Nostalgic memories of Hounslow's local history
Share your own memories of Hounslow and read what others have said
For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our web site to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was when the photographs in our archive were taken. From brief one-liners explaining a little bit more about the image depicted, to great, in-depth accounts of a childhood when things were rather different than today (and everything inbetween!). We've had many contributors recognising themselves or loved ones in our photographs.
Why not add your memory today and become part of our Memories Community to help others in the future delve back into their past.
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Displaying Memories 101 - 110 of 128 in total
Does anybody out there remember the infamous gang murder near Inwood Park? I don't know about you, but it brought the Hounslow we all knew to an end. No more Joachims coffee bar, no more Ricki Tik Club, Hounslow became a ghost town!
I think we all grew up a little bit when it happened.
Driving through Hounslow today, I can't believe it was my home town. It was a fun time in those days.
Hounslow high street on a ...see more
Osterley Park became within striking distance of my Hounslow home once I had a bike and from about the age of 12 (1960) would cycle there with a school friend with our bottles of pop and jam sandwiches, to roam the grounds and generally explore. As long as we were home by the time the street lights came on we had the freedom I don't think children of today have. I remember on one of these jaunts on a hot summer ...see more
Who remembers Inwood Park paddling pool and boating lake? The lake was more of a circular water course around a central island but you could use the little paddle boats - operated by handles that turned the paddles, if I remember rightly. The pool had a toddler and baby end but the section for older children was barely 12 or 15 ins deep at most so warmed up beautifully on hot summer days. I think it was eventually closed down for health & safety reasons - now why doesn't that surprise me!
I am a bit younger than the other contributers being 2 when I moved to Hounslow in 1950. I wasn't born there but regard Hounslow as my home town and well remember the Odeon (Saturday morning pictures) and later learning ballroom dancing in the upper rooms. Food shopping was always done at Hounslow West - walking up from the junction of Bath Road and Sutton Lane/Wellington Road North (where I lived), and ...see more
I also remember Hounslow Cottage Hospital very well. I had personal experience of it when I was taken there for a check-up after a minor car accident in about 1950/1 when I smashed my face. They checked I didn't have a broken nose - but I did end up with two lovely black eyes! I went there again as an older child of about 6 or 7 circa 1955 with my fellow classmates from Wellington Junior School to take gifts of ...see more
Every Saturday morning my brother Frank and sister Lorna and I were there for the children's matinee so much fun. We were born during WWII and I remember how close our neighborhood was and the Odeon was part of it. When I got a little older I used to go to the dances held in the room on top of the Odeon. What beautiful memories it has for me. We lived on Broad Walk not far from All Saints Church where the bomb ...see more
We moved to Isleworth/Osterley in 1961. We bought a maisonette just off Northumberland Avenue, Rothbury Gardens. My first son was 2 weeks old. We lived there for 19 years, by then we have 3 sons and then we moved just across the Great West Road to Syon Park Gardens. It was a really nice area. Across the A4 (Great West Road) was a church where my sons were christened. Abut a mile along the road was a little ...see more
I remember going to the Odeon every Saturday morning, it cost 6d (about 2 new pence). We used to go to the 'pictures', as it was called then, as a family most weeks, and I well remember coming out at the end of the film in 1940 to find thick fog, you could not see more than a few feet in front of you. As no buses came, my dad said we would walk home. There were no street lights (because it was war ...see more
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 ...see more
In the late 1940's- late 1950's, the Hounslow Welsh Society used to meet in a hall on the left hand side as you entered the grounds of the Hospital. I have very happy memories of the evenings spent there, we had a choir, & an amateur dramatic group (my Father Abe Richards was the producer of many of the productions). We lived on the Great West Road & used to walk to the Hospital...quite a walk when I ...see more