Forum Topic

Old Brentford from above

Found these while working in an old office a few weeks back. Lovely old prints which I quickly scanned. Even though I'm few thousand miles away, I can't escape Brentford, it gets everywhere!Hope these are interesting.[IMG]http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w258/ropeyalternator/HenleysA4Brentford_zps43a0bc01.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w258/ropeyalternator/BostonManor1960_zpsd5fe1400.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w258/ropeyalternator/mk1Performancecars_zps65fbfa4e.jpg[/IMG]

Raymond Havelock ● 4171d37 Comments

I worked at Performance cars 1966-71,although he was certainly eccentric, he was excellent to work for. he gave me a flat in the house opposite when I got married, every time I asked for a raise he would knock two pounds off the rent.He also owned toulmin motors of London road Isleworth. this was behind the coach and horses. His other garage was W H Cocks opposite South Ealing station.

vic jenkins ● 3953d

I remember Platt's too Audrey.  My Mother used to buy groceries there sometimes. I walked past there many times on my way to work at Thompson & Norris on the great West Road.  I also remember Performance Cars, used to pass it on my way to the Brentford Library, and the Railway Station on my way to school in Chiswick.

Doris M. Lediard ● 4149d

Jim have you changed your email address, I wrote to you last week, I don't think you could have received it. Ron Curant.

Ron Curant ● 4153d

Wow..all those barges and all those rail wagons... what an industrial scene. 1939?So different today..with Julius Court at that headland.

Jim Lawes ● 4155d

Thanks Audrey.  You find the Frith's website link useful as it leads to many recorded memories.I expect you visited the sweet shop across the road from the School.http://www.francisfrith.com/brentford/memories/#utmcsr=google.co.uk&utmcmd=referral&utmccn=google.co.uk

Jim Lawes ● 4155d

Thanks for that picture Jim. Will pass it on to those over here who attended that lovely school.

Audrey Walton ● 4155d

Another image plucked from that Britain from the Air collection...and cropped and cropped and enhanced. Not many pictures of this School are seemingly around... although many locals would have attended there.We recall the demolishion of the School and the small Industrial Estate that took it's place.That's Layton Road on the left side..and a steaming train at the marshalling yard adjacent to Brentford Station.

Jim Lawes ● 4156d

Here is The Dome again..just after the War. Elegant indeed.No these ladies aren't hailing a 91 bus but they are awaiting the a famous Chiswickian!

Jim Lawes ● 4157d

You could be right Guy..I must check my pre-war diaries!One questions whether parts of the Great West Road has much declined after hearing of the elegance of the road in earlier times.  I mean the journey under the M4 from Chiswick is so depressing these days and it gets worse near the Ealing Road area..with the filthy glum grey concrete of the pillars providing the scene. It's horrible. Didn't someone suggest the pillars should be brightened up somehow?Thankfully old pictures of the area help one to see the current depressing state of affairs. That current Texaco Garage is such an eyesore by comparison.

Jim Lawes ● 4157d

I expect you're going to tell us you danced away the night at the Dome garage and ballroom, Jim, whilst well-oiled.

Guy Lambert ● 4157d

Another enhanced extract from the Britain from Above series mentioned by Raymond:

Jim Lawes ● 4157d

Maybe I'm not quite right about Mr Goldsmith trading as Toulmin...but I've read that Toulmin's spare parts departmentwas once located behind Performance Cars.This business card appears in cyberspace!

Jim Lawes ● 4157d

Ron. It would be great to locate that picture of Henlys at night. What an entrance to the Great West Road. Mr Goldsmith certainly left behind many memories for us all...and his family will know that he was quite a somebody in the area.  He had lived in the largest house in Jersey Road with a cottage in the grounds for staff. It had once been occupied by the boss of Smiths Crisps. All pulled down sadly..and replaced by Ashley Drive.Mr John Goldsmith's Windmill Road company was called Toulmin Motors I believe. We remember that name. The family firm continues under that Toulmin name in Windsor I have learn from Google."We are a new business here in Windsor, although our roots go back to the Toulmin Motors “MG” of the 50’s and 60’s"

Jim Lawes ● 4157d

Jim, you are correct Mr Goldsmith did live in Jersey Road,Osterley.I was in the motor trade for almost 50 years and sold Mr Goldsmith several MG's in my time,Peter Withers was one of his partners. He was a bit eccentric in his ways, I was in his showroom one day selling him a car when a customer he had been dealing with came back and made him an offer on a car, Goldsmith replied "I would not sell it to you now you have insulted me" I understood he could be very generous and purchased a wartime minesweeper and donated it to the sea scouts. There is a pic of Henly's petrol station in a book called The making of modern London, an excellent pic taken at night when all the pumps were illuminated, I have never seen another petrol station with so many pumps. They were Jaguar Distributors for the London area with a number of branches including one at the opposite end of the Gt.West Road, on the roundabout where there is still a petrol station, but in those days it was a full garage carrying out sales and repairs.

Ron Curant ● 4158d

That was excellent information Kevin which I have attached to my picture on Flickr..with a credit to your goodself. Following Raymond's additional mention of the Aerofilms imagesI have extracted some further views of that MWB land and the Gasometers.Isn't it easy to forget what factories and buildings graced our industrious town..but thankfully memories like yours must be preserved!

Jim Lawes ● 4165d

Oh dear.. another picture!

Jim Lawes ● 4167d

The pictures I found turned out to be prints from a company called aerofilms and are quite well known. Lot's of businesses used their images in offices in the 1960s and 70s.I made a few enquiries today and understand a book is shortly to be published which contains several pictures of Brentford and Hounslow based on the UK motor industry. I've been promised the details so when I get them I'll stick the details here. Sounds like it might be quite interesting

Raymond Havelock ● 4168d

Great photo Jim. The land in the distance just the other side of the railway contained the Metropolitan Water Board reservoirs which were part of Kew Pumping Station (now the Steam Museum) & were sold off to the council to build the six tower blocks which are named after famous steam engines/engineers & Green Dragon Lane which cuts through from Burford Rd to Kew Bridge Rd. The gasometers were roughly where Holland Gdns/Travelodge? Is behind St George's Church & were part of the old Gas Works across the road which is now Watermans Park. I think they were taken down in the late Eighties but the ground wasn't built on for sometime due to it being contaminated due to the work which had taken place there over the years as was the same with other gas sites across London. The last remaining reservoir which was there was underground & has now been removed & is where the new development (Kew West?) is being built behind the army surplus store.

Kevin Farnan ● 4168d

Wow that was an interesting snippet of the Great West Road and Smiths Crisps Guy.  Thanks for the video link.There are no Brentford Tower Blocks in view (not built yet!)..and that area seems to be dominated by the Water Board.  Just managed to capture the Smiths signage!

Jim Lawes ● 4168d

Plucked from cyberspace:"Henly’s Garage, Great West Road, Brentford in west London, 1937. Henly's was a major chain of garages from the 1920s to the 1970s. Its 1937 premises in Brentford, with 22 petrol pumps and a neon sign was seen as a showpiece for the company. The building was demolished in the 1960s and only the tower remained - until it was destroyed by a fire in 1989. It was replaced by a replica tower but with none of the original detailing. Henly's was transformed into a business that undertook commercial vehicle manufacture, the group went into administration and was broken up in 2004-5. (English Heritage’s Aerofilms/John Minnis)

Jim Lawes ● 4169d

Guy; yes there have been several threads and messages before about "Mr Goldsmith"  and "Performance Cars" (enter both separately in the Search Box to locate them) and there are several relevant pictures on Flickr (including my own) on these subjects.http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=performance%20cars%20brentfordI'm sure Mr Goldsmith lived in Jersey Road, Osterley in the 1970s..and he also owned the "Leprosy Charity" buildings on Windmill Road (south).http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=performance%20cars%20brentford

Jim Lawes ● 4169d

Here is the current view taken from the top of an H91 bus. I'd forgotten about a fire damaging the old tower structurebut thankfully Hounslow Council made sure it was restored in any new rebuilding!  That tower is really a special Brentford feature.

Jim Lawes ● 4169d

Here is an image by Mr P Philo, an artist responsible for several historic drawings of buildings on the Great West Road,and it shows the car showroom style of the premises in it's early years.There was also a Henly's garage at the other end of the Great West Road where the BP/M&S is now located. It is still often referred to as Henly's Corner.

Jim Lawes ● 4169d

I only remember the clock as the Martini House clock  And then when it sadly burned down in the 1980s.I had not idea it was Henlys who built it.The structure was clad albeit painted Blue in Martini days. It's a much darker shade in this picture so what colour was it?

Anthony Waller ● 4170d

Aha I see the legendary Mr G was discussed on here before, and the picture I just posted. Here's a bit of video with an early shot of the M4 including Smith's Crisps at about 8 minutes 10!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atDFqxHLctE&feature=youtu.be

Guy Lambert ● 4170d

Something here... anybody remember 'Mr Goldsmith'?http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=882374And a picture....http://www.flickr.com/photos/finlandia_175/9060201847/

Guy Lambert ● 4170d

When I arrived in Brentford, Performance Cars were selling much more exotic stuff than MGs. In fact, as a schoolboy reader of Motor Sport Magazine I remember drooling over their stock lists and I was chuffed to find it just across from my place of work (and to add to it, the famous Chequered Flag was just down the road in Chiswick)When Performance Cars' main site shut, there was a much smaller site on the other side of Windmill Rd, also  branded Performance Cars but seeming to be a residential house with a few old bangers notionally for sale but just gathering dust and rust and eventually being taken over by weeds.I haven't noticed it recently but on Google Earth it shows the house being demolished but with Performance Cars still painted in the white wall -well, just about!Anyone know the story?

Guy Lambert ● 4170d

Isn't it a wonderful thing Audrey that you can view the pictures and respond with a story in minutes from many thousands of miles away!  Technology is moving so fast and us silver surfers are keeping up with it in a way!My little notebook here says that the fishmongers was called Platts too. Do you remember Mr Goldsmith and all the MG cars lined up as in this picture?

Jim Lawes ● 4170d

Hi Jim, remember that area well! That is the famous Platt's store behind Performance Cars. Loved to shop there for wonderful ham the manager carved straight off the bone. And next door there was the delightful wet fish shop. Best the chemist was beyond that, used to pop in there on pay day and splurge. Wonderful memories!

Audrey Walton ● 4170d

Scratching head!  Where is this one wonders?

Jim Lawes ● 4170d

Fabulous Raymond. Did Mr Goldsmith realise ...that he was being spied on from above?It is so easy to forget what these old premises looked like...but now I recall that it was an MG car specialist and that to the right at the front were old fashioned petrol pumps.

Jim Lawes ● 4170d

This is another unique picture from Raymond..showing the 1962-1965 construction of the M4. Look at those stilts.One can see the lake in the Sultan of Brunei's pad and Boston Manor Station..for starters!

Jim Lawes ● 4170d

That's a great find Raymond..pictures buried in an office somewhere! Wow. Well scanned..and uploaded. Many thanks.I notice part of the Smiths Crisps empire next door to the Henlys Car Showroom...wasn't it a Jaguar dealership?

Jim Lawes ● 4170d

Thanks Raymond - love those old pics

Guy Lambert ● 4171d

Thank you.Great pictures, especially the Performance Cars one

Ian Silver ● 4171d

...That is if you can open them.I can't but this has worked before!

Raymond Havelock ● 4171d

http://s178.photobucket.com/user/ropeyalternator/media/mk1Performancecars_zps65fbfa4e.jpg.html

Raymond Havelock ● 4171d