Pinner Village In The 1950's

A Memory of Pinner.

This is the Pinner village scene as I remember it from my schooldays. The photographer is standing close to the junction of Chapel Lane and Bridge Street looking up the hill towards the Langham Cinema. Chapel Lane on the photographer's left leads under the Metropolitan Railway Line Bridge and to the entrance to Pinner Memorial Park where I fed the ducks by the pond both as a child myself and later taking my own son thirty years later!

In the middle distance is a delightful terrace of "tudor style" shops which is still there at the beginning of the 21st Century. The really big change is the sad loss of the Red Lion pub. We can just see the 183 double decker bus standing on the pub forecourt on the right of the picture as most services on this route terminated here. It was very common to see buses with the destination blind reading "Pinner Red Lion". On the left is a single deck bus or coach: I am unsure which as this is a black and white photograph! The Green Line coaches ran through Pinner towards Amersham so it may be one of their coaches from London Victoria. It may be a route 221 red single deck London Transport bus on its way to Hatch End. My aunt would take me on this little bus with a child fare of a penny-ha'penny!

I moved on from Grimsdyke Junior School in Hatch End to Pinner Grammar School in 1956 and began to cycle the three mile journey. Many times I took my bike into a cycle repair shop close to the Victory Pub by the junction with Pinner High Street just behind the photographer. I got my punctures mended at 4/- a time I think. I never quite managed to do the job myself with all that messing around with patches, rubber solution and French Chalk. I had to pay myself as my mother allowed me to keep the bus fares if I chose to cycle to school. On the wide pavement to the left of this scene is a big branch of Woolwoths - sadly no more!