With war being declared against Germany on September 3, 1939, as with every other company in Britain, GMS was to face six tough years before it could start to rebuild. At 67, CH was too old to join the services and concentrated his efforts on running GMS.
There were daily reports of damage to GMS property, especially in Kentish Town. During the war several Bayswater properties were requisitioned by the local council to rehouse blitz families, some of which were not returned to GMS until the early 1960s.
The end of the Blitz in the spring of 1941 left cities throughout Britain shattered and smashed. War damage repair could not be started in earnest until the end of the conflict in 1945. Meanwhile, with almost no materials available, the job of trying to repair those houses that remained was a mighty task. However, one way or another GMS had struggled through the Second World War. Even by 1946 the properties were little greater in balance sheet values than 1933.
The war had prevented all but first-aid maintenance and had left the company’s properties far from well repaired, quite apart from any war damage. But the company had survived, it had properties and it had a future.
Following the end of the war, GMS, like other property companies, was anxious to repair and rebuild but was again hampered by shortages and a raft of regulations. There was also a major and urgent need for capital to pay for the repairs. Thanks to the post war income tax system, it was possible by substantial claims, to mitigate part of these costs with tax rebates, but it was a very considerable undertaking and demanded courage from the board at the time, since the rents were still not much greater than pre-war levels.
It was important for the board to discover the exact extend of damage to GMS properties, particularly for war damage claims, and the firm of Gibbon & Rogers (see The Turning Point for GMS) was retained to carry out a detailed assessment of the damage to all GMS properties.
In Bayswater there were three houses in Queens Gardens that were severely damaged. By the early 1960s they were demolished and rebuilt as flats and named Crastock Court; a war damaged site in Kensington Garden Square was demolished and rebuilt as flats named Bentley Court; 32 & 33, Cleveland Square was rebuilt as flats to match the rest of the square, and similar renovations took place in 24,25 & 26, Cleveland Square, and at 1-4, Cleveland Square. In Kentish Town many of the houses were by now little better than slums, and lack of money hampered any major works. The bomb damaged sites were left pretty much as they were, and the others repaired as best as possible.
CH and Ralph Moore looked after GMS in the post-war years, assisted by a small team of office workers and maintenance staff. CH died in 1953, and was replaced as managing director by Ralph Moore.