Lower Edmonton > Roads and localities > Shops in 1937 Part 2: The high road

Shops in 1937 Part 2: The high road

A look at the local shops on the high road (Hertford Road and Fore Street) away from The Green.

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Continued from page 1...

Hertford Road (local shops)

Having covered the lost shops at the south of the Hertford Road, which could arguably be considered as part of the main shopping centre of Edmonton, there is the rest of the Hertford Road up to the boundary to consider where there are lots of parades of "local shops".

It is perhaps a lot to read into the presence of absence of shops with certain numbers but my feeling is that, apart from the east side of the road between Forest Road and Tramway Avenue where I can only think of number 392 as a survivor, the architecture is pretty much as it was back in 1937. The only other obvious difference is the 329 – 337 is now a petrol station and I can remember that appearing so that is probably a 1970s alteration. I am also inferring that the parades either side of "the bottom of Galliard Road" and from Cleveland Road to Ripon Road were probably brand new and hence not fully occupied.

The area north of Forest Road leading up to Tudor Road dates back to the 1970s I think, though it could be a little earlier and may have been a vacant site for a while before that. There is a decent sized parade of shops there now where I believe it was probably a residential terrace in 1937, but it can be seen that in the area just to the south there were once even more.

[Bedford Road] 403 Smith florist [383–385 is now the car showroom] 383 Buckingham butcher 355 Goodchild estate agents 353 351 Childs grocer 349 Royal London Mutual Insurance Society [King Edward's Road] 347 White dining rooms 345 Lambard confectioner & Post Office 343 Richart hairdresser 341 Berry photographer 339 Chapman tailor 337 335 Lay insurance agent 333 331 Taylor bookseller 329 [Bridlington Road] [Ripon Road] 315 Allen's builders merchants 305–313 303 Dawson optician 297–301 295 Perry confectioner [Cleveland Road] 293 Taylor motor dealer 291 Gabel ladies hairdresser 289 Carswell butcher 287 Carswell grocer 285 Sanderson chemist 283 Lear & Kersey confectioners 281 Davis estate agents, WLM Estates builders 279 Crown Libraries 277 Denby milliners 269 Cock Tavern pub [Houndsfield Road] 267 Anthony newsagent 259 Halford dining rooms [North Road] 257 Wilcox grocer, Austin printer 251 Tyrell draper 235 Berndes fishmonger [Henderson Road] 233 Styles fruiterer 231 Haggar oil dealer 229 Knight confectioner 227 Sizer hairdresser 225 Detloff laundry 223 Ives fishmonger 221 Morgan draper 219 Ives fishmonger 217 Elliott boot repairer 215 Willis newsagent 213 211 Sykes fruiterer [Denny Road] 209 Wedlock coffee bar 207 Barnard undertaker 205 Lowe draper 203 Page's Drug Stores chemists 201 Sober hairdresser 195 London Co-operative Society 193 London Co-operative Society 187 Hibberd baker [Sutherland Road] 185 People's Valet Service cleaners 171   Maton Hall [Bury Street] 169 Mann confectionary

[Boundary ditch] 600 Enfield Highway Co-Op 598 Rowlands milliner 596 Ubach (?) 584–594 582 Anderson & Grill greengrocer 580 Dewhurst butcher 578 Tesco Stores grocers 576 574 Lewis tobacconist [Nightingale Road] 572 Scott refreshment rooms 570 Jeffries grocer 568 Allwright hardware stores 566a Warren boot repairer 564 Sutcliffe & Dunn fried fish 556–562 542 Allwright builders merchant 540 Copper sand merchant 514 Hughes ladies hairdresser [Cuckoo Hall Lane] 494 Scarr district insurance superintendent 468 Robinson boot repairer  [St Alphege Road]] 442 Andrews hourse furnisher 440 438 Ferguson carman [Causeyware Road] 436 Carey greengrocer 434 Bennett butcher 432 Fry newsagent 430 Harris motor cycle engineer 428 Harris motor cycle engineer 426 Duran watchmaker 424 Superb Electric Co. wireless engineers 422 Henri fancy draper 420 Belcher grocer 418 Fort confectioner 416 Gill refreshment rooms [Tramway Avenue] St Alphege's (the "tin church" / the "iron church") [Elizabeth Ride] 396 Houndsfield Working Men's Club [Tudor Road] 392 Dunford motor sidecar body builder [St Joseph's Road] 354 Jesshope grocer 352 Haynes butcher 350 Pretty confectioner 348 Richards greengrocer 346 Smith picture enlarger 344 Driver boot repairer 342 Grogg hairdresser 340 Riches draper 338 Gray greengrocer 336 Swain confectioner 334 Henry oil & color dealer [St Mary's Road] 332 Fisher motor accessories 330 Nash baker 328 Bennett butcher 326 Vernon boot & shoe repairer 324 Davis beer retailer [Forest Road] 308 French dressmaker 282 Whitaker french polisher [Lowden Road] 276 Owen grocer & Post Office 274 Heslop furniture dealer 272 270 Mitchell Bros butcher 268 Willis tobacconist 266 Dance boot repairer 238 Munt builder 206 Pooley boot repairer 196 Burridge timber merchants & plant dealer [Rosemary Avenue] 192 King William IV pub 186 George refreshment rooms 184 George florist [Bounces Road] 134 Clarke motor engineers

The directory shows the London Co-Op with the address "Maton Hall, Hertford Road". Carole Jones on the message board tells me this was on the corner of the Hertford Road and Bury Street so it is the building that I have always assumed was St Michael's church hall (it may well have been once for all I know). Had I pronounced it properly my mum would have told me that ages ago ;-) These days Tom Clay's is number 171 but that building was also used by the Co-Op and the number 171 also seems to cover the hall and one or two other premises (perhaps out the back).

Fore Street

The west side of Fore Street from bridge Road down to Park Road does seem to be substantially unchanged since 1937. I have batched the entries below in groups reflecting different terraces and logical (to me) groupings.

I don't know where number 323 is now, unless it is down an alley somewhere (not impossible as there was once a farrier trading at the address), and similarly I am not aware of a modern number 289. 273 is Argos now but the building may well be a later replacement. 279-281 is the Enfield Foyer (old M.K. Electric offices) which is a c. 1980s building and probably replaced two of the detached houses as found on either side.

Between the Horse & Groom and The Steps pubs there are now the Mercedes Benz showrooms (which has changed hands a few times over the years and has been a petrol station too), the Community Mental Health Centre and Faith House with Community House behind it. The directory offers the electric company at 305 and Edmonton Day Nursery in this space at number 311 (which is used for Community House now) which is probably all there was as I believe the Day Nursery was converted from an old town house so there isn't much space umaccounted for.

I have only found one entry in the 365 – 373 terrace (that's the first of the three big terraces that lead up to Bridge Road) which makes me wonder if perhaps that terrace is later than I thought, though I should say 373 covers the three of the seven shops in the terrace.

As a complete contrast from the west side, the east side has long since been almost completely demolished and redeveloped. Fortunately I can provide some anchors to help make sense of things. The Town Hall was on the corner of Knight's Lane and Fore Street and next to this was, by the 1960s, another building whose function I can't recall and then a terrace of shops that I know started with 472 and went at least as far as 466 because of a photo of the area. As the Metropolitan Police station occupying this area now has the number 462 I speculated that this terrace ended with number 462 on the corner with Plevna Road. I speculated wrong though as checking a 1902 directory reveals Plevna Road between 454 and 452 ;-)

Further down the road there is a junction with Osman Road which occurs between numbers 408 and 414. The 1902 directory shows the same jump in numbering. I have seen a photo showing that number 408 was definitely a corner plot. Sebastopol Road is easy to anchor as the Albion pub was on the north side of the junction.

The police station at number 320 is still there, albeit as 1 Station Mews, and the Methodist Church is number 300. Brettenham Road has moved over the years so I can't say where it was in 1937 but I'll assume it was in the old location. The last point I use as a reference is number 262 which is now Lobo Fisheries fishmonger just south of the modern estate.

I have presented the shops as two columns for either side of the road but as with the others they are meant to be read vertically and not horizontally.

405 Cook & Jones pawnbrokers 403 Cook & Jones pawnbrokers 401 399 Wade tailor 397 Home & Colonial Stores grocers 395 Lilley & Skinner boot makers 393 Ramsbotham grindery dealer 391 Rees boot and shoes, Jennings confectioners 389 Sainsbury provisions 387 Direct Supply Cork, Lino & Carpet Company 385 Haylock boot dealer 383 Buckingham butcher 381 Maison Cee ladies hairdresser 379 Lujon milliners 377 Jack's Stores grocers 375 Magnet Stores   373 Burdon & Miles motor engineers 371 369 367 365 363 London Co-Op 361 [Warriner Drive — previously a car park entrance] 355 London Co-Op 353 London Co-Op [Shrubbery Road ]   339 Salvation Army Citadel 337 Library [Shrubbery Road ] 335 Wilson corn chandler 333 Hibberd baker 331 Hammond opticians 329 Simmonds beer retailers 327 Recorder Cycle Co. 325 Recorder Cycle Co. 323 Wooding wholesale confectioner 321 Crown & Horseshoes 311 Edmonton Day Nursery 305 North Metropolitan Electric Power Supply Co. 291 Horse & Groom 289 Telfer (?) 287 British Legion 285 283 Sanders estate agents 281 London Quilt Company 279 MCC Tubercular Dispensary 277 Scanlan physician 275 Bradley's Stores house furnishers 273 Bradley's Stores house furnishers 271 Golden Fleece

Town Hall 472 Nix rate collector 470 Joy dining rooms 468 Bamfield draper 466 Bamfield draper 464 Riley builders merchant 462 Anderson tobacconists, Cornwall tobacconists 460 Fergusson boot and shoe dealer 458 456 Tyrell & Jones outfitters 454 Tyrell & Jones outfitters [Plevna Road] 452 Williams confectioners 450 Larkins greengrocer 448 Hanson wireless supplies 446 Andrews wool repository 444 Hibberd baker 442 Hibberd baker 440 Barber dentist 438 Barber hairdresser 436 434 Madeley antique dealer 432 Miller florist 430 428 426 Veasey florist 424 Gunn confectioners 422 Gunn newsagents 420 Warner coffee rooms 418 Bygrave cats' meat dealer 416 414 Booth house furnisher [Osman Road] 408 Youell oilman 406 Barker confectioner 404 Weed boot repairer 402 Claxton picture frame maker 400 398 Wynn wireless supplies 386 Taylor ladies hairdressers 384 Hilton removal contractor 382 Eykel watchmaker 376 Wiley basket maker 374 372 Edmonton Labour Party 370 Pratt grocer and Post Offfice 368 Knight florist 366 Willers outfitter 364 Willers outfitter 362 Willers outfitter 360 Mabott grocer 358 356 William bootmaker 354 352 Albion pub [Sebastopol Road] 350 Cropley undertaker 348 Cropley undertaker 346 Matthews tobacconist 344 Maretta lad. h/dresser 342 340 338a Chapman refreshment rooms 336 Goodley coal dealer 330 Scowen builder 328 326 Cohen tailor 324 Rose ladies' tailor 322 King's motor depot 320 Police Station 318 Guiver auctioneers 316 Edmonton Conservative Association 300 Methodist Church [Brettenham Road]   St Mary's Church   262 Jennings confectioner

Just to help you relate to the above...

• 271 – 287 covers the Golden Fleece, Argos (273) and the five converted detached houses either side of the Enfield Foyer.
• 325 – 335 covers Recorder/Teleradio, a cafe (a handicrafts shop for many years), the Bottle & Basket off-licence, Hin Loon (is that a restaurant?) and Locke's motor cycle dealers.
• 353 and 355 are now the double glazing company, the electrical wholesalers and a play centre thing all in the old 1903 building, and the dry cleaners next door. 353 was once known as Shrubbery House.
• 361 and 363 are the Kimiz restaurant tacked on the side of the T.F.C. supermarket thingy (once the House Of Holland).
• 365 – 373 is the terrace with Cafe Mimoza, the Big Man's Shop, Hamilton's estate agents, a hairdressers, Roshan Tandoori, the Global Car Service and the Oriental Chef.
• 375 – 385 starts with the Thames Bookmakers and then the remainder of the terrace is now the Akin Supermarket. It is also called Salisbury Mansions and the flats above apparently still use that as their address.
• 387 – 405 is the last terrace with Studio Fore, AKSU Restaurant, Rise Up Fashion, ATS Carpets, Oz Gulizar Market, a newsagent, ATS Carpets in a double fronted shop, World Dial, and then the Texas Fried Chicken.

...as of January 2003. Recorder closed later in the year and the corner plot of Shrubbery House has changed to a hairdressers.

Fred Wade's shop later extended into number 401 on two storeys with mens wear and ladies wear and school wear. Rambotham's became a sports shop and opened up an additional shop as Edmonton Green Sports when the North Mall was built. Recorder is now just a single shop and also has Teleradio on the sign and still does sell assorted electronic sorts of things. Teleradio had a couple of shops elsewhere in 1937 and later there was a shop called Teleradio Supplies in one of the terraces nearer The Green (I forget which one).

I can't really add too much to the east side. There is a big gap between 262 (which is now Lobo fisheries) and 300 and back in 1937 the first part of that would have been accounted for by St Mary's Church. Brettenham Road would have been right next to it (it wasn't straightened until the 1970s) and that would have represented the boundary between Upper and Lower Edmonton. The directory does list a decorator, a plumber and a doctor in the addresses up to the Methodist Church but those sound like the sort of trades one could carry out from largely residential properties (there were certainly ten houses there, grouped as two, two, three and three goinf north).

Fore Street doesn't seem to have been numbered until the turn of the 19th Century. Comparing a couple of old directories and looking on the map for appropriately sized terraces, I can confidently suggest the following...

• Commercial Terrace is 325 – 335 Fore Street
• Frederick Terrace is 352 – 376 Fore Street
• North Place is 378 – 408 Fore Street

The stretch from Osman Road to Plevna Road just seems to be referred to as Lower Fore Street with no extra naming.

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