The Berry Boys Boxing Hall stood in Northumberland Avenue, Laindon opposite
British Telecom's main Laindon telephone exchange. It was home to the Berry Boys Amateur Boxing Club. The club, founded in
1946 by Langdon Hills resident Fred Nunn, used the hall after moving there during 1970 for training and boxing events. The club
had previously been based at a number of different locations these being: St. Michael's Mission Hall, long since demolished, in
Salisbury Avenue, Langdon Hills, and from 1st September, 1956 at the once residential property Balmoral House in High Road,
Laindon between the main Crown Post Office and Primrose's shop - now also long since demolished. Balmoral House stood
opposite the Laindon United football ground situated to the rear of the Laindon Hotel's public house outside garden. From there
they relocated again, possibly around 1962, across High Road to the disused former Fire Station.
The Northumberland Avenue hall was built partially of brick, including a small extension to the front, and had a corrugated
pitched roof. It had two main areas of roughly equal size divided by a makeshift centre partition. Upon entering, a kitchen and
various other small rooms including toilets abounded the left wall with doorways opening out on to the main floor area. These
rooms housed equipment used by a local playgroup. To the right and set back within its own enclosure was a medium sized stage, with rooms
either side. This saw use during 1977 and 1978 as both a rehearsal facility for bands and when the hall played host to various live
music events involving local groups of the time. The boxing club facilities were housed from at least 1976 entirely to the rear
behind the central divide.
The building originally had sliding side sections no doubt relating to its previous original use which had backed directly on to
the former goods yard at Laindon railway station. In its latter years it was the last surving pre-new town building to remain on the
western side - the builders yard next door and nearer to High Road having moved out some years previously - as
Northumberland Avenue was truncated to a new roundabout created when the Five Links housing estate was built. Hatterill
now roughly follows the old road running parallel with the Southend bound side of the railway.
The hall was finally demolished around 1992 as part of the Laindon Station re-development and the Station Gate Shopping
Centre now stands in its place. In 1991 the boxing club moved to Valence Way, Langdon Hills to facilities that included a
new club house and football pitch for Berry's youth football teams. | 
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