IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Bideford Close, ROMFORD, RM3 8HZ

Postbox No. RM3 215.

This small parade of neighbourhood shops is on the north side of Masefield Cresecent at the junction with Straight Road. The current shops are, from left to right, Terrys Gents' Barbers and Ladies' Hair Stylists, The Bread Basket, the Crescent Pharmacy and Sunny News.

It does exactly what it says on the tin..., running dead straight for about 1.2 miles NNW from Gallows Corner. However it was not always called Straight Road. Old Victorian large scale Ordnance Survey maps show the thoroughfare as Gallows Lane.

As you turn onto the A12 Colchester Road from the Gallows Corner Roundabout, this strange hybrid crossing hones into view. It's a toucan crossing in the respect that it is light-controlled, but it is also partly a zebra crossing as it is lit with an Urbis ZX3 Zebra streetlight (a special streetlight whose optics are specifically designed for zebra crossings). This just goes to show how important so called "white" lighting is on crossing points to improve safety these days. The taller streetlight in the background is a Philips MA60 dating back to the 1970s, and behind that is a modern Thorn Riviera casual replacement, which would've replaced a failed MA60. View taken looking north-northeast in the centre of the square from the A12 Colchester Road.

This is a response to John Winfield's Image, taken from high above where he took the photo on the nearby Gallows Corner flyover which features in his image. I have sharpened the image slightly as it was a little blurred, which I could tell especially by the lamp posts in shot. What strikes me as rather strange here on Geograph is that this first half of the flyover is classed as Gidea Park while the other half is classed as Harold Wood, meaning the flyover is right on the border of two places! View taken looking north-northeast.

Virtually up to the start of the Second World War the Plough was an isolated pub at Gallows Corner on the Colchester Road, most frequently used by Eastenders as a watering hole on the way to visit the delights of Southend-on-Sea. But with the post-war residential development of Harold Wood it became a local pub. It eventually ceased trading several years ago, and a devastating fire in April 2011 reduced it to the current burnt-out shell. Plans are currently being drawn up to demolish what remains of the structure and to build a new KFC outlet in its place.