A hostel at 747 Commercial Road plus houses, shops and a pub at 169-213 Salmon Lane, Limehouse, looking north-west from Commercial Road. It is also on some old maps as Salmon’s Lane. Salmon Lane is said to be a corruption of the original name Sermon Lane because it used to be the main route from Limehouse to St Dunstan’s Church, Stepney. Actually though, the lane is named after Captain Robert Salmon who was Master of Trinity House at the time of the Spanish Armada. In the left foreground is the Empire Memorial Sailors’ Hostel, a massive building that opened in 1924 . The architects were Thomas Brammall Daniel & Horace Parnacott. It has two adverts on the wall. One is for its sailors’ club, the other for the Atlantic Restaurant. In 1994 the Empire hostel was converted into flats and renamed The Mission. On the other side of the road, from right to left, the first shop is G W Stewarts’ wholesale tobacconist’s and confectioner’s. One large advert on the side wall advertises the shop; another says “We sell old Chelsea chocolate liqueurs.” On the front of the shop is a cigarette advert: “Senior Service Satisfies.” Five workmen are in front of the shop, where there is a pile of rubble. A sixth man is in a lorry taking the rubble (by hand) and a seventh man is standing behind the lorry. The next building is for sale and a car is parked outside it. The next shop advertises Players cigarettes. The next is Thompsons, house furnisher’s and there is a wall clock above his frontage. The next shop is Colins and Sims. There is a woman pushing a pram, accompanied by a child outside Colins and Sims, a man on a bicycle heading north and another man crossing the road from left to right. The next shop is a barber’s, indicated by its striped pole. After the barber’s are several more shops then the Copenhagen Tavern pub at number 183, advertising Truman’s beer. This pub was demolished in 1967. Beyond the pub is another shop and then some houses. There are two lorries, a truck and several vans and cars parked in the street, among which is a Ford Mercury ‘Woody’, an estate car with wooden panelling on the sides. This part of Salmon Lane can claim fame as Alfred Hitchcock lived there for a time. His father William moved with his family to live in 175 Salmon Lane in 1907. The ground floor was a fishmonger’s shop, with living accommodation above it. William also had a fried fish shop at number 130. Except for The Mission, none of these buildings still exist. The first block of shops has been replaced by flats and the other shops and pub have been replaced by modern shops and the numbering has changed.
