Sir Brian's Introduction
I recall that you are interested in the Stanmore shops. Here, for what they’re worth, are my recollections of the Stanmore shops as they were in the mid-1940s. My earliest recollections up to the age of about twelve are very much of friends in the estate in Winscombe Way, Old Lodge Way, and of course of the shops in ‘the village’, as we always called it. Stanmore still then was rather a village, whereas now it’s become a rather conventional and impersonal suburb. Shopping then was far more central to the wife’s role than it can be now, partly because few housewives had jobs, partly because with no refrigerators or freezers you had to shop more often, and partly because shopping was a social habit. It was certainly fascinating for a child – with all the miscellaneous sights, smells and personalities that the shops contained. There was still a community feel about Stanmore, with the scouts and cubs holding ‘church parades’ at the parish church, and with annual fetes held in the rectory garden, which I greatly enjoyed. For my mother, shopping expeditions were daily during the week, and I usually went with her. One knew the shopkeepers. I can remember quite a number of them.
 
46 Church Road: Baker
Going into the village from the Church end, we begin on the right-hand side with the baker, originally called Gentry’s, but later called Friend’s. They had Chelsea buns and a marvellous smell of newly-baked bread which made it a favourite shop with me. As a very young child I had a sort of cardigan which I used to wear when taken out shopping, and it got nicknamed ‘the bun coat’ because when we bought a currant bun from the baker I had to wait till I got home before I could eat it.

Later in the 1950s this was called Dawson's Bakery and by the 1960s it was Clark's Bakery. The shop is now Travelin Style.

44 Church Road: Wet Fish Shop
Next was Mac Fisheries, open to the street with big slabs on which the fish were laid out; this arrangement was quite common in those days, and mother shopped regularly there, especially before the days of refrigerators, let alone the freezers which have since made it much less necessary to shop frequently.

This was still trading as Mac Fisheries in the 1970s. 2018: The shop is now Hing's Kitchen.

40 Church Road: Ladies Hairdresser
Then there was a hairdresser...

Trading c1960 as Hannah Hair Stylist. The shop is now Subway.

38 Church Road: Wine / Grocers
...then on the corner of Elm Park I think a Victoria Wine shop which later became Budgen's.

A Stanmore Church and Village Magazine from 1944 advertises this as Howard Roberts Family Grocers and Provision Merchants ("Our coffee will please you") and it continued as such well into the 1950s. The shop was demolished c1970 to facilitate the widening of the entrance to Elm Park.

36 Church Road: Café 
Across Elm Park was a small café, where for a time I had my lunches when mother was away at work or spending a day in town...

Trading in 1959 as The Stanmore Grill, part of the premises was a ladies hairdressing salon at some point. In the early 1960s it also housed a back-room café accessible through a side entrance in Elm Park where frothy coffee was served in glass cups and there was a small jukebox device mounted on the wall. This enterprise was run by a young man called Pip Lewis, the son of the owners of the main business. This was very popular for a while with the middle-class teenagers of Stanmore as somewhere to go in the early evenings and listen to pop music, but tragically Pip was killed in a car crash on the A5 near Elstree and the back-room closed, but the main Stanmore Grill business continued for some years. The whole building was demolished c1970 and replaced by new shops and offices.

34 Church Road: Public House - The Fountain
...then a pub...
This photo was taken in 1906, only 6 years after The Fountain had been rebuilt to replace the earlier pub that had stood on the site. The photo also shows the neighbouring building at 30 Church Road referred to in the next section, but at this time it was probably still residential cottages. The side doorway beneath the canopy was later the entrance to the Dutch shoemaker's and the cottages behind the picket fence at the front, facing Church Road, became a motor company and filling station. The Fountain closed for business c1968, was demolished c1970 and replaced by new shops and offices in a development called Fountain House.

30 Church Road: Boot & Shoes - Filling Station 
...then a small shop which used to house a real Dutch shoemaker, and above the shop was a billboard that for a long time said ‘What we want is Watneys’, whose message I could never comprehend. The Dutchman was never very friendly, but I recall the strong close smell of leather when you went into his shop.

Trading in 1959 as R Hicks boots & shoes, the shoemaker's was accessed through a side door to a larger building (see photo in the preceding section) which also housed Sawford & Smith Motors Ltd and Stanmore Filling Station. In 1944 this was known as Hammond's. Another contributor recalls: "As to the filling station, it had pumps that were set into the wall of the front of the shop and an arm swung out across the pavement with the hose to fill the awaiting car at the kerbside". This was demolished c1970 along with the neighbouring pub and the site became part of the Fountain House development already mentioned.

28 Church Road: Hardware
Then slightly indented in the line of shops at that point there was the extraordinary ironmonger’s shop Eastoe. Mr. Eastoe was a white-haired man who crammed so much into his shop that you could hardly move through it all to get to the counter at the back, but you could buy almost anything there; shops like that just don’t exist any more.

This was still trading as Eastoe in 1959. It was demolished c1975 and replaced by Fountain House.

26 Church Road: Newsagent
Then there was Wyman's newsagents, half open to the street, where there was a rather disagreeable assistant, but where one could also get chocolate.

This was still trading as Wyman's in 1959. It was demolished c1975 and replaced by new shops and offices.

24 Church Road: Butcher
Then there was Channell, the butcher, who mother thought was ‘familiar’, and he was ousted in her patronage by Dracott, the butcher at the top of Stanmore Hill, though my aunt Margot went to Channell, and my first cousin Ann recalls the cashier as inhabiting a sort of glass case inside the shop.

In 1959 this was trading as Kingston butchers. It was demolished c1975 and replaced by new shops and offices. Addendum 2021: It's now not clear whether Sidney Channell butchers ever occupied this site in Church Road as they were definitely at 3, The Broadway until at least 1960.  

22 Church Road: Café
Then there was I think a workman’s café, which of course we never entered...

In 1959 this address was occupied by  S West confectioner. In the early 1960s the shop became H Davies newsagent & confectioner. Hugh Davies was formerly a Warrant Officer at RAF Stanmore Park and bought the shop when he retired. It was demolished and replaced by new shops c1975 and I understand that Mr Davies may have resumed business at premises in the new development.

20 Church Road: Greengrocer
Evans the greengrocer next door was frequently visited, though. My mother went there regularly, and it occupied a rather old building, so that you had to descend well below street level to get into it.

 In 1959 this was trading as CF Hailey greengrocer. It was demolished c1975 and replaced by new shops and offices.

18 Church Road: Cycles & Toys
Next there was a bicycle shop (Tomson Bros) run by a rather strange man who also sold rather interesting toys, a long deep shop, again descending well below road level.

This was still trading as Tomson Bros in 1959. Charlie Tomson, the older brother, had died by then but the younger brother, Ray, continued with the shop until it was sold for demolition and replaced by new shops and offices c1975.

14 Church Road: Baker
Then I think there was another baker, whom we didn’t patronize...

In 1959 this was The Village Pantry. It was later absorbed into Rossi's Café and eventually demolished c1975 to be replaced by new shops and offices.

12 Church Road: Café
... and perhaps also another café...

In 1959 this was  Rossi's Café. It was demolished c1975  and replaced by new shops and offices.

10? Church Road: Hairdresser
...then a hairdresser which I thought was rather odd when I went there because you paid for your haircut through a small hole in a window at the back of the shop, and you never saw the person behind it.

I have no knowledge of this as a hairdresser but by 1959 10 Church Road was trading as a Fish & Chips shop. It was demolished c1975 and replaced by new shops and offices.

6-8 Church Road: Electrical
Next came an electrical shop...

This was Stanmore Electrics run by a Mr Walker. It continued trading until c1975 when it was demolished and replaced by new shops and offices.

This photo from 1963 (courtesy of Jeffrey Owen) shows the original buildings 4-24 Church Road when the shops were still trading along lines very similar to the 1940s and 1950s. The business seen on the left here, T Fall photographer, has not yet been mentioned, but in Sir Brian's time would probably have been trading as City Tailors run by a Mr Spellman. To the right of that is an alleyway leading through to four old cottages. Stanmore Electrics occupies the double unit 6-8 Church Road and then there's the Fish & Chips shop that I remember from the 1960s and early 1970s.  Next to that is Rossi's Cafe which by this time has expanded to occupy both 12 & 14 Church Road following closure of The Village Pantry. Next along, the end-cottage in this block is a tiny private residence occupied in 1959 by a Mrs Curtis. The building with the red frontage in the next block of even older premises is Tomson Bros cycles & toys at 18 Church Road, and then a greengrocer at 20 Church Road, Hailey in this photo, but Evans in a previous era. A confectioners (S West , later H Davies) was behind the yellow frontage next along, memorable for its unexpected step down on entering, and finally to the right of that is Kingston butchers at 24, Church Road, the first in a block of taller buildings. Wyman's newsagents and Eastoe hardware were in the same block but are out shot.

7 The Broadway: Chemist
...and a little further down towards the Broadway, Frank's the chemist, which we often patronized...

Still trading in 1959 as R C Frank dispensing chemist, this outlet closed in the 1960s when the business moved into the newly built Buckingham Parade development at the foot of Stanmore Hill. The premises still exist but were long ago absorbed into the neighbouring National Westminster Bank.
 
1 - 9 The Broadway: Banks
...and a ponderous bank building. The banks then differed quite markedly from all the other shops, and puzzled me as a child because they didn’t seem designed to sell anything: they tended to look very solid, with classical pillars and no shop-window to look into.
The 'ponderous bank building' (on the right in the above photo) actually consisted of 5 units 1-9 The Broadway with - at the time Sir Brian is writing about - Barclays Bank occupying No 1 (out of shot) and Westminster Bank at No 9 at the other end of the block. Between the two banks were R C Frank dispensing chemist at No 7, Miss Hilda Sparham draper, was at No 5 and Sidney Channell butcher, was at No 3 The whole block 1-9 The Broadway is now occupied by Barclays and the National Westminster Bank.

11-23 The Broadway: Church Row Cottages: Various
There were a lot of run-down shops on the right further down as you went into the Broadway, and these were knocked down in the 1950s or early 1960s to be replaced by an AA headquarters.

It's interesting that Sir Brian remembers that this row of shops was still standing during the mid-1940s because the only source to mention their fate I have seen previously states that they were demolished before the war, and this has always seemed too early to me. It now seems more likely that as the businesses closed gradually the buildings became derelict. It's possible that partial demolition took place before the war but the site was not cleared completely until it was needed for Fanum House, the AA building constructed in the late 1950s. In the meantime there was a temporary cabin on the site which housed Glover's Estate Agents and this can be seen just beyond the bank building in the photo above.  The street directory for 1938 gives the occupancy as follows: 11 The Broadway Minter’s Stores grocer; No 13 Stanley Pearce electrical engineer; No 15 Mrs Martha Bell dining rooms; Nos 17/19/21 Unoccupied; No 23 Geo Smith baker. The AA building was subsequently demolished and the whole site and a huge area behind it is now occupied by a Sainsbury's supermarket.    

25 The Broadway: Bernays Institute
There was then a strangely over-elaborate ornamented and (as it was then regarded) very ugly Victorian building, the Bernays Institute, used for church gatherings and other social functions.

The Red House
After that there was a big Georgian house behind a wall...
The Red House (previously called Montagues) was a very large private residence set back from the Broadway on the corner of Glebe Road. It was built of red brick in the Georgian style. It was demolished c1960 and replaced within a year or two by a new shopping parade. This included John Wilson household fabrics, an antiques shop, something called Schemes, then Jaffe patisserie,  and Green & Dyson supermarket (Stanmore's first) later to become Toys Galore. On the first floor there was a restaurant called The Red House to commemorate the name of the original building, and in the 1970s this became Bun Hong Chinese Restaurant. The whole development survived for only about 25 years, after which it was demolished to make way for new Fanum House AA offices. The AA has long since moved out and the building now houses Shenels Supermarket and various offices.

45 The Broadway: Grocer
...the first shop after that was Nash & Son, the grocer, who had a coffee-grinder in the window, and the whole premises smelt of coffee. However Minter's, at the top of Stanmore Hill, was the grocer my mother favoured: a big and rather dark shop which sold a very wide range of goods, and of course in those days the relationship was quite personal between customer and provider, and the shop assistant got the items off the shelves that were specified on the ‘shopping list’ that mother always brought with her. I recall being fascinated as a child by the big bacon slicer (no pre-packaged bacon in those days!)
W J Nash and Son - "The distinctive shop of Stanmore - coffee roasted daily, Empire teas, China teas". The inscriptions on the pillars are, to the left "Fancy Groceries", and to the right "Choice Provisions". The coffee grinder is in the right-hand window as seen in this photo. The inside of this store was not dissimilar to Sir Brian's description of Minter's shop on Stanmore Hill which I suppose was typical for a small grocery business in those days, other than the smell of roasting coffee beans which seems to have been unique to Nash's, at least in the locality. Following the death of Mr Nash in the 1950's the family retained the business for a while, eventually selling it on to become a branch of W H Cullen Ltd.  The shop is now a Caffe Nero.

47-53 The Broadway
Going back to the Broadway, after Nash’s the grocer there was Green’s toyshop which contained many items that I coveted, most notably the various little squares of Windsor and Newton paint colour, with exotic names like ‘gamboge tint’ and ‘sage green’.
I have no knowledge of a toy-shop in the remaining stretch of four shop units. As of 1938 these were occupied as follows:  47 The Broadway was Brown's upholsterer,  No 49 was an off -licence, No 53 was a confectioner and tobacconist and all of these continued trading as such into the 1950s. My best guess is that Green's was at 51 The Broadway which in 1938 had been trading as The Silver Shuttle art & needlework. These premises all survive and now house  Stanmore Leather & Luggage and Boots Opticians amongst other businesses. 

55 The Broadway: Motor Engineers
After that there was a garage...
In the 1940s this would have been Unett & Platts Ltd which also had a filling stationwith a similar petrol delivery system as described above for the one in Church Road. Previously it had been Stanmore Motor Garage. By 1959 it was Cottrell Motors (Stanmore) Ltd
The building now houses Pizza Express and Ellistons solicitors and two of the mouldings on vertical pillars as seen here survive to this day. 

57-65 The Broadway: Cottages
...and then some old houses...

67 Church Road: Men's Outfitters
... and then on the corner of Marsh Lane a large shop which opened rather later in my childhood as a tailor.

In the early 1950s this was Charles outfitters, but shortly after that it became Hunt's menswear  and remained so for many years. L C Wilson & Co estate agents, were also in this building and another part of it was a private residence. The whole building is now Prezzo restaurant.

That’s all the shops that I can recall on that side of Church Road and the Broadway.


Coming back on the other side of the road and going up towards the church there was a big open space which is now occupied by shops but which was then unused: the advent of war had prevented Stanmore as a shopping centre from being fully built up.
 
50 The Broadway: Electrical Goods
The end shop at that time was an electrician, who sold almost everything one could want...

This was Direct Sales wireless dealers (prop. T W Bray) which remained in business well into the 1970s. It's now The Card Factory.

44 The Broadway: Ladies Hairdresser
A very old-fashioned business, Eugéne Floutier ladies hairdresser is  listed in a 1938 directory and a contributor has confirmed that it was still trading in 1964. By the 1970s it had been replaced by Duval florist. 2018 Dawn Flowers. 
 
42 The Broadway: Newsagent

In 1938 this was called Wilson & Standen so the change to Poole's must have come within the next few years. By some miracle, Poole's is still in business today!
 
40 The Broadway: Greengrocer
A little further along was Dick’s, a lower-class greengrocer whose owner mother also thought ‘familiar’, and so she chose Evans in preference – anyway convenient because nearer home.

In 1938 Dick's described their business as a 'fruiterers'. It's now Cartons.

38 The Broadway: Dairy
Next door was the Express Dairy where the assistants wore a sort of tiara made of crinkly white linen, and were known in the family of my aunt, Basil and Margot Hunt (who lived in Old Church Lane) by the way in which one of them used to announce herself on the phone with the words ‘EXpress Dairy’, with an emphasis on the ‘EX’. It was they who delivered our milk at home, and it was the first shop in Stanmore to go self-service”.

The Express Dairy shop remained in business possibly into the 1980s. It's now Anscombe & Ringland Estate Agents.

30 The Broadway: Another Dairy
A little further along, across an alleyway, was the United Dairies, a cold shop which we didn’t patronize, with a black-and-white marble-flagged floor. It was a much less bustling and busy shop than the Express Dairy, and seemed less friendly.

The United Dairies shop also remained in business for several decades. It's now MG Hairdressing.

28 The Broadway: Restaurant
Then there was the Normandie, with its Gothicized facia and façade, the one restaurant in Stanmore with any pretensions, a pseudo-Tudor affair where I used in late childhood to have my lunch when mother was at work or in town on Thursdays.

In 1938 this was The Hunter's Horn restaurant and also occupied 26 The Broadway. It remained in business at least until 1941 but later during the war or shortly afterwards it became the Normandie Restaurant and Tea Room. I went there sometimes with my mother in the 1950s for cups of tea during afternoon shopping trips and I remember its wood-panelled walls and high-backed wooden settles. Contributor Adrian Betham remembers on one occasion overhearing a waitress returning to the kitchen saying "it's too late - he's eaten it"!

By 1961 the Normandie had closed and the premises were bought by a partnership of four including the entertainer Max Bygraves who at that time lived nearby in Lake View, off Canon’s Drive in Edgware, and after a major refurbishment it reopened as Maxim’s, a plush 'West End'-style restaurant. Another partner in the new business was the composer and lyricist Leslie Bricusse who had spent his childhood in Pinner and by this time was living in  Dene Gardens, Stanmore. The two  other partners, Bryan Barnett and Leslie Clark, later went on to found the chain of wine merchants named after Bryan's father, Augustus Barnett.


Leslie Bricusse wrote about Maxim's in his autobiography The Music Man: "Max Bygraves lived just a few hundred yards away from us in Stanmore (sic), and one night he and his wife, Blossom, and Evie and I were having dinner and bemoaning the fact that there wasn't a decent restaurant within miles of our homes. So we decided to open one. Evie and I imagined a jolly little bistro called the Bistro Vino or the Cafe des Artistes, but Max had grander ideas. We should use his name and pulling power. OK, I thought, we'll call it Max's or Maxie's or even Maxie B's. 'Better than that!' said Max, Maxim's! Max brought in a major film-set designer called Maurice Carter, who created a red, purple, black and gilt monstrosity that would have served well as Count Dracula's dining room, and a couple of months later Maxim's opened its fairly forbidding doors to the stunned suburban Stanmore public. It was impossibly pretentious and extremely expensive, catering to a clientele about as far removed from Max's wholesome family audience as can be imagined. It projected the warmth of a graveyard. Nonetheless, against the odds, it had a following of sorts. A few well-to-do local businessmen, a retired Air Marshall who insisted on calling his wine 'Geoffrey Chambertin', as though it were an old school chum, some wealthy retirees and a smattering of snobs. Amazingly  Maxim's survived for four years".

After Maxim’s closed in 1966 Stanmore's first Chinese restaurant, Happy Star, opened there, retaining the elaborate but rapidly fading decor. In time this became The Mandarin - still with the same decor - then Mr Tang. It's currently a Turkish restaurant called Diarr.


28 The Broadway: Ladies Hairdresser
Then there was a hairdresser with a rather smart art deco black plastic or glass blocked-in front and small windows.

In the 1930s and early 1940s this had been part of the Hunter's Horn restaurant but was evidently sold off as a separate unit, becoming a ladies hairdressers when the Normandie opened next door. When I knew it, it was trading as Kathleen Reed hair stylists, and at some time in the 1970s it became The Browserie, selling books and gifts. It's now The White House Fish & Chip Restaurant.


22 The Broadway: Haberdashery 
Then I think there was haberdasher, with lots of multi-coloured wools and silks that I found fascinating.

In 1938 this was trading as Constance L Saunders - ladies’ outfitter, drapers, hosiery, baby linen, art and needlework, and continued to do so for several decades, possibly into the 1970s. It was my most hated port of call when shopping with my mother as it always involved long conversations with the assistant (owner?) and there was nothing on sale there of any interest to occupy me whilst waiting to leave. It's now the Balloon & Party Shop.


18 The Broadway; Tobacconist and Gents Hairdresser
A little further along there was Jimmy Wylde, the place where I had my hair cut. It also sold cigarettes and tobacco, and I hated going there because the men were rather strict, and as a child you had to sit on a board that was laid on the arms of the chair.

In 1938 the tobacconist was listed as Bannerman & Co and the hairdresser as Frederick Baker. The same trades were still being carried on here for several decades but business names may have changed over the years. Like Sir Brian, I had my hair cut there many a time and remember the hard wooden planks. A Frederick Baker (possibly the one named here in 1938) ran a gents hairdressers with his brother Joe in the parade by Canons Park station which my father used to frequent. To my knowledge that was in the1960s and 1970s but it may have gone back many years before that for all I know.  In 1975 the Broadway salon was listed as G W Tebbs Tobacco & Gents Hairdressing. It's now Cream - Women's Clothes.

Buckingham Cottage, Stanmore
Then there was a big wisteria-covered old house fronting closely on the hill, slightly below the level of the road.

1 Church Road: Bank
Crossing into Church Road on the North side Across the road was Lloyds Bank, the Stanmore bank that we patronized, though mother’s main bank was a rather small one in the West End on Cavendish Square. I always found banks and estate agents rather boring as a child, and so have probably left one or two out of this account. Then there was an empty patch which I think at one time accommodated an air-raid shelter, but is now built up.

21 Church Road: Regent House aka Regency House
I think there was a Georgian house jutting out at this point occupied by that strange creature [for the time], a woman doctor, Dr  Woodhouse, and the wall sticking out beyond the shops had an inscription that always puzzled me as a child: ‘this is not a party wall’.
R S Brown wrote of this house in 1976: "Regency House has survived the intrusion of 20th century developers and is now sandwiched between two new shopping parades.  This charming old building looks forlorn but triumphant; in more recent times a succession of residents have been members of the medical profession but in earlier days a Madame Snare presided and taught needlework to young ladies.  When Queen Adelaide lived at Bentley Priory, the house was a millinery establishment with a small shop window in the front and a workshop at the rear. The property is thought to have been named Regency House when, as an inn, it was honoured for one night with the presence of the Prince Regent. The current owner (Dr Barbara Woodhouse, when this was written) has resisted attempts by developers intent on demolition but there have been legal problems since the deeds indicate that the site at 21 Church Road is half of a 'divided property', the other part being situated on Stanmore Hill.  Regency House is now regarded as a scheduled building but its future preservation depends upon the necessary level of repair being maintained and there is talk of it being covered by a trust arrangement. It would appear that this single little house has - for better or worse - prevented the transition of Church Road from a highway to a pedestrian precinct.  An alternative traffic route was apparently planned by joining up Ray Court (off Stanmore Hill) with Pynnacles Close - but the garden of Regency House effectively blocked the completion of such a scheme". The building still stands and houses a firm of solicitors.

23 Church Road: Funeral Furnisher
Then there was a funeral director...

A P Bicknell who marketed his business as funeral furnisher. This was demolished sometime in the 1970s and replaced by Compton House shops and offices.

25 Church Road: Watchmaker
...I think a shop which sold clocks and watches...

V J Irving who marketed his business as practical watchmaker. This was demolished sometime in the 1970s and replaced by Compton House shops and offices.

27 Church Road: Estate Agent
...and an estate agent.

F P Holme.  This was demolished sometime in the 1970s and replaced by Compton House shops and offices.
 
29 Church Road: Gifts
Also sticking out into the main street after that was a gift shop where we bought Denby earthenware jugs and mugs.

35 Church Road: Post Office
After that there was a big inter-war-classical Post Office with big round-topped windows and a high-pitched roof. There the (female) assistants tended to be rather offhand and officious, and were not liked.
The first Stanmore Post Office was opposite the Abercorn Royal Hotel on the Hill, but a new one opened at 35 Church Road in March 1932. I have similar memories of unhelpful staff here during my time. The building survives as Spice Rack Lounge Indian Restaurant and Bar.

37-39 Church Road: Confectioner

The building that housed Neal's confectioners, was constructed c1937 and consisted of four units with Neil's occupying the two on the right. The other two were taken up by estate agents and solicitors. The whole building, 37-41 Church Road, is now occupied by estate agents and solicitors.

43 Church Road: Public House - The Crown
Then there was a pub. We never patronized any of the pubs, and I think it was illegal at that time for me as a child even to enter one. They never seemed to me at all interesting. After the pub there was Pynnacles Close, an unmade-up road leading to a derelict bowling green with a shut-up clubhouse, and to the tennis club which in my time was reviving after the war. Then further along Church Road a run of ordinary suburban houses began.
 
The Crown was first licenced in 1803 and was a hotel of sorts. The original building was demolished and replaced in the mid-1930s. It continued to trade as The Crown until sometime in the 2000s when it came under new management and changed its name to The Crazy Horse. That business eventually went bankrupt and the pub finally closed its doors in 2016. It has since been demolished and the site is being redeveloped for housing.
This photo taken from the air in 1937 shows the north side of Church Road. The buildings are (from the left) The Crown pub, which had recently been rebuilt and reopened, a new block (actually still under construction here) that would  later house Neil's confectioners. Next is Stanmore Post Office with its distinctive pitched roof, and then a row of old cottages with the front extension that would come to be The Georgian Gift Shop. Next along is another recent block housing F P Holme estate agent, V J Irving watchmaker and A P Bicknell funeral furnisher.  Finally to the right of that is Regent / Regency House with its garden and 'not a party wall' sticking out across the pavement.   

Stanmore Hill
A secondary shopping area for us was Stanmore Hill, whose complex half way up the hill opposite The Abercorn pub included Minter's grocery, with Dracott's butchers, rather higher up, but we approached those from the back of Winscombe Way over the fields. Usually approached from lower down because about halfway between Minters and ‘the village’ was Mrs Carpentier, a disagreeable woman who sold sweets, and I think was the first to sell ice cream, rather watery items scooped from a frozen canister and either put on cornets or in wafers and smoothed off with a sort of trowel. Lower down the hill in later years, almost in the village was a bookshop, which as a teenager I used regularly to patronize in search of Penguin books, and especially Penguin Classics many of which I bought and read as part of a personal campaign for cultural self-improvement. Then there was a sort of hayloft, after which you were back at Lloyd’s Bank. Apart from the dairies, it is noteworthy that few if any of these shops were multiples and most were owned by the people who ran them.

Of the businesses mentioned here, The Abercorn Royal Hotel survived as a thriving business through the 1950s and 1960s but in the early 1970s it had a major refit in which much of its old-world charm was lost as wood was replaced with Formica. I rarely used it after that, much preferring The Vine further up the hill. At some later stage it became an Indian restaurant and it's not clear to me exactly what its current status is.

The Abercorn Bookshop at 11, Stanmore Hill consisted in my time of two departments both accessed through a single front door. On entering, to the right was the bookshop and to the left was a porcelain, glassware and tableware department. The hayloft referred to by Sir Brian belonged to O Woodman corn merchant  at 7-9 Stanmore Hill.  Woodman's was demolished in the early 1970's and replaced by shops and a restaurant. The  Abercorn Bookshop survived a little longer but eventually became The Vine restaurant. The building on the site now is home to The Elysian restaurant, and it's looks possible that it's a reconfiguration of the original.

There are several other businesses that featured prominently in my time but have not been mentioned:

The Recorderie, Stanmore's first and only record store, opened in 1961 at 19 Church Road, next door to Regent House. The owner, Alan Hill, was remarkably friendly and patient with his young enthusiastic customers including myself. This was in the days when one could go into a booth and listen to records before deciding whether or not to buy them. In 1963 the shop in Church Road closed and The Recorderie moved to new premises on two floors at 10 Buckingham Parade a little way up the hill on the right-hand side.
The purpose of the move was to expand the business from selling records to include up-market TV's and hi-fi equipment such as Bang & Olufsen, and from then on it was clear that the owner's interest was principally in that department on the first floor rather than in the ground-floor record trade. Of course from a business point of view this made perfect sense but for old customers of the record store the personal touch had gone and we were served by junior assistants who did little more than take our money. By then we were spending more time outside Stanmore and we started looking elsewhere for our record requirements such as The Music Box by South Harrow station and Stephen Siger's in Edgware.

Pitts Stores Ltd  was in the parade of shops on the Stanmore Hill opposite The Abercorn and became my family's main supplier of  groceries and provisions when Nash's closed in the Broadway, or it may have been that Nash's stopped doing home deliveries so my mother had to find another store that offered that service. As an aside I would mention that home delivery was an important feature of life in those days and in addition to groceries we had daily deliveries of milk and dairy products from Express Dairies brought to us by Mr Morgan with his horse and cart, and bread from Dawson's. A greengrocer called twice a week and there was a laundry service, a separate dry-cleaners and the Corona man with his selection of fizzy pop - orange, lemon, cherry, American cream soda and dandelion and burdock are the flavours I can remember now, but there may have been others. Franklin's coal merchants who had a depot by the Village Station at the junction of Gordon Avenue and Old Church Lane, saw to our heating needs.

Sir Brian's description of shops began with the bakers at 46 Church Road and for a long time that was indeed the first shop on the right-hand side when entering the village from the church end, but in the mid-to-late 1950s the old cottages next to  Bernays Gardens were demolished and a new parade containing 6 shop units was constructed. The first two of these, 58-56 Church Road, housed Two-Strokes Ltd selling bubble cars and other small continental vehicles.