Ealing 1962 Onwards

A Memory of Ealing.

I moved to Windsor Road in Ealing in 1962 when I was 11. I remember the Grove with fond memories. All the shops! The tailor's shop and the barbers. The sweet shop which always had a bowl of water for the dogs outside in the summer, the butchers (Mum used to send me there on a Saturday for a piece of beef costing about 3s or 3/6d (15 or 17 1/2p) The man that ran the butchers along with his 2 sons also had a cafe a few doors up. (In the 1970s I worked in the offices along the Uxbridge Road and used to go there and have a good meal with chips which were 1p extra!) The penny library next to the car park (yes only a penny a book!). Along from there in the Grove was a piano shop, then the Kings Arms pub, a dairy, the paraffin shop and the haberdashery shop, then the bread shop (one of the first bakers with a bread slicer!). At the top of Windsor Road opposite the church, there was a red telephone box which we used all the time. Not many houses had phones and of course mobiles were not invented. You put money in Slot A and pushed the button when someone answered and pushed button B to retrieve any money. Along The Mall on the right hand side there used to be a machine where you could buy milk in cartons plus of course the usual cigarette machines. The mall had Timothy Whites chemist, Macfisheries, the ABC and of course Bentalls - there used to be a 'nanny' available to look after the babies in the foyer while the mums shopped: I remember the big posh Silver Cross prams with screaming infants! Going towards West Ealing on the left hand side opposide the church, I remember Woolworths up from Lilly and Skinners. Woolworths had a wooden floor and a lady behind each counter to serve you. Inside the doors there were plastic macs for sale on the right and a record counter on the left. I used to save up my pocket money to buy a record and play it on my Dansette record player. There was a counter selling broken biscuits, and the cold meats section boasted cold saveloys which I adored! There was a toy section, household counter selling vinegar bottles and glasses etc and another counter selling underwear. At the end of the shop there was a counter selling snacks. In those days there were only filled rolls, curled up sandwiches and cakes. There was a rotating machine full of orange juice with a plastic orange on the top spinning round! You could of course have coffee or tea. I remember the awful smogs and the heavy snow in 1962/63. There were long icicles hanging off every window ledge along Windsor Road. I remember going shopping on the bus to West Ealing and visiting Rowses, Sanders and Daniels, all of which were large department stores. We shopped locally at Mr Jones Fish & Chip Shop in Grove Place, Youngs Bakeries, Stockwell Chemists, Martins Newsagents and the ironmongers shop whose name I cannot recall. These shops were just before you turned left into the Grove. I regularly went to the Walpole Cinema and the Forum and took ballroom dancing lessons at Les Wildes just up from the cinema. I danced every Thursday night at the Blue Triangle hut opposite the Town Hall (the hut is still there - does anybody remember going there?). On Saturday nights at Greenford Starlite and at various Town Halls and Community Centres we danced to The Who, Small Faces, Georgie Fame, the Animals, Geno Washington, Long John Baldry etc. I went to the Grange School in St Mary's Road. I commenced my nurse training at King Edward's, in Mattock Lane in 1974 and remember the tiny casualty unit, pharmacy and no automatic doors then, they were all rubber! I remember Ealing with affection. Hardly any traffic. Ealing was a real community and Queen of the Suburbs.