, Ashley appears to have been influenced by the most popular group in Britain if his hairstyle is anything to go by! Dig the white roll-neck sweater and black collar-less jacket! This photo was taken in a kiosk on Cromer Pier.

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A Moment in Time

At the top of the Gangway were the garages of the East Coast Motor Co., which held franchises for Austin, Morris, MG, Riley and Wolseley cars. Now those once-famous names have all but vanished, as has the garage, which was razed to the ground and replaced with upmarket apartment blocks, some with glorious sea views.

“I remember the East Coast Motor Company well; you could always count on them to have that elusive spare part when you needed it, as was my experience one summer’s day in the 1970s. My wife, our two children and I had been taking a short holiday at my grandparents’ place, a small terraced cottage called Louis Cottage half way down the row at Wyndham Park, when we had ‘car trouble’! Our Mini, a 1961 Austin Seven, began to lose petrol from its carburettor. A quick visit to the garage at the top of the Gangway and with a new gasket bought and fitted, our little red-and-black Mini was as right as rain!”

Whilst on the adjacent East Beach one can observe fishermen launching their crab-boats into the waves as they maintain their tradition of harvesting the sea and supplying the very best of ‘Cromer Crabs’. Near the East Beach are a row of cafés and shops selling ice-creams, buckets, spades and curios.

“Many years ago, in the early ’sixties I think it was, on the East Beach promenade there was a restaurant called the ‘Salad Bowl’, which was near the‘Bath House’ public house. It was at the time that the Beatles were making a reputation for themselves playing in the Cavern Club in Liverpool. We heard that there was a room going spare in the basement of the Salad Bowl and, with the proprietor’s permission, we set up Cromer’s own ‘Cellar Club’! To get the right atmosphere it was painted, walls and ceiling, in the darkest, midnight blue imaginable, although one wall was left cream and decorated with cartoons of prominent people of the day – including Christine Keeler! Alas, it didn’t last long due to the lack of a fire exit, brought to the notice of the authorities by other café owners.”

As for other nighttime entertainment in the Cromer of the ’50s and ’60s, one must not forget two of the most memorable – the Olympia Rollerdrome and the Royal Links Pavilion.

The Olympia – everyone always called it the‘Rink’ – was in Garden Street and run by Norman Troller and his wife Hilda. Not only was it the place to go for roller-skating but, at weekends it was a dance hall.

“I can well recall my first visit to the Olympia; it was during the summer of 1962 and I was with Nipper, a friend of mine from our Art school days. Barry Lee and The Planets were playing that Sunday night and, when we arrived, they were unloading their gear – guitars, drum-sets, amps and the like. Nipper gave the impression he knew them and, grabbing a snare-drum, walked inside the Rink without paying. Beckoning to me to do likewise, I followed, guitar in hand. I then turned to go outside for more equipment, but he stopped me with: ‘We’re in now, an’ here we stay!’ I must reassure you, I didn’t make a habit of it, though. Ah, those were heady days!”

During my many visits to the Rink, which was such a marvellous place to be at that time, I remember those bands and groups from the past: The Continentals, Barry Lee and The Planets, Ricky and The Hucklebucks, The Contours, CBO Incorporated and finally, a group especially dear to my heart – Chubby and The Checkers, in which I’m proud to say I played lead guitar! We were pretty good, as I recall, and Norman Troller allowed us to practise and play at the Olympia, and that is something I shall never forget. Alas, the Olympia closed its doors one last time in 1974 and, a decade later, after demolition, became a car park for a local supermarket.

During the ’60s another popular venue, the Royal Links Pavilion on the Overstrand road, used to put on dances at the weekend. The Pavilion was the only reminder of a once-great hotel – the Royal Links – that burned down in the 1940s, and it was there, during the Carnival Week of 1962, that my friend Malcolm Clack and I attended a dance which culminated in the crowning of the 1962 Cromer Carnival Queen.

As I recall it, the pair of us went from Sheringham, our home town, on Malcolm’s Ariel Leader. The compére for the evening was none other than Alfie Howard, a diminutive ‘Eastender, with a big voice.

“The band was terrible – at least Malcolm and I thought so! That lead singer in these silly, large, black-rimmed glasses, well, he kept on jumpin’ about the stage an’ singin’ in a high-pitched voice that, after a while, it wholly began to grate on us. And, to top it all, it cost us so much to get in that we hadn’t got the price of a drink!”

The band in question was, of course, Freddie and The Dreamers, and ‘if he’d got to make a fool of somebody’ to us he had certainly succeeded! But, as stupid as he sounded, and as dry as we were, we were stuck with him until a certain Alfie sidled up to us.

“ ‘Hello, boys,’ greeted this tiny man all dressed up in old-fashioned, black-and-red coat and breeches, topped with a shiny, black tri-corn hat. This was none other than Alfie Howard, the newly-appointed Cromer Town Crier. It seems he may have originated from London, possibly by his accent as I remember it, but one thing is for certain he was very generous indeed, albeit with ‘someone’ else’s money (Cromer Town Council?). ‘Have a drink on me, lads,’ he proffered with a friendly wave of his white, lacy cuffs. And that we did, several times!”

Those certainly were the days, thinking back; as a young man just out at work I had money in my pocket to spend however I pleased, and little or no responsibilities. Born and brought up in Sheringham I liked nothing better than to go to Cromer, a mere four-and-a-half miles away. In the ’50s this was by bus, but once out at work and earning good money my own transport was a must!

“It was my pride and joy, my Lambretta, and I went to Cromer whenever I could on it. Sometimes I took a friend, but I’ll leave you guessing there, and together we’d have a cup of frothy coffee in the café in Jetty Street. Then on to the Pier for a game on the pinball machines – until the tilt light came up – followed by some chips in newspaper from the chippy in Garden Street. On warmer days a quiet stroll up Happy Valley was always rewarding, until the Rink opened its doors at night. Then, we would dance the night away, doing the Twist and almost putting our backs out in the process. Later we would take a breather in the upstairs café at the Rink and enjoy an ice-cold Coke out of the bottle. All too soon, the lights would dim and the glass mirror-ball suspended from the ceiling would begin to spin, reflecting all the colours of the rainbow on the dancers below enjoying ‘the last waltz’. Time to head home on the Lambretta. Yes, those really were the good days, of times long-gone, of a different world, of people and places – gone but not forgotten.”

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Cromer Pier from the West Parade
The West Beach looks full to overflowing, whilst beach-huts line the promenade from left to right.

People can be seen walking down the slope from the Marrams to the halfway shelter.

On the right of this picture are a line of hotels, including the Grand Hotel and the Cliftonville.