The Royal Oak, 38 New Road, Brentford TW8 0NU Was and is a public house. Built 1894, possibly rebuilt in 1920s Licensed by 1894. Further Information Brentford’s Griffin Park is the only football ground in the UK with a pub on each corner, and this is one of those four pubs. [mapsmarker marker=”6″] Continue reading The Royal Oak
The Griffin, Brook Road South, Brentford TW8 0NP Was and is a public house. Built 1883. History Fuller Smith & Turner pub since 1883. Served as the first club house and changing room for the football club. Regularly used for filming, including Green Street (2005) with Elijah Wood. The Griffin has been run for over 16 years by Ralph and Sue Clifden who retire this … Continue reading The Griffin
At the end of the thirteenth century the Manor of Boston was given to the Priory of St Helen’s, Bishopsgate by King Edward I. It’s thought that the Priory may have used the Manor as a country retreat and as a place to grow food. Later they were granted a charter to hold a weekly market and an annual six day fair around St Lawrence’s Day in August.
The stalls would originally have been along the High Street – at that time little more than a wide track – but the market flourished due to easy access by river and locally grown produce for sale. By about 1587 it expanded in to an orchard on the north side of the High Street still called Market Place and expanded in to the Butts.
Locally grown produce was sold to merchants from London. Transport links by road and river were good and the carts and boats carrying fruit and vegetables returned filled with what was politely called ‘night soil’ which was used as fertiliser. Baskets for carrying the fruit and vegetables were made locally from the osiers cut from the willow trees grown on the aits or islands in the Thames. Continue reading “The Markets and Growers of Brentford”
Boston Manor House, Brentford, TW8 9JX
Now Open to the Public; Was Residential
Built 1622/1623
Grade 1 Statutory Listed;
on English Heritage “At Risk” list
in Grand Union Canal & Boston Manor Conservation Area
Original part of the house built 1622/23 for Lady Mary Reade.
Extended 1670 by James Clitherow whose descendants extended and made alterations until 1922/3 when it was sold to Brentford Local Board (later Borough of B&C – now London Borough of Hounslow) with the area of the park. Continue reading “Boston Manor House”
A memorable and busy Easter is ahead for Mr H. W. (Bill) Dodge, the genial Brentford FC president. memorable because he celebrates his 90th birthday on Saturday, and because he and Mrs Dodge have their 60th wedding anniversary next Monday.
Busy because Mr Dodge will, as usual, be working in his garden and attending the game he loves – soccer. He’ll be at Griffin Park to see Walsall on Saturday, and both he and his wife will be journeying to Northampton next Tuesday for the return League game. Continue reading “What an Easter for Brentford’s President”
The fascinating story of the rise to national fame of the potato crisps – one of the romances of modern industry – was told to members of the Commercial Section of the Brentford Chamber of Commerce, on Tuesday night by Mr C. J. Scott, a director of Smith’s Crisps, Ltd.
Mr W. J. Meyers, Junr, presided, supported by Mr C. J. Scott and Mr C. Elkins (secretary). Others present included Mr A. E. Wiseman (president) Mr A. H. Charlton, J.P., Mr A. P. Ledsham, Mr W. J. Bolton and Mr A. E. Moore. Continue reading “The Romance of the Crisp”
BRENTFORD & CHISWICK TIMES
Friday May 29th 1942
WATERMEN AT WAR
Barges and Canal Boats are Vital Links in Supply Chain
BRENTFORD MEN’S EXPERIENCES.
Through Fires and Bombs Up River in London Blitz
On the late afternoon of September 6th 1940 a solitary pair of boats, frail river craft, moved steadily up the Thames between banks of blazing warehouses, flying masonry, and under a sky noisy with ‘planes and the crash of anti-aircraft fire. The boats’ crew of five, including two Brentford men, were maintaining the slogan ‘Keep Moving’, which river and canal workers have nailed to their masts for the duration. Continue reading “Watermen at War”
Memory of Mr Stan Prince who lived at No. 92 Brook Road:
“On days when the bikes used to come around, my dad would give me a couple of shillings for helping him. People used to cycle all the way from Windsor and Staines to watch Brentford play.
“This was before cars began to come in, and trains were expensive. Blokes used to jump off the bikes, we’d give them a ticket; we slapped a ticket on the bike and they’d run off to get into the queue for the ground.
“We used to run ’em through the house. We’d have loads of bikes in there. Threepence a time. You might rake in about 15 shillings. At the end of the game, they’d be saying, ‘where’s my bl**dy lamp gone; where’s my pump!’ Continue reading “Looking after bikes during football matches”
This picture, taken on Good Friday when Brentford were at home to Sheffield Wednesday, is typical of the scene in side roads when a Second Division game is staged at Griffin Park. A fire engine could not get through these roads.
Families living in streets round Brentford football ground have learned to fear the days when the first team is playing at home. Then the area is turned into a potential fire-trap as hundreds of cars park bumper to bumper along the narrow roads, sometimes three abreast. Continue reading “Residents Alarmed Over Car Parking”
“The Ditch” A reader calls attention to the condition of the narrow thoroughfare at the bottom of Eastbourne Road, and which is locally referred to as “the ditch”. Building operations are proceeding in the immediate vicinity, but whether this fact has anything to do with the state the lane has lapsed into we do not know. Our informant says the mud is two or three … Continue reading The Ditch of Eastbourne Road
The History of Brentford 