John Steel

Interviewed by Rosemary Christmas on 10 May 2000
Subject: Housing, Second World War

John Steel. But I do remember that in the period just before, and after, The Second World War there was a large amount of shops along Military Road. They really had no one in them, although they did have a lot of people living in them after The Second World War because accommodation was very hard to get and people did live in them. But as far as businesses, you might say – from the area where Mosmania – right through to Spit Junction – there was a real drudge in the market, you couldn’t give that real estate away at that time. There was just nothing in there and lots of vacant shops. An odd shop or two, but really that area was pretty depressed; surprisingly, when we look at it today, but it was a very depressed area.