Forum Topic

Oldest shop currently on Chiswick High Road?

On the back of the local history discussions on here, we were wondering what the oldest shop still trading on Chiswick High Road (pre-lockdown of course) could be. If I had to hazard a guess I would suggest Billings and Edmonds, the school uniform supplier, but I'm sure people on here will have better ideas...

Birna Helgadottir ● 2381d48 Comments

Fosters bookshop?

Vivienne Cox ● 2380d

Think Foster's are in the oldest building are they also oldest business.

Janice Evans ● 2380d

I don’t know about all of the High Road but I think WM Bond is the oldest name, it first appeared in 1907. The longest single use for a shop is Barclays which opened as a bank in 1881. If you exclude pubs and banks, Modi News in Chiswick Lane was opened as a tobacconist in 1899. I took my 1975 Kellys for a virtual walk along the High Road to see which shops are the same as those 45 years ago, the list is slightly longer than I thought. Excluding the pubs and banks there are 13 with the same name and quite a few more that are the same type of shop with a different name.101 Annapurna Restaurant107 Delta Cleaners (4 Star Dry Cleaners)111 Dental Surgeon113 Veterinary Surgeon127 Bond W.S.153 Barclays155 Estate Agents177b Ladbrokes183 Foster W.A Bookshop255 Florists281 Midland Bank403 Café 403573 Georges Coffee BarStile Hall Parade6 Alliance Food Store9 Stanleys Café (Bridge Café)10 The Pestle & Mortar54 Ladies Hair Dressers88 Kentucky Fried Chicken116 Tobacconist 152 Solicitors154 West London Chemists176 Fudge D & Sons Ltd. Cycle Dealers196 Tuck Away, take away meals202 Churchill Pharmacy236-240 Marks & Spencer298 Shears Tobacconist300 Chemist310-2 Lloyds Bank314 Natwest Bank350 Altas Employment Agency (Adecco)446 Harmor Drug Store (Sabel Pharmacy)452 Autocoin Laundry, Launderette468 Barratt W. G. Ltd (Co Op) Funeral DirectorsOn Turnham Green Terrace.44 Mackin Bros Ltd, Butchers68 Estate Agents102 Spar Ltd (Best One)13 Estate Agents19 The Terrace Fisheries, fried fish restaurant45 Estate AgentsOn Devonshire Road there is Sun Sing Chinese Restaurant (Mays) at 17.Top Hat Cleaners were at number 430 High Road in 1975. The shop in Devonshire Road (20) was Beacon Cleaners in 1975.If Big Jims Trimms had moved in next door, Johns Hairdressers was at no 8 from 1888 until at least 1975.

Colin Potter ● 2380d

According to this site Fosters have been around since 1970. https://keepthingslocal.com/a-chapter-in-chiswicks-rich-history/Any shops that predate this?

Birna Helgadottir ● 2380d

Platinum Prestige/ Soni?  Or does it just feel that way? :-)

Alastair Banton ● 2380d

How interesting, Colin. Thank you. I could have sworn Marks and Spencer was a fairly recent arrival - but maybe they just turned into a food-only store from a general outlet.So no Billings and Edmonds?

Birna Helgadottir ● 2380d

What about the Old Cinema at 160?  I think it's been selling second-hand/antique stuff for ages and can't remember what was there before.

Micki Hawkes ● 2380d

A cinema?

Paul Corcoran ● 2380d

These are the listings from 1975.292 Platinum Prestige/ Soni, was Old Father Time, watchmakers. 160 is not listed, according to their website Old Cinema Antiques have been there since 1979.  Next door at 162 there was the Chiswick Furniture Centre.112 Billings and Edmonds used to be the Brentford and Chiswick Times, I seem to remember going to Hounslow to get my uniform as there were no school shops in Chiswick at the time.

Colin Potter ● 2380d

Not on Chiswick High Road, but Chiswick Lighting Company on Devonshire Road (previously named Teleonics but under the same proprietors),  has been around for 55 years this year. My father and I run the shop and have worked together here for 20 odd years. My father began the business here when he was only 16 . I think he likes it!.

Penny Ledbury ● 2380d

While we're (sort-of) on the subject, does anyone remember a really magnificent delicatessen which used to be in the space where Fired Earth now lives. If I remember correctly, it was called the Food Emporium and was open for a short time in the mid-1980s. Very beautiful, tiled like an old dairy or butchers' shop (I think it might have been a butcher before) with, amongst other things, cheese from Philippe Olivier and - for the era - excellent bread. It was way ahead of its time, didn't last long, then became a framing shop.Did this all happen? Or did I hallucinate the whole thing?

Tracie Dudley Craig ● 2380d

Hi Penny.  You served me the other week.  Something Ormerods didn't have in stock so they sent me up to you.You were great.  Good fun.  Real cheerful.  And you had what I was after..So Ta.. and long live the Chiswick Lighting Company on Devonshire Road...

Stuart Kerr ● 2380d

Ah how lovely. Thank you Stuart!.

Penny Ledbury ● 2380d

I see that Colin’s intriguing list from the 1975 Kelly’s includes 116 Chiswick High Road as a tobacconist. According to the electoral registers, it was also a tobacconist long before that – between (at least) 1922 and 1937, it was run by a group of spinster sisters (Jane, Phoebe, Annie and Lavinia Walker). Distant relatives of mine, via (a divorced) marriage. When I last looked, 116 was Express Stop Food & Wine.

Christopher Woodley ● 2380d

Timmis & Gould Chemists Now the Pestle & Mortar10 Chiswick High Rd, Chiswick, London, W4 1THA Chemist has been located at this address since 1938Chiswick Club Society Ltd13 Chiswick High Road Bonds W S funeral Director127 Chiswick High RoadBoots Chemist282 Chiswick High RoadAll listed in Kellys 1938 directory

Bernard Allen ● 2380d

You didn't hallucinate Tracie, we were also customers of the Food Emporium for the short time it was there. Such a treat to wander in and browse through all the goodies on display.As you say it was ahead of its time.We were also customers of the butchers which was there previously, from memory run by a husband and wife team.

Kevin Mitchell ● 2380d

Photographs would reveal the truth if they are dated.

Janice Evans ● 2380d

what about the scooter shop towards King Street corner Prebend? I think its been there years

John Martin ● 2380d

Mum and Dsd opened Top Hat Cleaners in early 1968 and I “went in to help out” in 1984. Have some great memories from the old shop and that’s continued on Devonshire Road

Michael Moran ● 2380d

The scooter shop used to be a tyre shop and fitting bays, I brought my wide wheels from there years ago.Unless you are thinking of the two Harry Nash Motorcycle shops in King Street, about number 391, They were there years.

Bernard Allen ● 2380d

The TR shop is still at 16 Chiswick High Road. It opened in 1974 according to it's web site.

Les Fletcher ● 2380d

They were outfitters to my prep school.And I started there in 1950!Whether the clothes came from Chiswick I don't know

James Roy ● 2380d

Owned by the family of Hounslow's Mayor, Tony Louki

Guy Lambert ● 2380d

Congrats to Annupurna for making nearly 50 years.  Seems rare for any restaurant to survive more than a few years these days.

Philip Coe ● 2380d

What about the old record shop that has a life-size Elvis in the window in his gold suit?

Vivienne Cox ● 2380d

From my memory of the high Street I think M & S is the oldest shop still trading under the same name and in the same building.  It was initially a clothes only shop with a small selection of food arriving in the mid to late 60s. 

Bernadette Paul ● 2380d

The Kellys directories are not always accurate, so always worth checking other sources if they are available. I’ve only got the 1975 London Directory. I found Billings and Edmonds, but they are listed as being at 22/23 Princes St, Hanover Square W1. 16 is listed as Westinghouse Drycleaners and as Bernard mentioned 22 was Motor Tyre Service Ltd. Harry Nash had a shop on both sides of King Street and a garage in Cranbrook Road, but I think they were cars and the bikes came a lot later.I had a look at the online copies from 1911, there are 10 shops that still have the same use, but just one shop name that still exists. (Excluding Pubs)13 Chiswick Club Society127 Bond W.S.153 London & South Western Bank 197 Walter Edward Potter281 London City & Midland Bank10 Timmis & Gould, Chemists116 Mrs Pendry, Confectioner154 Harrison Stephen Wright, Pharmacist202 Webber J.W.  Pharmaceutical chemist314 London County & Westminster Bank Ltd 350 Mrs Evans. Servants registry office.Turnham Green Terrace44 Albert H Gayes, Butcher.In 1890 there are just threeLondon & South Western Bank202 Wooster J.R.  Chemist314 London & County Banking Co. LimitedSo WM Bond is the oldest name, it first appeared in 1907. The longest single use for a shop is one of three, Barclays, Natwest,  or the Chemist, all three have been there for 130 years +.I don’t know enough about the other shops, but thanks to the other posters, unless someone knows different.  Oldest shop name run by the same family, Top Hat Cleaners, 1968.Longest running shop by the same family, 30 Devonshire Road, Ledbury K.P. & Co Ltd, Teleonics Radio & TV Dealers / Chiswick Lighting Company, 1965.

Colin Potter ● 2379d

Colin, your mention of the Annapurna on your original list reminded me of an Indian restaurant on the other side of the road that was hugely popular with myself and my friends (and many other people) before the Annapurna appeared. I refer to the Light of India (no longer there, alas) which we used to go to 3 or 4 nights a week. Its manager was the wonderful Sam, a big, warm, hospitable man who was always there to greet you when you arrived. Today, whenever I go past the area, I always remember 'The Light' with great affection.

Colin Jordan ● 2379d

Hear hear Colin about the Light of India and that very pleasant and welcoming front of house gentleman. I believe he came from Fiji...and that they had another branch in Fulham.Now the site is a blank and part of Kings Court

Jim Lawes ● 2379d

The Light of India was opposite The Potli in King Street. I think its position was just about where the launderette is now.

Jeffrey Cope ● 2379d

Wot about Fudges bicycle shop?. It's splitting hairs as it changed its name to Action Bikes for a short time but it was and again is Fudges. I think from the 1920's.

Jeffrey Cope ● 2379d

Thanks so much for all the contributions and research - especially Colin Potter. Just fascinating!

Birna Helgadottir ● 2378d

Agree, thank you Colin.

Janice Evans ● 2377d

I’m pretty sure Boogies the hairdresser would qualify- rob has been there for at least 30 years. He’s at 54a, the tiny wee corridor shop. He’s bad tempered but can cut hair well and I love him

Wallis Gray ● 2377d

Reading through these again, I meant to ask - where is the record shop with Elvis?

Birna Helgadottir ● 2376d

It was called Spinning Disc at number 54.http://www.britishrecordshoparchive.org/spinning-disc-chiswick.html#

David Lawson ● 2376d

Oh I see - it doesn't exist anymore. I was wondering how I could have missed it!

Birna Helgadottir ● 2376d

Gosh, is that place still open? I passed regularly enough before lockdown and presumed it had closed years ago. Delighted to learn it is still in business.

Felicity Caborn ● 2375d

It may not be the oldest but it probably is the thinnest!

Dan Evans ● 2375d

Aye he’s still in business! I think it is actually the smallest unit in Chiswick! And he actually owns the life sized elvis mentioned above, have heard many stories about the spinning disc days

Wallis Gray ● 2375d

It gave me something to do for a few hours, I had already researched some of it and this thread gave me a bit more info to update the Wikipedia page.  When the library reopens I’ll try and work out how many have had the same use since they were built and which is the oldest the chemist or one of the banks.  The shop I want to find out more about is number 350 Mrs Evans, Servants registry office. My first few google searches haven’t found anything, does anyone know anything about it?

Colin Potter ● 2375d

Spinning Disc was the other half of what is Boogies Hairdressers at number 54. In 1975 it was Spinning Disc and Cosmos ladies hairdressers sharing the shop.It is definitely a narrow shop, but it is one shop that has been divided into two. I think the narrowest shop is Number 115, it was Tiffin Box until it closed down a few years ago. Originally it was an alley between the shops to a yard at the back. I know it has been there as a restaurant for over 50 years as it is where my uncle proposed to my aunt, but I am not sure when it became a shop instead of an alley.

Colin Potter ● 2375d

I bought vinyl records from Spinning Disc back in the early '60's.Still reckon Fudges bike shop will take some beating.

Jeffrey Cope ● 2374d

2020 Fudges 176 Chiswick High Rd, Chiswick, London W4 1PRin 1938 Lilley and Skinner Ltd Boot & Shoe Makers 176 Chiswick High Rd, Chiswick,

Bernard Allen ● 2374d

Fudges established 1928

Jeffrey Cope ● 2374d

Maybe the Shepherdbush shop was open first? As the 1938 Kelly directory doesn't have them listed at 176 Chiswick High Rd.Could another shop on the high road.You could email The shop and ask when which shop was open and where, someone should know, being a family firm.

Bernard Allen ● 2374d

1928 is the year when Walt Disney first brought Mickey Mouse to the screens!

Loraine Pemberton ● 2374d

For a quick view of Spinning Disc, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToQ0n3itoII

Carl Wynne ● 2374d