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Numbers 51 - 60 High Street, Old Brentford

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Number 51

In 1881 John Skinner, florist lived here; in 1891 Alfred Littleboy, waterman. The building was uninhabited and not in occupation in 1901.

In the 1909/10 Valuation, no. 51 was described as a house and premises owned by Messrs Young & Marten Ltd of 1-5 Romford Road, Watford. They also owned no. 52. The property was a double-fronted house at the corner of Goat Wharf and was ‘fairly old’ with ‘modern drains’. The frontage was 28’ 9” plus 10’ for a (warehouse?).

No. 51 was demolished in the 1930s (C50) and a four storey hotel was built on this site in 2003 (L).

Number 52

No. 52 was recorded with a property in Goat Wharf and no. 51 in the 1909/10 Valuation. The whole was described as ‘A range of very old and dilapidated brick buildings used as Maltings until recently. Now used as oil and colour merchants shop and yard and warehouse. Frontage to creek on river.’. The owner and occupier was Young & Marten Ltd, builders merchants, who were recorded at no. 52 in trade directories to 1940.

The Fire Station (53)

In 1891 there is a note in the census that no. 53 was the ‘Fire Escape Station’.

The Cage was demolished in 1897 in order to build the Fire Station. This was designed by Nowell Parr and built by James Barnes, a local builder. (There is a James Barnes, variously listed as builder/undertaker, at no. 93 from 1881 – 1901). It opened on 22 February 1898 (N). It accommodated two fire engines and had a hose tower for drying the leather hoses. The horses were stabled nearby as Brentford did not acquire a motor fire engine until 1924 (S29).

Roger S Davis wrote regarding his grandfather Frank Davis ‘The Frank Davis at 276 High Street was my grandfather. He was also at 53 High Street being the chief of the Fire Brigade: my father and his younger siblings were brought up in the Fire Station.’ Roger has also provided a number of photos showing the fire station over the last 100 years: see link below. More details of the Davis family.

Trade directories indicate the following chiefs:

• 1913: Col. George B Clarke, superintendant; James Clements, deputy; Frank Davis, resident foreman
• 1920: Frank Davis, resident superintendent
• 1928: Frank Davis, superintendant; Reginald Bevan (presumably resident) (Frank Davis also ran a business from and may have lived at no. 276 in 1928)
• 1933: Frank Davis captain, T Davis superintendent; Frank Evans station officer
• 1940: Frank Evans station officer

The fire station closed in 1965 and was then used by the ambulance service for the next 20 years, then offices (S29). The building was listed in 1990 (J). It was converted to a restaurant in 2003 (L).

Number 54

In 1881 Mrs Emma Gaunt and Mrs Emma Fleetwood, both dressmakers, shared the house. More about the Fleetwood family.

The 1909/10 Valuation describe no. 54 as a brick built cottage on 3 floors, old and dilapidates with one room on each floor and a High Street frontage of 11’ 4”. Numbers 54, 55 and 56 and numbers 1 – 10 Ferry Square were valued together at £1262. The owner of these properties was John B Jamieson.

Number 55

Caleb Davis, gardener, had moved here by 1891 with his wife and son. Local James French ‘odd man’ , aged 16, completed the household.

In 1901 William Mason, brewer’s labourer lived here.

The 1909/10 Valuation described no. 55 as a cottage, frontage 11’ 4” and details as no. 54.

The property was occupied until at least 1933: by James George Hicks (1913), George Victor King (1920, 1933). No ref. in the 1940 trade directory.

Number 56

By 1861 George Hyde, fishmonger lived here. He was succeeded by 1871 by Henry Hatherall, labourer; 1881 William Dickinson, labourer; 1891 John Brain, hairdresser; 1901 Edward Brown brickmaker.

In the 1909/10 Valuation this property was valued with others, see no. 54. It was an old, brick built shop and house on 3 floors, with one room on the top floor, two rooms on the second floor and shop, kitchen scullery & WC on the ground floor. It had a frontage of 15’ 6” to the High Street.

H & W Jamieson, plumbers were recorded at no. 56 in trade directories for 1913, 1920, 1928, 1833 and 1940 and the family owned several properties in this area.

Number 57

Charles Begley was a confectioner who ran his business from no. 306 in 1861. By 1871 he had moved into no. 57, where he remained in 1881. In the 1891 census this was described as an empty shop and house. A 1896 directory lists William Foord & Sons, builders here until 1898 (Foord were at numbers 62 & 63 until 1891).

When the 1909/10 Valuation took place no. 57 was described as a ‘well built brick and slate building in good order’. It had 4 rooms on the second floor, 5 on the first floor and a stable and shed in the yard. Its frontage to the High Street was 36’ and the plot depth was 120’. There was a chaff cutting room with a gas engine and a gateway entrance. The property was sold in 1901 for £2039 including solicitors’ costs and the current owner was Clarke, Nicholls and Coombe Ltd: better known as the sweet manufacturers ‘Clarnico’. The building was called Clarnico House (K122).

Number 58

In 1881 the occupier was Joseph Barrett, carpenter, in 1891 Myer Grossman, a musician from London. In 1901 Samuel Dunkley, baby carriage maker from Stratford on Avon was living here, heading a household of eight.

According to a Bohee descendant the Henry R Bohee business was founded in 1906 at this address and continued until 1969 (L).

In the 1909/10 Valuation, this ‘house, shop and premises’, a terrace of 3 floors was owned by a Mrs M A Merriman and comprised:

• Top floor: 3 rooms
• First floor: 1 large room, a back room
• Ground Floor: good shop, parlour, private entrance, kitchen, scullery, washhouse, pantry, WC

Henry R Bohee, printer is listed at number 58 in 1913 and by 1920 he was also using number 59. By 1928 the business was ‘Henry R Bohee & Son’ & this listing continued in 1933 & 1940. 58 & 59 were London Borough of Hounslow Offices (Hounslow Homes) in 2003 (L).

Former Police Station (60)

‘On 10th May 1830 the 16th Company of the newly formed Metropolitan Police came into existence when men of Kensington or ‘T’ Division matched into the parishes of Chiswick and Brentford. Station houses were established at Front Street, Old Brentford and Market Place.’(W)

In 1841 Inspector Henry Manquard & 5 PCs lived here, two having small families living with them; in 1851 William Brown was the inspector and also living here were 2 sergeants and 3 PCs. Len Cox's great grandfather Charles Cox started working here in 1862. The station moved to number 42 in 1869.

By 1901 it was being used as a dairy: Elizabeth Thorp, a widow and dairy keeper, lived here with her daughter (also Elizabeth) and son Thomas, a dairy assistant. Susan Broad, a widow ‘living on own means’ completed the household.

In 1913 Thomas Thorp was running the dairy and was still there in 1920, when a Telephone Call Office shared the building.

The 1909/10 Valuation describes no. 60 as a shop, house & premises with a 21’ 9” frontage, owned by Mrs M A Merriman, c/o Garner & Sons, Solicitors, Hounslow (she is also recorded as the owner of numbers 58 & 59). It had

• Top floor: 2 large rooms
• 1st floor: 2 large rooms and a slip room
• Ground floor: large corner shop; large parlour, kitchen

There was a covered passage way, washhouse at extreme rear, WC; 3 store sheds at rear; side gateway entrance; 1 cellar in basement. ‘The shop front projects beyond the main building. Part of side wall used as advertising station. The property is now old and dirty.’ It was valued at £680 and there is a pencil addition ‘Premises were originally a Police Station’.

No. 60 remained in use as a dairy until at least 1964, when it was the ‘Meadow Dairy’, names from trade directories: Joseph Goddard (1928), William Christopher Evered (1933) and Alfred T Andrews (1940).

No. 60 was listed in 1987 (J). It still has the old police cells in the basement (Q39) and in 2003 was a solicitors’ office (L).

See Photos/Ephemera/Maps for a links to photos of this property.

Photos/Ephemera/Maps

Roads Off