Snarsgate Street and the Hytex Rubber Factory

Running off the northern end of Latimer Road is Snarsgate Street, a short cul de sac of formerly two up, two down terraced cottages. David Walker has sent has sent in some photos and memories of the street in the post war years and its relationship with Hytex a rubber factory, close by on Latimer Road.

OS map 1914

David Walker

My old Dad used to say the houses, were £100 each just before the War so you could have bought the whole street for £2100 back then.

All the houses numbers 1- 10 on our side of the Street  were rented out by Mr Parr who owned Hytex Rubber Factory that ran along the back of the properties. He was highly regarded both as landlord and provider of fairly well paid jobs for the local lads in the area. I did a stint there in my teens but that lasted about a month. The 100 degree heat was bad enough. Worse was the stench on my clothes from the molten rubber that did little for my street cred so I left. Mr Parr also ran a system of homework, a much welcome source of extra income for local women (cutting and trimming the rubber tyres for Dinky toys and Silver Cross prams). My Mum did it and was paid by the gross . She would never miss the chance to ‘press gang’ any us to help if we stood around too long. There was always a Christmas party funded by Mr Parr for us kids and a hot water bottle (another product of the factory) plus a week’s free rent for the grown ups.

The background of this picture shows the dividing wall between our cul de sac and the gardens of the ‘big’ houses Highlever Road. The door in the wall was usually locked but always of great interest to us as kids as it seemed to be like peering into a magic garden when it was occasionally opened for tradesmen to use. The faded white wicket cricket stumps on the wall painted by my elder brother Pete were still there in the 70’s and highlights the longevity of the nice drop of (probably lead) paint pinched from my Dads box in our backyard. The dilapidated corrugated iron construction on the right was Hytex distribution shed which has since been developed into an additional property, 10A. Another sign of the times?

The end of the war photo above shows most of the families of the Street that I remember when growing up (four of the families who lived in the Street were from my Dad’s extended family). Some of the others were from across the top of Snarsgate Street where it connects to Latimer Road. My Mum is far right outside the old family home with my sister on her lap. I am in my Mums tummy.

More recollections from Kenneth Saunders (from comments sent into the blog)

I remember Snarsgate Street especially for the bonfires in November, they were easily the best in the area, although they did no no favours for the road surface We really tried, storing up all the bits of wood and furniture from summer onwards. I’ll let you into a little secret. The reason they were the best is that we dug up most of the original old wooden tar blocks from under the tarmac road surface so the fire burned bright and so long that even the Fire Brigade had trouble putting them out. It’s a wonder over the passing years that the whole street entrance didn’t turn into a sinkhole. I am still unsure to this day whether it was the difference between a better equipped Fire Service or our ever depleting tar stocks that saved this event from actually happening.

Snarsgate Street used to be the play street for most of us boys who lived local to it in Latimer Road especially during the school holidays when we would meet up most days and organise ball games, home made cart and scooter races etc much to the annoyannce of a few of those residents without kids. It probably became a games area as it was a cul de sac and had a very smooth road surface ideal for the ball bearings being used for scooter wheels. We used to get the ball bearings from the Rootes workers who visited the Cafe on the corner of Snarsgate Street . The owner of the Cafe was Maurice and it was known as Mo’s Cafe.

There have been several comments about doing homework for Hytex, as many of the local families were involved.

James Farndale

I used to go to them (Hytex) to collect pressed rubber sheets of washers and grommets that my mum had to clean up with scissors. There were quite a lot of out workers at the time. There was always a container at home filled with the soap she used to make the scissor blades cut through the thin rubber. I don’t know how much she earned for this task, but I had to visit the factory several times a week. I must have been 12 /13 years old at the time.

Sharon Aldridge

My late mum Elsie Stanbridge worked there for many years, as a manageress. Her sister Doris Ellis used to distribute the rubber homework. In the 1960s there was an entrance for her homework room, at the end of Snarsgate street. And in later years her room was at the front of the building. The factory was owned by Mr and Mrs Parr.

I also remember the soap in a bowel to cut the rubber sheets, my mum Elsie did homework herself. I remember as a teenager being out of work and I used to do the rubber homework packing rubber bottle stoppers, and finger cones six in strip. and boxing them up. Happy times!

Michael Butler below sent in some photos

Michael Butler

We moved to Wallingford Avenue in April 1949 when I was 16 months old. My father worked in Alperton for Amplivox Hearing Aids and to make ends meet my mother started working part- time in the evenings at White City Greyhound Stadium. Dog nights were on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, many local men and women worked part- time at the stadium then. Mum worked for the tote upstairs.

When I started school in 1953, my mother, Marjorie Butler got a job at Hytex Rubber working in the office on a part-time basis. Mr. Parr the owner and his wife (Dodi) were brilliant employers and not only did they pay decent wages they looked after their workers in many other ways. They paid for Beano’s (coach trips) to the seaside for the workers, normally Southend or Margate and for the office workers and customers a Christmas do at the Café Royal in Regent Street.

On the Beano’s the women in the factory had their own song they sang on the journey to the coast “We’re the Hytex Girls”.

I remember seeing loads of old prams and pushchairs coming and going from the factory picking up and returning the outwork. We occasionally did some to help pay for a holiday.

Mum stayed there until 1959 eventually working there full time

Mr Parr, the owner of Hytex and his wife Dodi in the back row with the office staff and their partners.

Hytex Beano with the coach. Mr. Parr far right. My mum in the camel coat talking to the lady with the handbag.

Mr Parr at the Café Royal shaking the hand of a woman who worked with my mum (name now forgotten).

If anyone wants to add more information about the history of Hytex and also about the ‘finishing’ factory on Gayford Road which is mentioned in various comments, please add to the comments below or send in an email direct to the blog northkenstories@yahoo.co.uk and they can be added to this entry.