Your guide to the place to live in Laindon.... The Five Links Estate (AKA Alcatraz).
The Five Links Estate was a housing estate made up from 6 (yes - SIX, so why Five Links?) sections. You had Brendons, Handley Green, Somercotes, Newbury Side, Mellow Purgess, and Laindon Link. Brendons and Laindon Link have both been renamed and Handley Green is in the process of being renamed to Beeston Courts. I lived for 25 years of my life at 176 Handley Green up until I moved to Evesham in 2002. The estate was built I believe in 1970 and wasn't a bad place until only recently when the council decided it would be a good idea to redevelop the entire estate.
The estate is nearly unrecognisable to what it was once. Now, the place looks run down, and I don't think it will be long before they decide to just pull down the whole estate. Shame, as I have so many fond childhood memories of this place.
1. Welcoming sign to one of the links... Handley Green (where I lived)
2. My old house (the house in the corner with the white door)
3. A random block from Mellow Purgess. Actually, it just so happens that a good friend of mine lived at the house with the white door. Spent many times round that house many years ago.
4. Back to Handley Green - my sister lived at that house 10 years or so ago. Note that all the blocks look more or less the same. If you have never visited the estate before, it is very easy to get lost. Apparently the entire estate has around 1600 house/flats so that gives you an idea of how big the place is.
5. One of the many alleyways on the estate. Not a great place to walk down in the dark - the street lights hardly ever work. This alley is in Somercotes and leads to a couple of shops. I use to walk this way when I went to school. An old granny lived in a house on the right of the alley - her garden backed up onto the alley and I always waved to her every morning!!!!!!
6. My old local shops. These shops are located in Somercotes (actually, it is now just one shop). It was once a newsagents run by some Patel character and a small general groceries store run by a really friendly family. They closed shop some time ago, and Patel took over both units.
7. Another alley
8. Luxury Flats (??!!)
9. Another random block
10. I took this picture over a year ago. 227 Handley Green was the home of one of my best friends (Steven) and I spent a great amount of my childhood round this house. The house has since been demolished, and a carpark and new houses have been built on the site.
11. As picture 10, I use to play Tennis here with Steven - and this is the view I had.
12. Steves old back garden.
Five Links used to intimidate me something rotten, considering I lived on a (then) posh estate. Visiting you or The Ex required an escort 9/10 times.
ReplyDeleteOf course, my old stomping ground of Danacre and The Decks got smashed down too. Unlike you, I cheered on that day. hehe Never forget the day when someone from the council arrived at our door and apologised for the intrusion, but we had to expect some emergency construction work for 4 weeks due to the fact the entire deck was tiled in Asbestos.
And people wonder why I am asthmatic ;)
If you Google Earth Five Links now you will see the mess the road has made to the old green, but what you won't see is the mess they're now making to the rest of the green areas on the estate as they rape Mellow, Newbury & Summercotes for more car parking spaces as they build more houses...
ReplyDeleteAlways thought that the road was a mistake and that the main reason for it was just to get at the land. 5 Links/ Alcatraz was never as bad as it was made out to be... ok so the cars were vulnerable but better having your stereo nicked than being burgled eh? I don't live there now (moved after they built the road - I lived looking onto the Green and they ruined it) but it is sad to see just how much it's declined since the so-called "regeneration".
ReplyDeletei grew up in handley green 1972 - 1987. i left before it started to go downhill, so it seems. i enjoyed living there, the layout of the houses meant that kids could always play safe because if we played in the courtyards or on the green, then lots of people could see us. i used to walk through the woods to lincewood school, then thru stebbings to laindon high road. sad to see the mess they have made of it, from pics at estate agents it looks like most of the houses are ruins now. i loved being a kid there. our block had loads of kids the same age and we had the best games of runout due to the size of the estate. rip handley green.
ReplyDeleteWe lived in Handley Green #68 (we think that was the number) from Sept 1979 to Aug 1980. My wife swapped houses and classrooms with a local teacher on a UK-USA Fulbright Teacher Exchange. I had two son, then ages 11 and 9 (Ben and Brady), who went to school at Nicholas Comp and Janet Duke.
ReplyDeleteLived in 226 Somercotes in '82. Car crime was rife and the local shop and train station were robbed whilst living there, the staion once, when they had tied the station staff up. The shop was burgled regularly.
ReplyDeleteI lived at 192 Somercotes. The very first house where the alley way was next to the old peoples block. We used to have speedboats outside and was always working on cars and pushbikes. We moved away to London in 1990 but my family moved back to basildon a few years back I went back a few times and was so sad to see our old house gone many a good childhood memories
ReplyDeleteI lived at no 11, we moved there in 1970 from Canning town, where we had outside loo, no heating and a tin bath, somercotes was lovely, under floor heating, and nice inside. It had a great Park area for kids and no cars to worry about.
ReplyDeleteour family lived in somercotes from 88 - 94 and i would'nt change my childhood for the world, have some brilliant memories from living on the five links estate, seen it for the first time last year since the regeneration and its a regeneration gone wrong in my eyes
ReplyDeleteI lived at 153 Somercotes when it was a brand new house. We moved to Rising Grove in 1980. Really happy memories of growing up there in the 70's. It was a lovely estate then, no trouble, everyone looked out for each other & kids could play safely anywhere. Such a shame it became as run down as it did. Knew that estate like the back of my hand!
ReplyDeleteMany fond memories of growing up in Mellow Purgess. I lived at no.68 until I was about 10. Watch New Town Utopia if you’re interested in a little history about Basildon & Laindon.
ReplyDeleteThank You
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