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	Picture source: Hania Franek
The Surrey Gardens Hotel was situated at 204 Manor Place. This pub was later known as Rosie O'Gradys and The Bison. Now used as a backpackers hostel.
I worked as a live-in barman in the Surrey Gardens Hotel, 204 Manor Place, SE17 just briefly from 1973 to 1974. I always thought the name 'Surrey Gardens Hotel' was a bit of an enigma as it isn't in Surrey, there is no garden and, at least when I was working there, it wasn't a hotel. My room was on the second floor, the last two windows furthest away from the corner with Delverton Road. The landlord at the time was a man called Michael O'Flaherty. My wages was £24-a-week, i.e. £4 for a day that started about 8.30am and finished at midnight - with a break for a quick kip in the afternoon. There was a greengrocer shop opposite the pub, I think the greengrocer's name was Bert, who came in every evening after shutting up the shop, he always sat on the same stool at the counter, every night. As with all the regulars, I never asked him what he wanted, I knew what they all drank and just pulled their pint (or whatever) when I saw them walk through the door. Working at the Surrey Gardens Hotel was my first time living and working away from home, aged 18. There was a family on Tarver Road called McCormack who seemed to have boxers in the family for generations. And a chap called Albie who was in the Army. Down the road was Manor Place Baths, and I used to go there and pay for a bath and the hire of towels. I guess you have to be an old codger to remember Manor Place Baths. I left working at the pub to work on a building site, my wages went up from £24 to £56-a-week, a princely sum in 1974. I lodged briefly with a lady called Pat on Delverton Road before moving to a bed-sitter on Camberwell Road. Just to finish out the story, I went through many jobs, did several educational courses eventually qualifying as a draftsman, a profession that occupied me for 40 years, and I now live in retirement between East Sussex and France.
Michael Currivan (April 2025)
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Picture source: Darkstar