After the 70′s I rarely visited Hemel until the early 90′s when I saw a few bands at the Pavillion (Neds Atomic Dustbin stands out). When I visited again in 95 I was really surprised to see the town centre had been virtually pedestrianized but I think it was an improvement. I was also struck by the massive wasteland where the Shell building had been in my childhood.

In 1998 I came to Hemel to work as a Police Officer and have been stationed here ever since. I am very happy here and overall it is a good town. I’ve read the few comments knocking Hemel but as an insider I feel qualified to say that like most towns 95% of the problems are caused by 5% of the population, and compared to Dunstable (which in the 70′s was a fairly affluent market town but is now in terminal decline) where I was brought up Hemel is still very desirable. In fact when I walk through the town now I am struck by just how much regeneration and improvement has gone on since I arrived in 1998. Back in the 70′s the town was a nice clean place that still retained a lot of the orignal new twon idealism but by 98 it had become a bit run down. In the last few years its really started changing again and hopefully Hemels 2nd golden time is coming (assuming all the funding doesn’t totally dry up).

Great to read all the posts here. I hope my little contribution is interesting.

I courted a girl from Hemel (Boxmoor) in the 70′s and was a frequent visitor to the town centre of a Saturday afternoon and evening. Although living near St Albans at the time, my father had been working on the Maylands Industrial Estate for a number of years, so I have some very fond memories of the area before the large scale development took hold later on.

Like others, I recall the female fashion store called Snob and the dress stalls on the market, having been obliged to visit them with said girlfriend to provide fashion advise!! Peter Spivey (also in St Albans and Watford as I recall) and Millets were probably more my cup of tea, as were snacks enjoyed in the Wimpy and Golden Egg. I remember going to the night club in the Marlowes, but couldn’t recall the name – Scamps – until I read it in a post above. We would go to the Wagon and Horses for a drink after a date at the Odeon Cinema, and I also recall evenings in the Steamcoach in Boxmoor and discos at the Heathcote Hotel near Kodak, though I may have that name wrong.

Gadebridge park was a gem and I remember that my girlfriend and I, who both had family dogs, introduced them to each other in the park. Ahh!! My previous memory of the park was during a D of E hike back from Ivinghoe Beacon to school in St Albans a few years before. We stopped by the river and bathed our feet in the water to cool them down. We weren’t even supposed to be in Hemel as we’d already completed the required distance walking through Beds and Bucks to the Beacon, but we’d spent our bus fares in a pub in Pitstone and had no option but to hoof it home. Whist walking through Gadbridge, one of my classmates found a 50 pence coin and we bought a reviving Swiss roll in a shop near the Pavillion.

Oh happy times and didn’t the sun always shine?

And the girlfriend? Well I thought she might be a keeper, married her and we now have two fantastic daughters and an adorable grandaughter. Alan