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From 370 to 384 High Street, Old Brentford

By the time of the 1909/10 Valuation only numbers 370 and 384 are recorded, this area had been taken over by the Gas Light & Coke Company.

Properties

Notes prepared for numbers 370, 371, 372, 373, The Hand & Flower (378, later 379), 382 and The Fox and Hounds (384); also a list of photos, ephemera and maps

Number 370

The 1845 Three Counties Directory includes William Barton, grocer & cheesemonger. By 1851 William had married Jane, he was a ‘master grocer employing 1 man and 1 woman’: the two employees lived in with their employers.

In 1861 24 year old William Morris, ironmonger & grocer lived and worked here. He was succeeded by George Knight, oil and color man and grocer (1871 – 1891 censuses). There is no reference to no. 370 in the 1901 census; the site was taken over by the Gas Light & Coke Company in 1903 (C61).

George Knight, 31 Sydenham Road, Sydenham, Kent is recorded as the owner at the time of the 1909/10 Valuation. The property was rented out for 42 years from 29 September 1901, the first 14 years rent being £10 p.a., the next 14 years £15 p.a. and the final 14 years £30 p.a. The frontage was 30’ 0” and the property is described as a ‘very large brick built & slated workshop and forge, ends of workshop chiefly composed of glass.’ There was a way out to the rear to Chapel Lane.

Number 371

This property was not listed in 1891 or 1901 and presumably was demolished between 1881 and 1891.

Number 372

Number 373

By 1851 the occupancy is more certain, as the first of a number of bakers lived here; Samuel Purnell, who previously lived at no. 412 in 1841, was recorded here with his second wife Harriet. He was a master baker born Worton, Wiltshire.

In 1861 Isaac Powell, also a master baker, lived here with his wife Catharine (born Meriden, Warwickshire) and three young children. The family had recently moved to Brentford, their 2 year old was born in Meriden.

By 1871 Joseph Francis, 50, baker had moved here with his wife Catharine, 20. They had two lodgers, George & Sarah Armitage, who appear to be married, though only 15 and 18.

Ten years on, Thomas Allen, baker lived here with his wife, Eliza and four children aged up to 7; his brother William Allen and Charles Jones, both journeyman bakers, completed the household. All were Brentford born except Eliza (Heston). There is a marriage in 1872 in Brentford registration district which suggests Eliza was a Coombes; possibly she is related to the local confectioners, Clarke, Nicholls and Coombs who appear in the 1913 trade directory.

There are no references to no. 373 in 1890 (trade directory) or later censuses and it appears that the Brentford Gas Company showrooms were built here by 1913.

The Hand & Flower (Number 378, later 379)

In the 1840 tithe apportionment the owner of the Hand & Flower is Joseph Jennings, the occupier John Fisher. The 1841 census shows John Fisher, brickmaker living here, no indication it is a public house, but the 1839 & 1845 trade directories list John Fisher at The Hand & Flower. Living with John Fisher in 1841 was a 20 year old Henry Taylor. There were two Taylor /Tayler families who ran public houses in Brentford, fortunately descendants of both families have been in touch and it has been possible to establish which line ran which pub.

By 1851 Henry J Taylor had taken over, to be succeeded by his younger brother William Tayler, licensed victualler, who is recorded here in every census from 1861 to 1901, by which time he was 75. In the 1881 & 1891 censuses the Hand & Flower was recorded at no. 378 High Street, in 1901 at 379 High Street. It is not clear if this is a genuine re-numbering or a mistake by the enumerator.

LMA has records of Lapsed licences and magisterial certificates including one for ‘The Hand and Flower, Brentford 1901/2’. Numbers 371 to 378 are not referred to in a 1913 trade directory, Brentford Gas Co. showrooms being recorded in this part of the High Street.

Number 382

Fox and Hounds (384)

In 1839 the publican was James Gascoine. The 1840 tithe apportionment records the owner as GB Cole, presumably George Beauchamp Cole (I), and the occupier as John Gascoine, who also appears here in the 1841 census heading a household of 10 including 7 boarders and lodgers. By 1845 he had been succeeded by Mrs Mary Ann Dale, and there may have been a marriage between the Gascoine and Dale families as a John Gascogne Dale lived at number 61 in 1890 / 1891, a corn & coal merchant.

William Grover was running the Fox and Hounds in 1861. As well as being a licensed victualler he was also a master carpenter & undertaker employing 3 men. By 1861 71 year old Mrs Sarah Monk headed a household of 14 including 10 lodgers. She was followed by Thomas Rogers (1871 and 1881) and Joseph Bryden or Bridgen in 1890 and 1891. In 1891 there were 18 lodgers at the Fox & Hounds including Richard Osborne, rat catcher from Essex.

There is no reference to the Fox and Hounds in the 1901 census but it must have continued operating as it is recorded in a 1913 trade directory as run by John Butler. The building was described in the 1909/10 Valuation (date 20 August 1914) as a 'Public House & premises, frontage including passageway 55' 6"'. It was owned by Brandons Putney Brewery Ltd and was a brick built and slated PH on 3 floors. By 1928 no. 384 was the Gas Light & Coke Company's Social Club (Thomas Rickerby, secretary) and in later directories the 'Staff Dining Club'.

Photos/Ephemera/Maps

Roads Off