By Elliott West
“As a youngster I was thinking of going to sea and went to the job exchange at home (in Barbados). I didn’t want to go to the USA, so I jumped at working for London Transport. The government paid for the fares then we would have to pay it back over time”.
Quote from a Barbadian employee, recruited to London Transport in the 1950s.
Introduction
After the Second World War, there was a dire shortage of staff on London Transport and the company put out a recruitment campaign to try and plug these labour shortages. In February 1956 it began a direct recruitment drive in the Caribbean at the invitation of the government of Barbados and as a result, thousands of workers dubbed the Windrush generation came over to London to work on the buses and tubes. An employment influx was bolstered by a national campaign in the UK and Ireland. Similar schemes were run for British Rail and the National Health Service.
Back in the Day
This was a time when smog engulfed London at night. I remember my Grandfather telling me that it was so bad that on returning from the pub, he couldn’t find his way back to his council flat in Lambeth. However beyond the dense pollution and steady trail of cigarette smoke that filled the top decks of buses and deep underground platforms, lay a vibrant workforce that kept this already ageing transport system running. A network where my own Great Uncle met his future wife on a bus and worked for many years at White City tube station as a Station Foreman.
Smartly dressed staff wearing dark three-piece suits and hats dominated the system, whether they were bus drivers or conductors, station railmen or foremen and inspectors, taking the fares and issuing tickets. Poorly paid but always smiling, this army of workers used to not only work together but also socialise together.
Heading to Acton
One of the main attractions of the social side of London Transport had to the massive social club that used to exist behind Acton Town tube station. Here, staff could come to relax on their breaks and days off and take part in the many events that Acton used to offer. There were playing fields, a bar and a number of snooker tables. In fact, a large number of snooker tournaments took part during this era, including The London Transport Championship Perpetual Trophy Cup, run between 1970-1976 and the LT (MR) AA Snooker Cup run later between 1980-1985.
Tube station staff and bus garage staff would compete for these prized trophies, practicing on the many tables that were dotted around the network and arriving in droves to watch the players battle it out for their moment of glory. Always popular and fuelled with cigarettes and copious pints of beer, these were fond times and memories for all those that were involved.
The Dust Settles
Sadly all these facilities have now gone, sold off to pay for investment in the system. The social club looked in a sorry state a few years ago, dilapidated and its playing fields overgrown with weeds. A once social hub now guarded by ageing and rusty barbed wires fences. However, if you could get in there, the now dank rooms would spring to life with the echo of voices and the thud of snooker balls as they hit the back of the leather pockets. A golden era and a time when staff were part of an extended family, coming together in times of happiness and sadness, united in their purpose, to transport the millions of inhabitants of London from A to B.
