Those Terrible Teddy Boys

A Memory of Uxbridge.

I came across this site by accident and was immediately transported back to the fifties in Uxbridge when I was a teenager. My family lived at Willowbank just over the bridge from Uxbridge towards New Denham. I regularly walked over the bridge passing The Alders club and the Swan & Bottle pub. I didn't realise then what a fabulous place Uxbridge was and how good it was to be a teenager in the fifties. Three cinemas that were cheap and always had the latest films, several pubs and of course dancing to Joe Loss or Ted Heath above Burtons. I used to regularly go to the Aero Milk Bar to listen to the juke box playing a record by Johnny Ray, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly etc. My favourite at the time was Dreamboat by Alma Cogan.
Yes, the Teddy Boys did also use the milk bar, and there were a couple of gangs, but actually they were always polite and well behaved, but the papers would constantly portray them as thugs. They were a joy to see with their drape jackets with velvet collars, drain pipe trousers, skinny ties and D.A. hair cuts. Infact, at a time when I had suffered a very bad relationship and was penniless it was the terrible Teddy Boys who would regularly leave money at the counter to make sure that I had food. Funnily enough I bumped into one of the boys who had been a gang leader in those days, he was now a business man and much more strict with his children than his parents were with him.
Other things I remember about Uxbridge is the antique shop down Windsor Street which I believe was called Wesley Antiques, the outdoor market, Timothy Whites & Taylors where I worked for a while and Suitors. And on a Saturday night there were often black marias waiting outside of the station for possible trouble between RAF boys and the local gangs. I could go on and on and wish I could relive those days because although we didn't have the technology of today I'm sure we were much happier.