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Kilburn
Kilburn maps
Historic maps of Kilburn and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Kilburn maps
Kilburn area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Kilburn and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Kilburn
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Kilburn.
There are 19 shared memories to read.
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Hardyments Hardware And China Store
In 1961/62 I used to have a Saturday job in Hardyments, on Kilburn High Road, a real old-fashioned store selling all sorts of china and hardware. The assistants had to wear a most unflattering blue wrap-around overall and we were strictly supervised by a lady called Miss Jennings who also took care of the cash which went up one of those chutes to the office above. People I remember include Diane Hood and Phillida Rowbotham, both Saturday girls like me and Danny who worked in the yard sorting out deliveries etc. I remember him taking me on a date to the State Theatre to see the great Miles Davis S, Danny was a modern jazz fan. For working all day on Saturday we earned £1!
OH COUNTRY KILBURN
My family were one of the first to move into the Kilburn Square estate, in the early part of the 1970, and stayed until 1995. I went to school at Salisbury Road School, then South Kilburn High School. All the films I saw were at the State, and I wished I took more time looking at the detail of the inside of it. I used to drink in the Coopers pub on the High Road as it was famous for being the only English pub in Kilburn. One of the first girls I went out with was Susan who worked in the record department of Woolies who was from Sweden.
Kilburn High Road
I lived in West Hampstead from 1960 to 1980. I used to love Kilburn High Road. I shopped there with my parents on a Saturday. We used to collect Green Shield Stamps from Sainsbury's shopping. There used to be a glass fronted shop in Kilburn Square where you could go and exchange them for gifts.
I used to visit the State Cinema. In February 1975 I saw the movie "Slade In Flame" there starring my favourite band Slade (suprise suprise). They actually called at the venue and collected their Gold Disc for album sales (of the soundtrack). Also, that year David Essex played there on his "All The Fun Of The Fair Tour".
I have great memories of walking home most evenings through Kilburn, when it was "safe". You just had to battle off the drunk paddies when the pubs turned out!
Wonderful Days
Do you remember the organ that came up from the pit under the stage and had all the different coloured spotlights shone on it? I thought it was sheer magic! The front seats were chaeaper than the back ones - I think they were 1/9 a the back. I also used to go the Grange cinema and the Essoldo, all in Kilburn. The Queens was another one in Cricklewood Broadway. There was also a small independent cinema near the station called the Ionic. I saw 'The Ascent of Everest' there with my school (Brondesbury and Kilburn in Dyne Road).
Teenager in Kilburn
I lived in Kilburn from 1936 to 1969.
The Gaumont State cinema was part of my life as a teenager. It was one of a number of cinemas in the area at that time and every Saturday evening I would go to the 'pictures' at one of them with a group of friends. Often we would have to queue to get in and maybe stand for some time once we got in. We sat in the 1/6d seats. Films ran continuously in those days and we often saw the end of the film before we saw the beginning.
We would walk home after the cinema and probably buy a bag of chips plus a pickled onion if we were flush. Of course we also (the boys that is) smoked a fag or two - Turf, Weights or Woodbine.
All cinemas at that time had only one screen. The State was the biggest cinema in Europe and if you sat at the back it was a long way to the... Read more
Born But Not Bred
Born to Kathleen Leniston, and Ned Leniston July 1951 in Torbay Road, to the glorious rolling green fields (joke) of Kilburn. There were still bloody big holes where buildings used to be, thanks to Mr Hitler's town planning arrangments for London. The family loved Kilburn so much, we promptly moved to Colindale, then to Dartmouth Road, West Hendon; see the connection, from Torbay, to Dartmouth. If you think that's a coincidence, I now live in the West Country. However, we were not completely finished with Kilburn quite yet. My mother, with me in tow, seemed to haunt the Kilburn high road in those far off days of the late 50s and early 60s, almost every Saturday. And on some Sundays, I was forced to visit mother's friends and relatives all scrubbed up, in a white starched shirt and tie with elastic round the collar (no knots to worry about), polished shoes, and grey flannel shorts. All mum's friends seemed to be Irish, but then so was my now deceased father... Read more
Cricklewood And Kilburn Area
I was born in this area in 1939 and lived in Cricklewood until 1955 when we moved to Dollis hill (Hamilton Road). We were in Olive Road throughout the war and would shelter in the street shelter and sometimes in Smiths (near what was Rolls Razor on the Broadway near the Bus Garage).I remember the Queen's cinema on the Broadway and the Crown(which is still there. The 16 bus ran to Kilburn where I went to school from 11yrs-16 yrs. In those years the cinemas were the Ionic,the Grange the Essoldo and the State. My parents were both born in Kilburn and never moved far from their roots. When I married,I moved away to South London but I was never happy there and in 1976,I came back to North London and here I have stayed! I have returned to Mora road school and to St Michaels church,it hasn't changed much.I remember the bomb that dropped in Ivy road,killing several people.I remember the artillery battery in Gladstone Park,the collection of... Read more
My Memories of Kilburn
I was born in early 1967 and lived on malvern road kilburn till around 1975
then my parents moved to kilburn square, where we lived in rathbone house till 1980 and moved to kensal green.
my memory of growing up in kilburn was a mixture of tears and joys...tears because as common for most children i bunked school and got many a hiding for my neglect...my joys came in the form of long summer holidays spent playing with my friends around the estate.
also i fell in love for the first time in about 1978 which i remember was a wonderful feeling i will never forget.
i rarely visit kilburn these days but i remain fond of it.
