Route 79

I used to live in Boundary House on Turner Road (it's the 3 storey building on the right, opposite the station car park). Lived there from 1988-1992. Quiet area, a bit too quiet for me, so I moved to Brixton.

From a quick look, most of the shops have changed, and there was no Safeway round the corner then, just a load of derelict industrial units.

I must dig out the panormaic picture I did of the beach on Koh Phang Ngan (http://www.lazyllama.com/gallery/20010917/ for non-panoramic)

The half car and dude wondering is funny.
Quick question, I wondered if the bus was moving when you took the pictures or if you were on the bus at all at the time.

Good Job Route 79

Amazing work with the photo - moving imagery.
As above - did u take the photo when the bus was moving or not?

Nigel: yes - I remember you telling me ages ago that you lived there! The derelict industrial units are sort of still there - but they have been "refreshed" a bit - mostly tile and wooden-floor factory shops now - but the Safeway dominates the landscape on that part of Honeypot Lane approaching Queensbury.

Remi: I wasn't actually on the bus at the time I took those pictures - I was stood in the "garden" in the middle of the roundabout in front of the tube station. The problem with taking panoramic pictures is that if there is things moving whilst you take the pics (e.g. cars, people etc.) then when you stitch them all together you will get ghost-like effects - e.g. the half-car, (you can spot the front of the same car in front of the food and wine shop just right of the Irish pub - and you can see a woman wearing a sari - twice - once in front of the dental surgery - and again in front of a video shop just past the dental surgery.)

Zulu/Sat: Cheers! This was my first ever attempt at a panoramic image - and it was remarkably easy. It's amazing how feature-packed Photoshop Elements is - not bad for a package that came "free" (bundled) with my scanner about a year ago.

Evening Jag,
congratulations on the photos which are making my quite dizzy as I type. The architecture is pretty much as I remember it but all the shops have changed. Right next to the station entrance was an old fashioned gents barbers to which I was hauled kicking and screaming and to the right of the station, across the road where the new flats are, was once the cinema (later a bingo club).
But Queensbury boring? Well yes, but you have to look at it another way. Kingsbury was very downmarket for us. My parents laid great value on us going to school at Stag Lane and not at Roe Green - heavens above. What would have become of us? Recently I read a biography of Paul Scott, author of the Raj Quartet (Jewel in the Crown, etc) who grew up earlier, further over near Enfield. When asked how he could describe the life of the British in India so well, when he'd only spent a couple of years there during the war as a lowly soldier, he replied that it wasn't much different to the London suburbs. There were invisible but very exact lines about who was up, who was down, in and out and what was beyond the pale. Reminds me of Queensbury, actually. Glad it's changed. Or hasn't it?

David

you forgot the most important annotation to the picture. The way i walk home! ;)

Hi Jaina: I'm not sure which is the way you walk home - but if you were to ever leave some clues - I'm sure I might be able to capture it some day! :-) (But then again - the day I do - you might bump into me with my camera taking strange pics - and think I'm some kind of stalker!)

ps - I did the Queensbury pic cos David was being nostalgic about the place in his comment from a couple of postings ago.

David: I suspect that it's "Joe's Bake and Bite" that was probably the barber shop that you refer to. Funny you should mention Kingsbury as being "downmarket" way back then - because that's the perception I had when we first moved here in 1993. It seemd very quiet and "run down" when we moved here - but it was very affordable in terms of housing - I bought my first house here. Over the years since then it has completely transformed. The schools in Roe Green are definitely on the up - and it is very, very busy/lively. It could almost be described as "cool". But Queensbury seems to have stayed as quiet and shy as I've always remembered it. I'm not sure which school you are referring to as "Stag Lane" - the only school I know on Stag Lane is the one opposite Roe Green village - not sure what it's called - but I *do* know that it's not highly rated :-(

I must now read the Paul Scott biography. Thanks for the tip!

I do know that Stag Lane junior school wasn't on Stag Lane. It's a little bit to the north of Queensbury, beyond the other row of shops (Mollison Way?) and then second on the right. I must get an A-Z if ever I'm in London again. Seems like I'll need it.
Nostalgic? Well not quite and certainly not for Harlow, Essex to which we moved after Queensbury. I still have an Aunt in Calder Gardens who I haven't seen for years. My mum reckons there is a serious risk of food poisoning if we go there. There is however a certain fascination about rescuing the memories before they completely disappear. I've just read Nigel Slater's "Toast" and I wonder how people remember it all.

David

Love this! so good this quirky fascination with route 79!!! keep it up!

David: Food poisoning? In Calder Gardens specifically - or generally in UK? Intrigued. :-)

Margareta: Cheers! Hope you're enjoying your adventure in Oz!

Fun to look at but it reminded me that living in Jakarta is a lot more fun.

Fantabulous - that's the panorama shot and not Queensbury itself

Cheers Annie! Glad you liked the concept - if not the neighbourhood itself. (Actually: I would agree with you: the neighbourhood of Queensbury is rather dull.)

Last time I was in Queensbury was 1953. I was born there. The floodlights were still on the bridge (to look for the Germans) and the siren was on the roundabout. Now where is the movie house? Was it called the Plaza? We emigrated to Canada and my Dad worked at the Zenith and made carburettors for Sherman tanks in the war. The factory was next to the Brylcream one and Dehavilland. I guess all that is gone.

Hi Barbara - thank you for leaving a comment here. Fascinating that you haven't seen Queensbury for over 50 years! Even more fascinating that your memories include things like a movie house, Brylcream factory and Dehavilland! I have only ever read about these! Yes - all these things have gone. I do hope you make it back here some time - if so I would love to meet you - there is so much knowledge that appears to be unwritten!

Give me your e-mail address please! Did you know that Mollison Way used to be an airstrip where English aviatrix Amy Johnson took off for Australia? Her married name was Mollison.
We were bombed out twice. Air ministry was happy to discover that, what is now called Queensbury Park, looked like an airstrip from the air. It had been a sewage farm and a concrete trough was down the length of it in the middle. After the war it was turned into allotments.
One of the bombs that landed there exploded on a Sunday. No air-raid warning! My Dad was in the hallway at 62 Winchester Rd. A piece of schrapnel came through knocking out the front door, glanced by my Dad and cut his neck, then took out the kitchen door. My mother was bending down putting a highly prized chicken into the oven in a glass pyrex dish, and luckily both doors missed her! The dish cascaded to the floor and the chicken was full of glass shards and was thrown away later! Then the two doors took out the back door.
The Anderson shelter was used extensively. My parents tired of having to get up in the middle of the night when the alert went off so we all hit the sack at around 6 p.m.in the Anderson shelter. Mum used to read us the William stories (my daughter has them in Ottawa now) by Richmal Crompton. The candles accentuated the long hairy legs of the intruding spiders; I can still smell the damp concrete and hear the sound of the enamel potty my Mum used to bail out the water when it rained. Ah the good old days! I am writing this near Cape Canaveral in a 42 ft. ketch. We are going back to Canada (driving ) for a few weeks then we come back and sit out the hurricane season. We came down in our boat from Kingston Ontario in 1997. A long trip. Frist across lake Ontario and then through the Oswego and barge canals in NY state, down the Mohawk River, down the Hudson and then out to sea. We never took the boat back. Canada has some nasty winters.
I used to go to Glebe School and then Orange Hill Girl's Grammar school. My name used to be Barbara Bush. I left there when I was 14. Got on the RMS Samaria and got off in Quebec City.
I often dream that I am back in 62 Winchester Road and living there!
I never went back to Queensbury.
I was quite a tomboy. I think that was just an excuse to hang out with the boys in my class! When I was 11 and went to Grammar School I missed my old school chums.
I used to get "The Eagle" (a great magazine) from the paper shop at the top of the road near the Honeypot Pub. That was in a little shopping centre. On the extreme far end was "The Beehive" I think it was a restaurant. As you walked east from there you passed Zenith etc. and after the war there was a garage called Lex's. They had three life-sized cut-outs of scantily clad girls each holding a part of the sign that read "We are-pleased to- see you!
I guess that is all gone.

Amazing! I will email you very soon Barbara at your hotmail address - and since you have taken so much time to share your memories - I will return the favour by sending you through some pictures of some of the places you mention. For example - I am a stones throw from the Honeypot Pub and Queensbury Park - and did you mean Winchester Avenue?

Anyway - give me a couple of days - in the meantime - in case you haven't already seen it - I did a posting on Kingsbury (which is technically where I live - although I'm actually halfway between Kingsbury and Queensbury). You can read it here:

http://www.route79.com/journal/archives/000093.html

I can't load your panoramic pic, but the school referred to earlier was Stag Lane school and is actually on Collier Drive (just off Mollison way) I work there. It was and is in competition with Roe Green!!
Is there any other way I can access your pics??
Regards
Mary

I can't load your panoramic pic, but the school referred to earlier was Stag Lane school and is actually on Collier Drive (just off Mollison way) I work there. It was and is in competition with Roe Green!!
Is there any other way I can access your pics??
Regards
Mary

looking at the view it reminds me of my childhood days in brinkburn gardens just off beverley drive,i remember the newsagents hamiltons,just to left i recall the building of the flats which i belive was once a cinema and the once bakerloo line,140,107 bus routes, and rotaprint under the bridge,memories of many years ago now,and fondness of those times with my late parents.

Hello.good interesting reading,I lived in Tonbridge Cresent during the war,moved there from Radley Gardens in 1940,remember the bomb on the sewage farm very well. I went to Glebe avenue school then on to Kingsbury County,haven't see the area since I left in 1946,but the tobaconists shop next to the Honeypot was "Calverts" I used to do a paper round from there right through the war,only two pages per paper but the bag was still heavy,and with the blackout it was a bit tricky in the early winter mornings.The head Master at Glebe was a Mr Bishop and the only teachers that I can remember were a Miss Chitty and a Miss Ensten.If there is anyone still around that remembers me give me a call please,I used to be a goalie for Kingsbury County soccer team and alsao a newly formed side the Pyramids.I am now living in retirement in north Wales

Michael, Dennis -thank you so much for sharing some of your memories! I hope to post some pictures od modern-day Kingsbury/Queensbury soon.

Hi Jag,tried to open the 360 view but couldn't, will try later. A few things to make the grey cells work for older readers....remember Wembley Laundry by the station bridge..the Fever hospital on the way to Kingsbury...Toni's ice cream shop, the only one you could get ice cream from during the war...Peacocks tricycles coming around selling ice cream...the kids talent shows at the Odeon Kingsbury..it was a regular part of the entertainment,kids film shows every Saturday morning..the Plaza by the station with Maynards sweet shop accross the road...taking my sixpenny Star yacht to sail on the pond at the top of Barn Hill...Churchill tanks visiting the Zenith factory to show the workers what they were part of and Honeypot lane all torn up where they turned into the factory..anyone else still alive to think of more??

Hi. I was wondering if anyone would be interested in seeing a couple of photo's. One is of the Winchester Road Kenton Harrow 1945 Street Victory Party. Also I have one taken outsied the Kingsbury church with the Girl Guides, 1946 I believe the year was. It was the little Anglo Catholic Church before you got to the Kinsbury shops. On the left going from Kenton. Maybe some people remember this photo being taken. My name was Sheila Bush then. I lived at number 62 Winchester Road and went to Glebe School and then onto Chandos School. I remember a Mrs Chamberlaine, Head Mistress and Mr Bishop. Also a Miss Brown. I would love to hear from anyone that went to Chandos School from 1947 - 1951. Sheila Monincx.

Hello everyone,reading through here has kindled good memories of Queensbury,so thanks to you all.If there is anyone ever in the vicinity of 2 Tonbrige Crescent..46 Radley Gardens or 62 Winchester and has a digi camera with them I would be very grateful for an E.mail and pic,its nearly 60 years since I saw them Thanks and Merry Xmas to everyone

Wow! Amazing comments. I still live in Queensbury. I would just like to say you are not missing anything here.

I'm 29 and used to kind of like our area when i was i kid. We used to know everyone. It's changed a lot, but you adapt. It's life. I think a lot more Crime and Violence in the area than before. I think maybe because people come and go more than they used to.

A tip for anyone returning is to go to a Indian Restaurant called Regency on your right as you come out of Queensbury station. The photo needs to be updated as in the spate of 1 year about 4 others opened!! Very under-rated. If you find an Indian who doesn't know about Queensbury, just tell him it is were Regency is...

When I was a kid The Flying Eagle was a no-go pub and we were warned to stay well clear of it. Now it is part own by Lahore Spice. What would the pilots think??

Overall, it is home, but too many memories of those passed away who used to walk these streets make it hard to let go...

Hi Dee - many thanks for leaving your comment!

I think you're spot on regarding things changing. I have been in this area since 1993 and things definitely have changed - even in the last 10 years!

Regarding the Regency: I have driven past it so many times - but never been inside. Even though one of my friends (who doesn't drink) says that the place is great - just to go watch a football match on Sky TV.

You're absolutely right: it's home - and it sure is hard to let go of the memories of home - however it is now.

Anyway - on slightly related note: for all those who remember Kingsbury and Queensbury - click on the link below to go to a newer posting which includes a downloadable video of cruising through the streets of Kingsbury:

http://www.route79.com/journal/archives/000355.html

Follow the instructions on that page to download it. I hope you enjoy it!

Nice bit of video Jag,I still recognize the shape of the parade of shops and that is it,nothing else looks as I recall. When I left there you were lucky to see any traffic along Honeypot Lane apart from the 140 and 138 buses, being just post war there were no cars,the parking space in front of the Honeypot was quite big but only the occasional car found its way onto it. On the streets around Queensbury the coal was delivered by Charringtons on a large cart with a couple of horses,milk by horse drawn cart,you took the jug out and he measured the milk into it from a churn,and yet every year that passed you learned of a child that had been run over,usually by a bus.A Sunday morning job of mine was to get out early with a wooden trolley made from old pram wheels and scrap timber and beat all the others to the horse manure on the roads so that it could help things grow in the garden,then get back for breakfast. Its nice to see the page growing.

Hi Denis - it's funny you should recall what it used to be like - the contrast today is immense. Honeypot Lane is one giant traffic jam all the way from Kingsbury Circle right up to where the Honeypot Pub is on most days in the rush hour! It was never like this when I first moved here 10 years ago - so all this mess happened in the last 10 years! Wow - your memories are a world apart from what goes on today! These days we are really lucky if we ever see a horse in the streets - or even the modern milkman delivering from an electric milk-float!

Thanks for your comment. I still plan to take a load of photos of the places you mention - and place them on my "flickr" photo pages at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/route79

I will write here when I have them up there so you know.