I was born in Marsh Lane, Stanmore, Middlesex in 1947 and lived in Gordon Avenue until 1979 when I moved to Hatch End. During that time the centre of the village (Church Road, The Broadway and Stanmore Hill) inevitably began to change in character as the population grew and many historic buildings were demolished to meet increasing demands for new shops, offices and accommodation.

Changes continued after I moved to Bedfordshire in 1983 and for many years I completely lost touch with Stanmore, but in 2005 I revisited it with a friend from the old days and we tried to relate our memories of the place where we grew up to the current "village" centre, particularly the locations of the shops and other businesses our families used daily. This was not easy as some parts had changed almost beyond recognition and of course our memories had faded during the intervening years.

My interest was revived again when I chanced upon a website listing businesses situated on various shopping parades in Harrow East. The section on Stanmore was not definitive but it occurred to me that the information would make a useful starting point for further investigation and I decided to create a plan showing the shops in the village as they were in my childhood in the 1950s and  early 1960s compared with today's busy suburban shopping centre. I should like to thank Colin Poyton for the lists that started me on this project to which I have now added a considerable amount of information gathered in my own research.