Our image today shows the Boleyn Ground and the surrounding area in all its splendour, and dates from the late 80s.
Where the statue currently resides is still the old toilets under the pavement, St Johns school still stands where the chairman now park their cars and no superstore, just the old portacabin shop stretching down the concourse leading up to the old West Stand that was built in the 1920s by the Cearn’s family.
The pitch is hugged by the stands with barely room to take a throw in or corner, it was that tight, while not being the original the lower east terracing still kept its chicken run name and its reputation for taking no prisoners of players having an off day.
The pitch showing wear and tear of the constant use by first team and then reserves, a game every Saturday which didn’t really help the style of play the fans expected, and a long way from being the carpets of the modern day game.
Rows of terraced houses stretch away from the Barking Road as Plaistow flows into East Ham with Green Street being the old boundary between West and East Ham with the ground originally being in theory the wrong side of the boundary line.
It was in those houses that many of the club’s players lived in up until at least the early 60s, as much of the training was carried out at the ground as well as the Saturday games. Cassetaris cafe was still serving up its great dinners and Nathen’s pie and mash shop had customers during the week not just on match days.
The Odeon cinema though had finally gave way to the local Asian customers to become one of the first Bollywood cinemas in London. Newham Bookshop was thriving as it still is today and the furniture shop on the opposite corner of Green Street to the Boleyn tavern was also in business as it is today.
Behind the North Stand and Priory Court sits the Upton Park bus garage, busy at the time but now lying dormant. It was of course the bus garage that was cited as a reason for the East Stand not being able to be redeveloped only to be shut down years later.
Green street stretches away north, past the house where David Gold moved into as a young boy past Queens Road Market and the train station on towards the old Duke of Edinburgh pub with the junction of Plashet Grove carrying on to Forest Gate.
Finally in the top far right hand corner you just get to see the bottom of Plashet Park, rumoured to be inspiration for the Small Faces song Itchycoo Park, though some say that is Valentines Park in Ilford.
in Just six months time the area will forever change as the gates are closed on the ground and then removed along with stands, but with pictures like above we will never lose our Boleyn Memories.
Words and picture supplied by CandH historian: Nigel Kahn
Follow Nige @mywhufc
Zzzzzzzzzzzz why waste a whole day commenting on someone elses comment on another site? Who gives a ****..?? Each to their own….
& just to prove the point he could fill an Olympic pool,the bs flows.Still it is all about what Iain Dale said nothing to do with his snide ‘ i have a theory’ comment about this place.Talking of hitting the nail on the head it seems about 5 or 6 people have on here.Oh well i have given him something else to wimper about now i assume.First time i went to this WHTID today.Didnt know it existed.Appears the same guy had already spent the morning arguing with someone.Guess some people just have that mentality,if they go looking for confrontation they will find it.
Haha,let it go lads.I aint posted on here for months,rarely come here anymore but **** me im sure he didnt mean anything by it & if he did so what.Does it matter.Get a grip of yourselves,lol.What are you,men or a bunch of girlies off Loose Women,lol.Only joking,i know your men,women dont understand football,haha.Thats a joke as well if a certain Iron supporting lady stumbles across this,haha 😀
Cheque os cash P45?
Haha,cheque,i dont want any of that Canadian funny money 😀
Wouldnt worryabout what they think on Wetpants guys.Some of them have a strange fixation about comments on here.They cant get their heads around reading a thread without having to comment hundreds of times,reiterating what they usually siad the day before & the day before & the day be….you get the drift.
They reiterate what they have been saying for a week or a month or a year…or two.
You may have a point Frankie……
But this was the other way round.
Lol,is amusing Stingray.Poor guy attacked for only mentioning what Dale said.Feeling hard done by now on Wetpants.Just happenjng to have a total brain freeze when it comes to also telling them how he also made the comment about ‘having his own theory’.Must be great to have a short memory & mental blocks that only remember parts of what you said,lol
Feeling hard done by? Lol okay……c
Great pic Mr. Kahn, still working on getting there to get a last look.
hurry up then, be nice to meet up
I aint commented on here for about two months since Radai,Bubs,Matty & the lads were about.Does it mean i dont read here.Not at all.Just aint felt inclined to post.As for WHU80.Well we all know from past experience he could fill an Olympic Swimming Pool with ******* & then some.Nice to see nothing has changed 😉
Who said it was a bad thing not to comment?
Thanks for the glowing reference, apprwciated 😉
Oh here we go,on here whining now.What Iain said has little to do with your ‘theories’ comment.You want to make lame comments on WHTID go for it.Dont cry though when people get the hump on here.Aint the first time,you have history flapping your gums about this place on there.Pull the tigers tail,dont whine if it bites you.
“Whinning”?? “Cry”??
Nah….having to explain, unfortunately.
One poster on WHTID probably hit the nail on the head, which I agreed with.
I have absolutely no idea why so many on here got so upset about something Iain Dale said.
Find it strange tbh.
Funny guys,made me chuckle.I dont comment much either.Read,digest,disappear for me the majority of the time.But just for the Wetpants Till Im Dry man-
Thankyou so much for this gem of a shot Nigel old chap,really is a simply splendid photo.One enjoyed it immensely 🙂
Yep,thanks Mr.Khan.**** me i feel like im on a guilt trip now for never commenting on here,lmao.Thought only my mum could make me feel guilty,lol
i generally try not to comment, and was surprised when i saw so many on this one.
then i read them,
i did laugh.
thanks for the comments though, i must go and thank 647580
Well im sure even though we dont all comment we do all appreciate your pictures & articles Nigel.As we do Sean & Hughs efforts.Some of us have a life though,we dont have time for rambling on about The Irons,lol.Cheers mate 🙂
Great picture Nigel, exactly how I will always remember the place.
Sorry if the number of comments caused a problem for your notifications but you know what they say, any publicity is good publicity!
Regarding that subject all I did was repeat what the owner of WHTID mentioned in the KUMB podcast…….that was it. This is news, that is views/opinions…..
My best memories where from the 80s of The Boleyn.Loved those days
Never normally comment but felt kind of guilty reading & not commenting,ha ha.Thnkyou for these memories you give us pictorially Nigel,much appreciated.
Yes,is a great picture lads.
This reminds me of the good ol’ days on here.Hippohead,Wetpants,Claret & Spew/Poo.,haha.Thought it had become a little quiet.Guess it only takes one lodmouth know it all from Wetpants to get it going again.Happy days,haha.But we must always remember they are the West Ham United Brains Trust.They know everything,especially how to bake a cake 🙂
Forgot to say,i commented,hope that is ok with the geezer on Wetpants & his theories!
I enjoyed the picture, I guess I had better comment –
Thats how ill try and remember the stadium, thats when I enjoyed it the most. I used to swop between the north and south banks with the odd chicken run to mix it up. Great times
Read & commented.Its Official.
I apoligise.I read here all the time but working many hours i have little time to comment.However just for WHU647580 i will this time,pfff,what a joke.Didnt realise it was compulsory to comment on every article posted.My bad.Seem to remember that dude used to come here with his Wetpants gang during the Hippohead reign to fire things up,then go running back to Wetpants to say what a nasty bunch was on here,lol.
Picture viewed.Article read.Comment made.Hope that is sufficient.
You should all know by now some on WHTID suffer from a superiority complex when it come to their site.They know more than Bilic,could play better than the pros & are tactical wizards way beyond what Bilic could ever dream of being.Maybe we can have a snowball fight with them.We will make our snow yellow first,ha ha
Soot on mate.They are in the main right up eachothers arses.Never bother posting on there,probably get some poetry or Dickens hurled back at me.As for that WHU80,is there anything he isnt an expert on when it comes to football.He would have been better served keeping his big gob shut rather than being a total tosser.
Dont really get the point of the idiots remark on WHTID.I have been reading this site since it began as near as damn it.I have never commented until today.It is a site with many stories that run regularly on here,not every article or piece needs a comment from people.WHTID is a totally different animal.It is a site with no rolling news.They have all day to debate,which they certainly do.Usually to the point of exhausting a subject & then returning to it 10minutes later to strart pontificating from A to Z again.WHTID will be & has always been the place for many folk with West Ham OCD i would suggest.
Lmao.Hadnt seen that comment on WHTID.So ok,i read this article,now i have commented.Saw no reason to need to but if it is needed to satisfy the guy on WHTID i have fulfilled my obligation.Oh,thanks Mr.Kahn,top shot,cheers.Now can i get back to reading pieces without doing a ‘Daily Mail’!
Its that time of year Steve.Goodwill to all men & lets have a go at another site,lmao.Maybe he doesnt like the peace between the two sites these days.He wants a ruck.He seems to enjoy them on a reegular basis.Take today as a perfect example on there.He definately runs on Duracell.Just like the bunny that went on for ever banging the same drum,lol
Great picture Nigel thanks for sharing it.Good to see C&H get mentioned in dispatches on Wetpants Till I Die.No surprise it was that ****** WHU647580 making the comment.Nothing changes,still a ******,lol 🙂