By the early 20th century the orchards had gone and the road was built up on both sides. There were shops on the corners of the side roads and the consecutive numbering had been changed to odds and evens as it is nowadays.
The 1901/2 street directory shows the east side of the road at number
1 Frank Jarvis was a baker,
43 John Edward Ross was a hairdresser,
45 Robert Dixon greengrocer,
57 Thomas Everdene was a grocer,
The Griffin had been there since 1884 and Henry A Compton was the landlord.
59 Frederick Luffrum was a greengrocer.
On the west side
2 William Oldland was a greengrocer,
12 Mrs Simmons was a grocer,
20 Mrs Kate Hinton was a dressmaker,
22 Frederick Foster was another greengrocer.
32 Edwin EL Bowling was a physician/surgeon,
38 George Stagg was a sausage manufacturer,
40 Henry Wiseman had a fried fish shop,
50 Alfred George Allen slater,
62 Mrs C Wheeler’s laundry and at
76 Mrs Sarah Apted was another dressmaker.
In 1912 ‘sanitary defects’ were being reported by the Inspector of Nuisances at numbers 26, 28, 30, 34 and 36.
There were damp walls due to defective waste pipe fittings, the walls and ceilings throughout the property and scullery areas were dirty, the passage walls were defective, the WC drain was offensive, there was insufficient yard paving, the condition of the roof was defective, there was an absence of eaves, gutters and downspout to outbuildings and the middle room on the first floor of number 30 was verminous!
The owner was a lady living in Holland Park who said in court that she had no money for repairs and so sold them on to a builder who immediately did the repairs to cure the damp conditions.
Numbers 28 and 30 together with number 32 were destroyed during bombing in 1940.
By 1939 many of the businesses mentioned above were the same although the names had changed.
1 Bradfords (Ealing) Ltd – baker
43 Ernest Frederick Ward – hairdresser
45 William Frederick Daubney – greengrocer
57 Mrs MJ King – grocer
Frederick James Hebborn was the publican at the Griffin
59 Ernest Ward – greengrocer
2 Tommy Clements – greengrocer
12 William Wheeler – general stores
38 George Dowson – shopkeeper
40 Henry James Appleby – fried fish merchant
62 Crown & Royal Jersey Laundries- Page and Cantrell proprietors – laundry
62a SJ Rogers – Brentford & District Animal Clinic.
Memories of a local resident who has been quoted earlier tell that Mr Clements kept a horse at the back of his greengrocers at number 2, Mr Foster delivered greengrocery and coal (presumably by horse and cart), the sweet shop at 38 closed after it was damaged during the War and he used to have his hair cut at number 43 where a small café was started and laundry was collected.
The horse and cart for deliveries was kept at the back of number 59 and the house at number 62 was the collection point for the laundry with the washing being done in the laundry at the back. There was also a prefabricated building where the PDSA had a clinic for sick animals.
You can still see signs of the previous use from the shape of many of the corner buildings. There are two still with shop fronts – one the Chinese take-way and the other now a private house.
The History of Brentford 