THE HARLOW YEARS 1962 - 1966 

Oh so many happy memories! Like many others on this page, my family moved from the East End in the early sixties. I was 5. What a difference! Green fields, modern schools, endless hours of playing outside and not an adult in sight. We migrated to Australia in 1969. I was homesick for years. It seems we had the best of it. Thank you so much for these wonderful photos.

Brilliant video 👍 Life was much better back then. Everything looked so clean and open and hassle free. I loved that period of my life and to see it in all its glory on beautiful sunny day, the cars, the shops, the people and the traffic free roads brings back such great memories. Thank you for uploading this.

I grew up in Harlow in the 70's and 80's. It was a great place to live. Most of my family still live there. It always feels good to visit. Salt of the earth Harlow people.

What a great film showing the people settling in to the new town. Very nostalgic and brings back great memories.

Moved to Harlow from Bexleyheath in 1960 aged 10 Attended Latton Bush school, great place to live and grow up, I remember all these locations( it even includes where my dad worked) in 1967 I shot my own 8mm film, no where near as good as this… what a great documentary record on ordinary life- it really does capture so many aspects and images of such a formative period in my Life. I was more into pinkfloyd by the timeI left than the shadows(but great choice for this film!) saw them live at the “Birdcage” in 1967…aaah those were the days…

I really enjoyed this film - so nostalgic to look at how it used to be. I moved here from London in 1957 as a 9 year old, and it was wonderfully clean and open after the grime of London. A brilliant snapshot of every aspect of our lives then, shopping, housing, work etc. etc. Those were the days.....................

Good to see Harlow from my childhood, brought back some happy memories. Thank you.

Great memories as a kid. I have lived in the town since 1952. Got quite emotional watching it.

It was lovely to watch this video seeing Harlow as I remember it as a kid

Just great. Thankyou for uploading this. For a kid in the 60's and 70s, it was such a brilliant place to grow up.

Lived in Harlow from 1962-1965 before we emigrated to Tasmania. I still remember playing on Latton Common with friends and going to Bush Fair. I think it was nicknamed ‘Pram City’ in the ‘60s?

Your video brought back great memories for me. I lived there until aged (12) and left in 1968 when my family emigrated to Australia. We lived in Nicholls Field and as children we used the laneways or bike lanes around the town. The playscheme was great, and so much room to play with other kids, great memories of a great childhood.

My family moved to Harlow in 1954 when I was 7 years old and we lived in The Downs until we returned N London in 1964. Harlow was a wonderful place in those days; everything new and fresh and with lots of green open spaces. Happy memories of Netteswell School. I will never forget my schoolfriends. I return on occasion for a sentimental stroll around the town. Regrettably, the place seems to have fallen victim to years of austerity and poor planning which has allowed a huge amount of over-development.

My mother moved to Harlow as a little girl in about 1961 when she was 7. I was an Army Brat and moved around a lot. Harlow was where my beautiful, wonderful grandparents lived until they died in 2007 and 2017. I know it's gone quite a bit downhill over the years, but it holds so many memories for me. My daughter's middle name is Harlow, in honor of the only hometown I ever knew. I will never visit England without at least visiting Harlow, even though our family is all gone from there.

This Vid brought back good memories for me living in Harlow, I was a year old when my parents moved there in 1957, went to Burnt Mill School and started work at Cossor Electronics, moved out of harlow in 1982 when I got Married, as been said before , The good old days.

Any proper Londoners watching this would remember how we were encouraged to relocate to New Towns. I’m now in Herts but still close enough for a short train ride into the smoke for a day out. Great video 👍👍👍👍👍

Great piece of pictorial social history.

I moved from Islington to Harlow when I was 8. I loved it in Harlow. it seemed so modern compared to grimy old London. We stayed a coouple of years and then went to Germany. Lived there for a year ro two and then moved back to Harlow again. We lived in Herons Wood. I liked Harlow a lot. I still do, although it's a shame that it doesn't look as clean and modern as it used to. I still love it though. With the right town planning and management it can be a great place to live again.

Wow I didn't know my beloved Harlow used to look like that

Wow! What a trip down memory lane. Bought back the good old days for a while there. Thank you for uploading!

Also, a great choice of music, it`s very fitting for the time.

Fantastic film. It's amazing how much space there was around everything when the town was new.

Interesting and very very sad. I was one of those early settlers in 1958..a child who grew up in 60s in Harlow. Looking at this and having gone back for just 3 years recently I could cry-we moved away again as it was not how i remembered. Harlow has lost so much more than it has gained since these photos were taken. It was magic then...tragic now why?

Was half expecting to see me mum walking through the town center pushing a pram with me in it :D

We moved to Hemel Hempstead from London and were joined by many other Londoners. Have to say it was better then than it is now.

This is so great I love it, thank you so much. What great background music as well.

Fascinating to see the Harlow of my primary school years - particularly the original town centre before it was spoilt by the additions of the 70s and 80s. Like many, I think that it was a great town for young kids to grow up in - albeit something of a social experiment that became increasingly less successful from the mid-70s on onwards.

This is the third time I have made a comment on this video as it really brings back happy memories of Londoners moving out to the new Towns and settling in. We now have a new wave of Londoners moving into the same Town but so massively different now (sad to say) and talking like they want to be Gangsters. Well at least I was fortunate enough to experience the happy times growing up in a new Town in the sixties.

really... what an excellent place to grow up in during the early 1960's. I had everything on my doorstep. Sadly though i didn't appreciate it at the time. Great to see burnt mill academy has blossomed into the best school in Harlow... although i hated it there from 1971-1976. strangely, i have an overwhelming urge to revisit one day before i croak!

I did enjoy the film very much. Thank you.

I moved to Harlow in 1958 as a five year old and although i was young i can remember thinking it was the countryside. It was great back then , hardly any cars speeding through the streets, kids playing in the roads on their homemade carts, all the football pitches and used all the time. As a kid you felt safe to go out and explore and having a garden was a real luxury after the East End of London. Before we came my step-father Harry got employment with Key Glass like many others and everyday for six weeks he would cycle to Harlow from and to Leytonstone until we got our first home in the Fortunes. We didn`t stay long as my sister came along in 1959 and we moved into a 3 bed in Longfield where my stepdad stayed until 2005 just after my Mum passed away. I`m still here, a grandparent and although it`s changed alot it still has some beautiful areas , the town park being one. Hopefully one day the government will inject some worthwhile money into improving and upgrading the town for the young future generations. As an avid photographer i have thousands of images of Harlow where i walked the streets photographing every day life. Hopefully one day future eyes will look on my images and feel the good feeling of nostalgia.

I have to repeat what has already been said in the comments. I lived in Harlow from 1964 to 1973 when I was 2 to 11 years old. The best years of my life were spent there because I loved nature and the park, many woods and river were the best environment a child could have. Many places have not changed too much but town centre is awful now and Templefields has been spoilt with Tescos as well as much of Old Harlow. I could make a long list of things that are now missing but will just mention Rods the toy shop in the stow, the small educational farms of the secondary schools, Gilbeys, the iconic Town Hall and water gardens and the Town Shows that used to be really eventful. I never realised how lucky I was until we moved to the urban spawl of Chelmsford.

Our old house features 4'52” in. Mark Hall Moors. Family lived there from 1952 to 1982. One of the most striking things now is how much open public space there was. Tractors use to mow the grass throughout the summer.

The town has changed so much. I remember going there as a young kid in the early 2000s and now in 2019 its literally run down like Stevenage. Such a shame

wow this is great i was to young to remember much but still great xxx

I lived in POSH Sawbridgeworth from 66 to 78 and remember Tiffany's Discoteque, Paint'ed Lady PH and of course The 'igh. Good ol' 'Arlow as they called it. Also remember a footie player called Bernie Skeggs for 'Arlow Taaaan ma'te. Also remember seeing Glenn Hoddle in a pub ? Went back there in 2019 ........ horrible place? Sawbo still nice but Bps. Stortford has gone downhill with big buildings crammed in everywhere.

I moved to Harlow with my family when I was 8 yrs old in 1965 and lived there till we migrated to Australia in the 70's. We lived in Joyners Field and I attended Kingsmoor school and then Stewards. It was a fantastic place in which to grow up. I hope to revisit there one day.

This is delightful, thanks so much for uploading. A town full of industry, you could walk out of one job and into another, lots of community spirit and crucially hope for the future. I feel like I am living in the wrong era.

My home town, I miss it

fantastic

Good times sadly gone

Some great memories. Things look so different now I dont recognize many of the places now, Any chance of some small captions describing where they are.

As a person that lives in Harlow this a little bit looks fimilliar

People keep saying that Harlow has gone downhill - but what has actually gone wrong with it? Is it the people, or the environment? Why would people be so pessimistic now when they were so optimistic in the 1960s and 1970s? Is it because everyone's expectations are much higher these days, and everyone wants to be a Hollywood film star, and anything less than that makes them annoyed? Maybe people had lower expectations back then, so they were more easily satisfied, and they were happy to just enjoy the relatively small things in life, like playing games in the park, walking the dog, etc.

We need a re-shoot of how bad it looks now!

Great sound track

A beautiful time for our people in a homogeneous clean and safe environment built by and for us. We really need to reclaim such a homeland for us and our descendants.

Great upload and I recognise quite a few places

Wish there was time travel I would go back

Wonderful memories. It was so tranquil, open and clean in those days. - I especially like the opening scene showing the Bus Station - if only bus stations were like that now. I remember riding the bus from Sawbridgeworth (397??) or the 393 that started in (old) Harlow travelling on the quiet Elizabeth way to the "New Town" and The High. Ironic that the film is accompanied by "Apache" as I first heard the music of Cliff Richard and the Shadows playing in a music shop just behind the bus station.

Wonderful... Moved to Harlow 'New Town' in 1967 from London - as many people did of course. Modern shops, comprehensive schools and no roundabouts.. Moved out many years ago. Sadly the place has had it's day - and now has many roundabouts..!! Happy memories...

Harlow was a great place to be in the 60's and 70's -m your own inside toilet and a bathroom then later central heating my Dad had to be convinced it was worth a shilling a week ! The cycletracks are still the best in the country - shame that the cost of maintaining everything went sky high makes it impossible for the Council.

There used to be a car park opposite where the bus station is now where that block of flats is and we want car washing there. Happy days

I walked through town the other day, sorry to say it looks like a 99p town now.

Who or what's responsible for that? General decay. Politicians? The sort of people who live in the town now? A combination of all three?

Brill vid. I remember Harlow from the mid 70s - my Nan lived in Pennymead and my Mum worked in the Stow...good times, good skateboard park near there..proppa 70s :-)

omg....Brill

Well, it's a nice old piece of film, but for some reason it's either been incorrectly converted or uploaded. The aspect ratio should be 4:3, not 16:9, hence the distorted picture.

So sad that the wonderful Harlow Market has completely died. Priced out?

I see American influences here in the open spaces, wide streets, parking lots and a central shopping center...very much like US suburbs at that time, albeit in a smaller scale.

the good old days

Honestly, how could you vote down this vid?

Barry was here

Is this Harlow in Essex

Harlow sure isn’t like that anymore 😳😟

Hit 200 like

In a word, Thatcher. Her government dismantled the engineering and manufacturing centres of towns like this leaving only the low-paying service sector as a viable means of employment. Got years of manufacturing and engineering skills? You can fill shelves at Tesco!

not many cars about

female emancipation and double incomes, family breakdowns, the decline of marriage and childbirth, deindustrialisation, the inexorable rise of the motor car, US style shopping trends, migration from other nations/cultures - how could it remain the same today? It's awful. Thanks for uploading this uplifting film.

Internet keeps stopping should go back to old system

Harlow Town Police Station.

People dont leave prams with baby unattended anymore

The only colour is in the film- 👍🤦🏿‍♂️

It's pure right-wing ideological dogma unfortunately, I wish it was any other way but that's it. If you work on a shop floor in industry you are likely to have safety concerns and likely to join a union for the protection of yourself and your interests. Therefore you are likely to be a threat and not 'know your place'. So we'll destroy the centres of manufacture making everybody scared and divided and easier to control. Unemployment was 'a price worth paying' to them of course in the 1980s.

I was born in 1969 in Harlow, so some of this had changed in my memory, but the Odeon visited that allot, nice to see the good old days, not Hijab in sight.🇬🇧