Cycle tracks in front of former Trebor Factory on Woodford Avenue, Clayhall, 1950. Credit: Britain from Above.
A series of eight high-definition black-and-white photographs of the small Trebor sweet factory in Ilford show that, in September 1950, the cycle tracks on Woodford Avenue were made from concrete and the footways were surfaced with asphalt. “Cyclists only” signs can be seen facing the tracks. Slim grass verges abut the road.
Today the grass is gone and the cycle track and footway, once demarcated with contrasting surfacing materials, have been asphalt-capped into a shared-use path. The Trebor factory has also gone, replaced with Teresa Gavin House, which is the HQ for the Mulalley construction company.
The cycle tracks and adjoining footways on Wood Avenue extend from today’s Charlie Brown roundabout to the Woodford Avenue roundabout intersection with Redbridge Lane East/Beehive Lane, bizarrely ending 850 metres away from the long-distance period cycle tracks on Eastern Avenue at Gants Hill.
On the undeveloped parts of Woodford Avenue there are still wide grass verges.
“For the benefit of the many cyclists who use the Woodford-llford Road (A1081) tracks will be provided between Chigwell Road and Beehive Lane on either side of the road,” reported a newspaper in September 1936.
“On the south side the cycle track will be 9ft. wide but on the north side it will be restricted to 6ft. until the existing carriageway is due for reconstruction … The Woodford-Ilford road forms a continuation of the North Circular Road, linking up with Eastern Avenue, and the section dealt with under the scheme is about 2,240 yards long,” continued the report.
There’s no documentary evidence for a completion date for Woodford Avenue’s upgrade but most schemes of this length in the period took two to three years to build — it’s therefore probable that the cycle tracks were operational in either 1938 or 1939.
