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Regional Shopping Centres

Lee Chapel North: Neighbourhood Centre, Ballards Walk
Woolmergreen and Trindehay



Location: Ballards Walk Photographer: Bix Year of photo: 01/05/2013 Copyright: Basildon History Online Comments: Beez Neez Café, previously Auto-Care car accessories.	Location: Ballards Walk Photographer: Bix Year of photo: 01/05/2013 Copyright: Basildon History Online Comments: Costcutter, which expanded into unit 43.	Location: Ballards Walk Photographer: Bix Year of photo: 01/05/2013 Copyright: Basildon History Online Comments: Adam's Fish Bar on the paved approach to the main shops.



Location: Ballards Walk Photographer: Bix Year of photo: 13/11/2006 Copyright: Basildon History Online Comments: The Local off licence which took over from Victoria Wine in the 2000s.

Ballards Walk

The neighbourhood shopping centre at Ballards Walk in Lee Chapel North was under construction from late 1962 with the first units opening for business during November and December 1963. The 10 units being numbered 29 to 47 odd. Unit 47 was not part of the main parade, being detached and located on a side approach walkway adjacent to the public toilets.

A sub-post office called St. Paul's was also provided and this is located within number 43. In the mid 2000s number 45 (Costcutter) was combined with number 43 to create a single larger shop.

Adjoining the neighbourhood centre is the Lee Chapel North Community Centre, opened in October 1964, and St. Paul's Methodist Church and Hall, which opened in June 1968; services being previously held in a builders cabin. The community centre has a postbox set within its outer wall. The site of the church seen on a model of the planned centre in 1960 had been earmarked for the Ebenezer Gospel Hall, which stood in the former Elizabeth Drive close to where new Wickhay housing was constructed. In the event the church relocated in 1962 to a new building at Ingaway in Lee Chapel South.

A public house and off licence, the Plough and Tractor, opened in April 1964, and a raised block of maisonettes also share the same site. The pub's off licence later closed in the 1980s and its area was then absorbed into the public bar.

A car park with 40 spaces for the shops and maisonettes was provided with two-way access until the late 1980s when it became one-way in. A public telephone box* was also provided and this initially stood under the maisonettes before being moved in late 1971 adjacent to St. Paul's Methodist church. A second box was later added there but removed in the early 2000s.

To the rear of the shops are a number of rented garages, an enclosed communal washing line area for maisonette tenants, a dental surgery and Basildon Development Corporation's Lee Chapel North housing maintenance depot and rent office. The rent office closed in the early 1980s followed in the 1990s by the maintenance depot, which for a time was used by Pitsea based Hickley's Electrical. The depot along with some of the rented garages were then demolished and replaced with a small housing development called Swan Close.

The council maintained public toilets, located on a paved approach walkway, are now part of the community centre's inner extension having been closed in the late 1980s and their two entrances bricked up.

Some of the past and present traders:

Ballards Walk			Open	Closed
No. 29	Peters Hair Fashions Uppercut Headquarters	Hairdressers Hairdressers Hairdressers	Pre /07/1964 1990s 14/12/2018	c.1981 14/11/2018
No. 31	David Sames E. Moss Alliance Pharmacy Boots	Dispensing Chemist Pharmacy Pharmacy Pharmacy	c. /03/1964 1980s 2000s c.2010	1980s 2000s c.2010
No. 33	Barton's the Bakers Auto-Care (& at 207-209 Timberlog Lane, Barstable) Bentley's Bakery Beez Neez Café The Kitchen B & D's Cafe Grill	Bakers Car accessories Bakers Café with provision for outdoor seating Café with provision for outdoor seating Café with provision for outdoor seating	Pre /07/1964 c.1980s 2000s 2010s c./05/2018 2019	1980s 1990s c.2010 /05/2018 2019
No. 35	Harrington the Butcher Victoria Wine The Local The Off Licence - Wisebuys Local	Butcher Off Licence Off Licence Off Licence	1964 -- Pre 2005 c.2009	1980s -- c.2009
No. 37	Peachey's Fresh Fare Good Food Ballards Wok	Greengrocer Peking & Cantonese cuisine to take away Chinese Take-away	c.1964 Pre 2006 2010s	c.1990s 2010s
No. 39	Forbuoys Martin's	Newsagents, confectionery Newsagents, confectionery	Pre /07/1964 c.2000	c.2000
No. 41	L.A. Attreed William Hill	Turf Accountants Betting Shop	c.1964 1990s	1990s
No. 43	W.A. Burles R. Pullen (Robert Pullen) Costcutter Spar (Ravis Basildon Ltd.) St. Paul's Sub-Post Office	Hardware, paraffin, dry cleaning Hardware, paraffin, dry cleaning General goods General goods Post office services	c.1964 c.1972 2000s 2016 1964	c.1972 2000s 2016
No. 45	S & D Supermarket A.T. Rowe (Arthur Rowe) R.T. Burrage - V.G. Store Sanders Food Store Costcutter Spar (Ravis Basildon Ltd.)	Foodstore Foodstore Foodstore Foodstore Foodstore Foodstore	Pre /06/1964 1970s 1980s c.1990s 2000s 2016	1970s c.1980s c.1990s 2000s 2016
No. 47	W.J. Broughall (Wally Broughall) Adam's Fish Bar	Express shoe repair service Fish and Chip Shop	c.1960s Pre /07/1983	1980s

Woolmergreen

The single shop in Woolmergreen is located within a block of maisonettes built by Basildon Development Corporation during the creation of the housing estate in the 1960s. The first to open there was P.D. Green, who also had a shop at Church Road, Vange.

Some of the shop traders known to have opened:

Woolmergreen			Open	Closed
No. 16A	P.D. Green (Peter Derek Green) Spar Trinity Food & Wine	General Store General Store Food and drink	1964 1980s 2000s	c.1987 --

Trindehay

The single detached shop at Trindehay opened in the 1960s during the construction of the Lee Chapel North housing estate. It was single storey with a service yard being located on an irregular parcel of land at the end of the cul-de-sac Trindehay's roadway. In the 1980s the shop owners converted the rear of the shop for the hire of video films and in the mid 1990s a national lottery terminal was installed. In November 1999 the site was sold for £38,000 and the shop was closed around 2002 and demolished the following year. The site was then boarded off and a number of residential planning applications were submitted to the council - the first being in 2000 prior to demolition - with most being rejected before approval was received in February 2016 for the construction of a short terrace of three one bedroomed two-storey dwellings. Work on their construction began in 2017 with the properties being completed during late 2018. They are numbered 40, 40A and 40B and all occupied during 2019.

Trindehay			Open	Closed
No. 40	E. Brennan (Ernie Brennan) (Lilian Brennan) Bob & Pat Brian & Val Petchey	Convenience Store Convenience Store Convenience Store & Video Hire (see notes (13))	c.1965 1970s c.1980s	1970s 1980s c.2002

Page added: 2013

Other points of interest:

1) Peters Hair Fashions business, founded by Peter Grimwood, originated in Langdon Hills. He opened other shops at Laindon, Lee Chapel South, Fryerns, Basildon (Town Centre), Pitsea and Vange.

2) Peachey's Fresh Fare began in a small shop in High Road, Laindon by brothers Terry and David Peachey. The business grew to include a distribution depot at Bentalls on the Pipps Hill Industrial Estate and further shops at Fryerns (Whitmore Way), South Walk (Basildon), Laindon Shopping Centre, Timberlog Lane (Barstable) and Broadway North, Pitsea.

3) Barton's had a chain of over 40 shops in Essex and a bakery in Paycocke Road on the Nevendon Industrial Estate. The bakery is now closed though a new industrial development off Paycocke Road was named Bakers Court in recognition of the former business.

4) Attreed relocated in 1990s to 2 Hemmels, High Road, Laindon.

5) W.A. Burles previously traded in High Road, Laindon between Aston Road and Somerset Road.

6) A.T. Rowe was run by Arthur Rowe whose father Theodore had purchased a dairy and milk delivery round in Vange in 1921. Rowe's later opened grocery shops at Bull Road, Vange and Butneys in Ghyllgrove.

7) Headquarters hairdressers at No. 29 previously traded at No. 21 Laindon Shopping Centre until December 2018 when they vacated their unit due to the future demolition of the centre, which took place the following year. Mayor of Basildon, Councillor David Dadds J.P. performed the official opening on 14/12/2018.

8) The public telephone box at Ballards Walk was one of the first five K8 designs to be introduced by the Post Office in July 1968. It was moved from its original location under the maisonette block in 1971 due to a wind tunnel effect which caused the door to be blown off during high winds.

9) The supermarket in end unit No. 45 had for a short time in the late 1970s early 1980s a window overlooking the walkway to Yardeley/Jermayns. The outline of its existence can be made out as the later bricks used did not match the original ones when it was bricked up.

10) The postbox set within the community centre's side wall was manufactured by Allied Ironfounders Ltd. of Falkirk, Scotland. To its left is a small area where a stamp machine was set into the bricks. This was later removed and filled in with new bricks.

11) From its earliest years to the 1990s the car park had two entrance/exits. From thereon the entrance was established at the southern end adjacent to the upper flats and the northern end became the exit.

12) In combination with a video hire service at Hoover Drive on the President's estate at Laindon West.

13) Planning application for a residential development of three one bedroomed dwellings at 40 Trindehay received 03/12/2015 and approved 15/02/2016.

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