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 111 - 120 of 125 in total
On a Sunday a crowd of boys and girls would meet at the Sky High milk bar at the Bell end of the High Street. After a few milk shakes we would then go to the pictures, either the Regal or the Alcaza and sometimes go to the other end of the town to the Dominion. Another cinema was the privately owned one called the Empire, locally known as 'the bug hutch'. There was a clothes shop called Rego's and just after the war ...see more
I lived in Hounslow and Whitton until I was 18 and went to college. We were here all through the war except for six months when we we were bombed out by a doodlebug which fell about 100 yards from our house in Ark Close. My dad was on duty in the town hall, manning the control post when the country was on the brink of invasion. There was a green light, which would have turned red had the Germans invaded and while ...see more
I was very saddened to see the old town hall and swimming baths knocked down for that un-inspiring block that now stands there, I can remember as a small boy of 5 walking into the town hall and just staring, it was so impressive. And the old Victorian swimming baths were where I first learnt to swim and one day I found a ten shilling note stuck behind the small mirror in the wooden changing rooms, two of us made ...see more
Climbing to the top. My friend Ray and I were going to see 'The Fugitive Kind' at the Odeon Cinema, Hounslow West. This was in 1960 and we were fourteen years old. I told him that my eldest brother had climbed to the top of the Odeon tower some twenty years earlier. Well, I don't know how it came about, but it seemed a good idea at the time to re-enact the feat. We went down the right hand side of the building ...see more
I believe the Watney’s pub on the left of the picture was The Red Lion. In 1962 I was a lad of sixteen and worked at Blundells Shoe Shop. From the photograph this would have been behind the cameraman. I live in America now and pubic television show a lot of repeats of Are You Being Served, it reminds me of the time I was a shoe salesman in Hounslow. With the senior assistants getting first choice of the ...see more
I remember growing up in Hownslow. The winters use to be very cold, ice on the inside of the windows. We lived in a flat in Beavers Lane and I remember playing outside in the snow, it was very cold and the snow was deep. Well, being only 5 years old at the time it was great but it must have been very hard for our parents in those days. I remember getting a book and an orange for Christmas, well, times have changed now - would the children of this age just want a book? Allan.
I remember Sat morning club had a great time :-) Allan Stevens
That's the Odeon, taken from outside Hounslow West station. Great fun on Saturday mornings, when they had a childrens' matinee.
or anytime 1952-1960. Bright and nnippy, frosty in the mid morning, but swirling fog, nearly freezing by the end of the day. Gloomy from 4pm onwards, the gas lamps of the Poulterer was a hubbub of anxious discussion and cheerful sales talk from the attendants. Their best 'Norfolk wares' on display. Down at that end of the HIgh Street was a big open front Poulterers. Not the general butcher. More a Dickensian ...see more
Anytime between 1953 to 1959 for me. Who remembers bus rides from all around to then catch the 111, I think, if you didn't have to walk along from the Bus depot. Children with 'hula-hoops' , nets on sticks(for tiddlers which proably weren't there!), bags with towels, cordial and sandwiches. The excitement of 'bubble' swimsuits on, ready to be all the quicker into the pools, for we lucky ones; woollens for ...see more
