Memories of Reigate
by Mrs June Jobbins (nee Elsey)

taken from 'Memories of Reigate' an East Surrey Libraries production from the 70s, which can be bought from Reigate Library

'I was born in Nutley Lane, Reigate in 1929 and lived there for the next 29 years before moving to other parts of the borough over the years.

For the first few years of my life my parents had to share the small house with another couple and their child, housing being in short supply even then.

Nutley Lane as I remember it before the last War had three pubs, one of them, The Prince of Wales, was converted into flats many years ago, but when open had an indoor quoits range at the back where I was occasionally allowed to see the men play. It also has a “jug and bottle” entrance at the side where women would come with their own jugs to be filled with beer to be drunk at home, ostensibly by the men of the family, not so-called “decent” women going into pubs at that time. Opposite the Prince of Wales and now a publisher's, was the Co-op grocery shop, and as I grew older I'd be sent to buy things for my mother and have to quote her membership number. A receipt slip was was then given, recording this and the amount paid, for all payments to the Co-operative Society were used to calculate the “divi”, a form of bonus given back at the end of the year in cash or goods back.

Next but one to the Prince of Wales was the grocery shop [36 & 38] that my mother preferred, run by Mr & Mrs Watts, who lived over the shop, but later built a little cottage attached [No.34]. Also in the same row of shops [No.40] was the barber's still run by Mr Smithers until some years ago.

Near the cross-roads with Yorke and Beaufort Roads there was a butcher's shop run by Mr Sturge and the opposite side of the cross-roads another small grocer's run by Miss Pitt and now run by Frank Roscoe. The present Beehive stores also existed and in fact apart from the houses being pulled down near the Nutley Hall Pub and the present retirement flats [Nutley Court] being built, very little has changed at that end of the Lane.

Next to the Co-op an alley went down to what is now some light industry and Saxon Way. This was a combination of farm, junk and storage yards run by the Wickens brothers who would also do small removal jobs. They always had poultry and geese which would come out of the alley and chase people going by. My mother and aunt were chased down the road to the safety of the front gate with their pushchairs many a time.

My father's family had a small builder's business for two generations from the late 19th century, called Geo. Elsey, which existed until after the war when my grandfather and his brothers retired, and they built many smaller houses in Reigate, including the house (one of three pairs) in Nutley Lane where I lived. The business was merged with Hodge's in West Road later to become Goodship and Saunders and now Mantlecroft.

I can look back on my time in Nutley Lane as a happy one and have often thought as I've walked that way to my present home that I'd like to live there again as I still know a few people there, But my daughter who had the house for a while after my parents tells me that it is a lot noisier now, and that I wouldn't enjoy it.'