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Cranford
Cranford maps
Historic maps of Cranford and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Cranford maps
Cranford area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Cranford and the local area. View all books for this area
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Memories of Cranford
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memories of Cranford.
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Sunday Gardener
In 1961 I got my first job after leaving school at S & R Smiths Garage on the Great South West Road. The owners were brothers Sydney and Raymond Smith. We called them Mr Ray and Mr Sid. I started in the stores department. It was a Ford dealers and sometimes I would be sent out on my bicycle to fetch parts from main Ford dealers. This could mean going as far as Staines or Twickenham. The stores manager was Pat, an Irishman with seven children. He would always insist on having St Patrick's Day off. There was also a nice old chap that worked in the stores part time, I only knew him as Pop, he was about eighty, had white hair and would shuffle along.
A panal beater started at the garage who was Asian, but came from Johannesburg, South Africa. He was the first coloured man I had met. The lads in the workshop wouldn't help him if he needed a hand to do something, so... Read more
My Move to Cranford From Croydon 1948
My father was a Aircraft Engineer for K.L.M. He started as an apprentice at Croydon Airport in 1934. After the second world war, Croydon was getting too small for the larger aircraft coming along, so K.L.M. moved to the then new London Airport and we moved with them. In 1948 we moved into 31 Byron Avenue, my step mother and my half sister, my half brother Neil was born there in 1950. I went to Cranford Scool at the end of Barkley Avenue, I was 9 years of age. I have fond memories of that house and Cranford, I was a member of the Scouts and our scout hut was just off the Bath Road next to the British Leagion. I use to go to work with my father, that was when Heathrow was open to all, you could walk around the aircraft on the North Apron. At the age of 11 I had to go to a higher school and attended Heston Secondry Moden, I would cycle to... Read more
Cranford Shops
There was Hawkins grocers shop next to Cliffords and a newsagent next to the library. Think the greengrocer (opp. Victoria Wine) was called Lawrence's. Hardware shop was Parsons. Electric shop (next to the cafe) was Richards Radio. Was the butchers Deane's? Opposite side of the road was the post office/Leakes the baker and butcher. Few cottages, the Stagg & Hounds - pub - not licensed for spirits.
CRANFORD 1938- 1946
My parents moved to Cranford in 1938, I was 3 years old. My dad was a pastrycook / baker and had got a job with a local firm in Cranford across from ‘The Berkeley Arms Hotel’ To the left of the hotel was a cherry orchard. A bakers shop and a hairdressing salon with a two bedroom flat had been built opposite, this was where we lived. The garden was huge, and had 26 fruit trees in the bottom half. My dad was to work in the bakehouse of the firm’s second shop. This was on the Bath Road as well. on the corner of Wellington Road near Hounslow opposite a pub called ‘The Windsor Castle’ which I think is still there. Next door to the shop in Cranford, was a detached house which was also a bank. Then came several more shops, a grocers, a greengrocers, a newsagents, a wool shop and a butchers. This was on the corner of Waye Avenue where several of my friends’ lived.... Read more
Cranford Shops 1980s-2010
Starting from Tesco Express: This used to be a block of about 2 or 3 shops which included a building society and a travel agent. Next to this was Barclays Bank which closed down in the late 1980s/early 1990s. It remained derelict for many years with a firework shop and a clothes shop briefly opening before Tesco took over the whole plot around 2006-07. Around the corner was Gees dry cleaners/Amazon laundrette (in the days when people couldn't afford washing machines). This was replaced by Mleczo- Polish delicatessen. Opposite this was a butchers, then a grocery and bakery (Mr T's) which became Kashmir's Indian restaurant. It has been various failed restaurants such as Jaipur's and then was taken over by the Portuguese to form Moniz - a successful Mediterranean cafe. Next to this used to be a florist which closed down and became Aladdin's Mongolian take-away. After this it is now Zafars, a halal kebab house. Next door to this was NSS newsagents - they used to sell slush puppies, then Shayona news and... Read more
Berkeley Avenue
Hallo My husband Ken lived in Berkeley Avenue from about 1936 to 1960, with a couple of years off doing National Service. He tells me he cannot remember there being anything but a petrol station at the end of the road, but with the old type pumps, and a thatched roof! Can you imagine that nowadays, with health and safety! He lived at 68, and his aunt lived at 134. At the back of her house were fields stretching down to the river, and the children spent a lot of time playing there. It was like the countryside. His worst memory is of a bomb that fell on Chaucer Avenue - a direct hit on the house where he used to go for breakfast every morning before school. That morning his mum had overslept and they were late getting up. His two friends had been killed outright, and their parents. Can you imagine the shock for a 7 year old? Perhaps others can remember this dreadful and tragic event? A better memory is... Read more
Mrs Morgan Piano Teacher Extraordinaire
My sister, Elizabeth, and I used to be sent to Mrs Morgan (I think her first name was Muriel). a very eccentric piano teacher, for lessons once a week. I think she had a son called Rodney but I never saw or knew if there was a Mr Morgan. She lived in Firs Drive and had long frizzy grey hair which was always loose, giving her a bit of a wild look. She used to wear long floaty dresses with a long chiffon scarf tied around her neck, and had an old poodle called Quaver that she loved and used to kiss a lot. Every time we did well in our piano lessons, she would squeeze us with a huge cuddle and sometimes even kiss us as well as the poodle! I remember that she also had a moped, the kind that you had to peddle to start the engine - we used to see her flying around Cranford on her moped with her dress, scarf and hair flowing behind... Read more
Childhood Memories of Cranford
I used to live in Cranford from birth (1953) to 1968. We lived at 703 Bath Road and my dad, Peter Wilson, owned the local butchers over the other side of the road, Wilson & Sons. He used to make his own sausages, rissoles & dripping. At Christmas time, he used to try and get me and my sister, Elizabeth, to help pluck the turkeys but it used to make my fingers too sore! His favourite trick was to ask me to get something for him in the walk-in cold store & then shut the door behind me! The light would go off & I would be walking around bumping into carcasses of beef, lambs & pigs! I'm surprised I didn't end up in therapy!
Next door to dad's shop was a barber's shop owned by a Greek man called Sam. Dad used to make us go there for our haircuts and many a time we used to end up looking like little boys because he had cut our... Read more
