South Harrow In The 1950s 60s

A Memory of South Harrow.

I was born in 1950 and lived at 27 Eastcote Lane, with a superb view of the gas holder from my bedroom window. I remember Macdonalds the fishing equipment shop which was almost opposite my house and apparently highly regarded across a wide area. Other shops included Hodges the newsagent in Northolt Road from where I did my paper round in the early 60s, Ketts the electrical store, Lists the bakers and Kilbey's (?) where they used to slice our ham, not to mention Ansley's the greengrocers with the wooden floor and where they always had a sweet for the kids. I remember them splashing water from a bottle over the floor to keep the dust down. The Ansleys were always welcoming.

There was a sweetshop near to Lists called, I think, Maynards. My favourite sweetshop was in the Odeon building, by the zebra crossing at Northholt Road and Wyvenhoe Road. I can remember going in there to buy a one penny Jubilee Bag (of mixed sweets) on my way to or from Welldon Park School. Just up on the right of Wyvenhoe Road was Noel's barbers where I fought a long campaign to a keep a reasonably modern (early 1960s) hairstyle against the barber's and my parent's preference for an unflattering and very unfashionable short back and sides.

In the mid and later 1960s I had a Saturday job on a furniture delivery van for the Co-op, and I well remember the Co-op furniture store in the parade of shops on the corner by Valentine's Road (I think that is the correct name).

Does anyone remember the 1st Roxeth cub pack based at the Baptist Church , with the pale blue and black scarves?

I left the area in the early 1980s and subsequent visits suggested the area had deteriorated considerably. It was sad to see houses in Eastcote Lane with graffiti-sprayed garages and semi-dismantled motorcycles strewn around front gardens. However my last visit in 2004 suggested that people were taking a pride in the area again and it looked in much better health.