Yup! I can tell you about the Ace of Spades, in fact I did something on Francis Frith about it.

The dual carriageway from New Malden ended at Hook on a roundabout and became a single carriageway down through Hinchley Wood and so on where it met the Portsmouth Road at The Marquis of Granby. There was a small posh out of town two level hotel on the north west side of the Hook roundabout called The Ace of Spades and it had an open air swimming pool with a high diving board where I used to try and learn to swim with my flippers and inflatable ring.

One summer day in the ealy 1950s I met Diana Dors as she was trying to teach Dennis Hamilton how to swim. That was the kind of place it was. People would sunbath on the lawn to the east side which was separated from an orchard by a hedge and where a tall secondary school was built.

I cannot be sure but around 1955-56 at about the time the underpass was being built the hotel went into decline followed by a fire which caused it to cease operation. It was never a biker's hangout. That took place down at what used to be the "Tip Top Cafe" in Ace Parade which was frequented most evenings by around a dozen very enthusiastic fast motorcyclists who would sit and drink tea and coffee with sausage sandwiches until a bet was made, followed by a high speed flat on the tank dash from Tolworth Roundabout to see who would beat who under the Hook underpass.

Between 1962 and 1965 I was one of those guys. We would often shoot off to another cafe in central Dorking and to Box Hill on Sundays. Late at night we would eat hot dogs on the rounabout outside Sainsburys sold out of a small caravan parked there. In cooperation with four traffic cops we formed a motorcycle club called "Riverhill Riders" at the Riverhill sports club in Tolworth and ended up with three hundred members which included th "Battersea Bridge Boys" and those from "The Harlequin" coffee bar in Worcester Park/Cheam? We even ended up on Granada television with Murray Walker, promoting road safety. The truth was that we were a load of "Mad Hatters" on two wheels.

If we had some of the Japanese gear around now we would all almost definitely be six feet under. You see in those days a white disc with a black diagonal bar meant deresticted or as fast as you liked and it was nothing to average a mile a minute from Hook all the way to the south coast.
We eventually all drifted apart and bought cars to pursue careers and buy houses and get married.

I stress that we at the "Tip Top"were not "Rockers". One of our crowd won the Manx Grand Prix and another the sidecar TT. The crowd were once featured in Classic Motorcycle in the late 1970s and I do believe Gerry Cottle the circus man was a club member.

Wonderful mad days never to be repeated. After all what else were we to do? They had stopped national service. I actually only gave up my love of fast bikes in 2006 when I decided that my 150mph Honda was too fast for my old brain. I believe the "Tip Top" is now an Indian restaurant.

If there are any old pals out there then please get in touch.

I well recalll the ace of spades area. The pub when I lived in surbiton was called the southbourgh arms. Across the road in the parade of shops was a small Sainsburys used do do the shopping with my mum there.!! and coming from the direction of hinchley wood you could pull into the pub car park, but for many years the A3 layout has changed.havent any photos sorry.