In this feature, we take a trip down memory lane to a time when life was less complicated, and social media was still 30 years away with a look at Harrow Weald back in the 1980s.
All taken around the Harrow Weald High Road area in 1984, these images show changes made to Harrow Weald over the last 40 years. Some of the images show dramatic changes, while others show how many parts of the area are still relatively the same.
The first thing you’ll notice is the former Red Lion pub at the junction of Long Elmes and the High Road. Still looking relatively the same after all these years, this building was constructed in 1935 and many of our readers will remember the pub which was also known as the Wealdstone Inn during the 1990s and 2000s.
Over the years, three pubs have existed on this site, with the earliest dating back to the eighteenth century. Before it was built, the owner of the previous pub at this location was a certain Mr Thomas Blackwell, of Crosse and Blackwell fame.
In the spot now occupied by the soon-to-open HomeFix Direct, sat a very small Esso petrol station, Parrs Garage as it was called. This took up the stretch of road that is leading towards the now Waitrose/Iceland supermarkets, this was before construction began the shops – Bejams, as it was initially called – which came along in 1987. Works for the new store would have started soon after these images were taken.
Parrs Garage was a popular place for Harrow Weald residents to get new and used cars and fill up their tanks. These smaller petrol stations soon became a thing of the past as we headed into the 1990s.
A bit further up the road, we have a pub named ‘The Alma’ just visible in the photo below. The pub was built in the eighteenth century and demolished in the 2000s, replaced by a block of flats. Famous for being one of the smaller pubs in the area, The Alma was another popular place for local residents to meet after a hard day’s work.
On the corner of the Long Elmes junction and Harrow Weald High Road, a popular newsagent known as ‘Freemans’ was based. Directly next to a Large Natwest bank that was right on the corner, this was the go-to shop at the time to get your daily newspaper, pint of milk (sold in glass bottles back then!) and also had its very own pick-and-mix sweet section for children.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our look back at Harrow Weald from the 1980s. If you have any old pics of Harrow you’d like us to share, please get in touch with our team by emailing info@harrowonline.org.
