Memories Never Fade Only Names To People's Faces

A Memory of Kingsbury.

I have many memories of Kingsbury. I was born in Kingsbury in 1955 and lived in Dorchester Way which backed onto the side of the then fire station. I attended St Bernadette's school off the Kenton Road. After recently looking at Kingsbury on Google earth I was pleased to see that not all had changed in Kingsbury having moved away in 1966. My memories of Kingsbury are the fields across the road from the ambulance station. A couple of bungalows across those fields working your way up through the fields, on the corner of Preston Hill & The Kenton Rpad. I remember a white art deco type garage where today it's a modern petrol station. Heading towards The Kingsbury roundabout on the left hand side was a Spar supermarket & barbers. The couple that ran the Spar shop was Mr & Mrs Qoiut (not sure on the spelling of their name) had a chance meeting with them some 20 years later in Hampden Park, Eastbourne; where they moved to after they retired and where my parents retired. I remember playing with their son Craig - small world.
Another memory of Kingsbury was the footpath between the blocks of flats on The Kingsbury roundabout; peddling through there on my 3 wheeler prior to going to school not stopping at the end of the wall and riding out into the oncoming path of a car. Needless to say got run over, I was lucky just a few cuts and bruises. The Kingsbury roundabout where today I see is a modern block of flats with shops underneath. I remember a pub being there, name not known. I remember well the lower part of the Kingsbury High Street which used to flood after a good thunder storm. Another memory of Kingsbury High Street was the cinema on a Saturday morning, across the road from the cinema was the dry cleaners, near the tube station entrance. The times the press made me jump walking past there when the steam bellowed out the window from the steam press. Off the High Street in Old Kenton Lane, it's nice to see that some of the old allotments have survived - spent many a Sunday morning up there with my father who had a plot there. Up from the allotments remember well the horses drinking from the horse troff outside The Green Man pub. Another memory was the swimming baths. A few years ago I remember seeing a picture of the old swimming baths in question, being turned into a garden centre which has just jogged my memory. Moving back to Dorchester Way I recall that on the corner of The Mall & Minterne Road there was a guy had a type of garden centre which was popular at weekends as I recall, and lastly I can just remember a horse drawn milk float, how old I was then? God only knows.