Derelict building, London Road, Romford

Image: © PAUL FARMER Taken: 17 Apr 2010

Thank you to Michael Champion for the following: I'm almost 100% certain that this building was never a pub but actually the offices (and an apartment, if I recall correctly) for the old United Dairies. Driving through the entrance, to the left was a small shop dispensing products other than milk for the milkmen, beyond that was the milk store. Directly opposite that was the empty bottle bank and to the rear, about midway down the site was the garage & float charging area. Behind that on the left was unused land and opposite that on the right was a workshop/store where a few old floats were kept. Every weekend from about 1965 onwards I'd work as a milk-boy, loading up the floats and work either Chadwell Heath (round 10), Romford (Round 4 centred on the old football stadium) or round 11 (Gidea Park). As I got older, the milkmen would allow me to park their floats once they'd been emptied, while they retired to the rest room to count their day's takings, balance their books and enjoy a cup of tea and a game of snooker.

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