Shepherds Bush
Post to the south Central Hammersmith
Addison Gardens
Addison Primary School. This was Addison Gardens School built by the School Board for London in the 1890s and expanded in the 1920s. It pioneered the use of films in education, had a school orchestra, and was the site for the Ministerial inauguration of the Milk in Schools Scheme.
Railway Bridge. The bridge carries the road over the Network Rail railway line between Kensington Olympia and Shepherd's Bush. There is an OS benchmark on the brick pier at the far end of the parapet. It is a cut mark sprayed with white paint. The bridge is too long for the current lines which it crosses. It would also have crossed the Kensington and Richmond line, which veered to the west slightly north of the bridge.
Adie Road
Grove Studios. This was The Laboratory. Sculptor Henry Moore worked here 1924-1928. Plaque on the building inaugurated by his daughter.
Aldine Street
Aldine House. Office and print location which connects buildings in Aldine Place to the rear.
Batoum Gardens
Entrance to the Loris Road garden with mural of the Cork and Kerry Mountains painted by Russell Barrett
Berghem Mews
This is now a ‘stylish office village’.
London Co-op Laundry buildings. The laundry was here from the 1880s. It was replaced by an exhibition joinery business.
Blythe Road
Blythe Road was previously called Blinde Lane
Blythe House. This was an ancient mansion and in the early 19th had been the home of an émigré French royalist. Following a period as a school for young ladies in 1867 it beaame a boys' reformatory. To the rear was a school building and a playground. This was the first Roman Catholic boys' reformatory to be set up in 1855. It was run by the Congregation of the Brothers of Mercy with some Belgian staff. They taught shoemaking and bread baking. The school moved away in 1870. It was replaced by St Stephens School also a Roman Catholic boys' reformatory. There were many problems and it was returned to the Brothers of Mercy and eventually closed in 1887. Shepherds Bush road now runs through the western most part of the house site.
79-81 Swan Laundry. Built on the site of the reformatory playground. They appear to have taken over Blythe House and replaced it with their works. There are now modern firms in the building,
188 Modern cylindrical properties The Round House by Michaelis Boyd Associates. Built 2016 house with eight bedrooms, slides to hidden areas and a fireman’s pole connecting the ground and first floor.
120 Old Parr’s Head. Originally this was the Duke of Edinburgh in the mid 19th. Closed in 2014 and now housing.
43 Jameson. This pub is now a ‘steak and Thai’. It was previously called The Fox & Hounds; Freemasons Arms; and Ringmaster and ‘the Trump Arms’ sometimes and more recently.
Brook Green
This square covers the northern section only. The brook here, referred to c.1420 as ‘le Brooke’, is now covered over. The eastern mouth of Stamford Brook is said to be Parr's Ditch or Black Bull Ditch. It ran due east through Hammersmith into a natural trough which is now the park area of Brook Green. It was converted to sewer in 1876/
Brook Green Common. This was formerly manorial waste along the course of Parr’s Ditch, and the boundary between Hammersmith and Fulham from 1834. It was bought by the Metropolitan Board of Works from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, in 1881.
Caithness Road
24 Crofton Lodge. Folly with a tower
Charecroft Way
The road is on the route of the Kensington and Richmond Railway.
The Shepherds Building. This was Miford House, Inland Revenue Offices now business units. It housed the Estate Duty Office of the Inland Revenue until the early 1990s when it moved to Nottingham. It exactly follows the line of the railway which it was built on. It and the road date from the late 1960s.
Coal Warf Road
Ran north alongside the west of the railway line, to a coal wharf considerably to the north
Coverdale Road
The Miles Coverdale Primary School, This opened in 1916, it is a three storey red brick building. The school was initially called Thornfield Road School and then Coverdale Road School. It was built by the London County Council. There is a row of mature trees in the back garden adjacent to the school boundary.
Faroe Road
Faroe Road Studios. This was built in 1908 for the London School Board for ‘physically defective’ children. Post Second World War it is shown on maps as “Central Kitchen”.
Gainsborough Court
New housing on the site of Lime Grove Studios. Named Gainsborough after the sister studios in Islington
Girdlers Road
12 In 1921 Leon Underwood Brook Green School of Art here. It offered full-time and some evening classes and included etching and printmaking. The School closed in 1938.
Goldhawk Road
The road runs west from Shepherd’s Bush Green to Stamford Brook, becoming increasingly upmarket as it goes. It is part of the Roman road to the west but the name is from a 15th family. The trams turned it into a more urban road in the early 20th. In the 17th plots against Cromwell's life were attempted here.
Actarc Works. Applied High Frequency Makers of induction heating equipment 1950s. This works was at the bottom of Pennard Road on an ex-laundry site.
2 The Sindercombe Social. This was once the Bush Hotel. The name is said to be that of a Leveller conspirator in the 1650s who was involved in a plot to assassinate Oliver Cromwell near here. Until 1890 an ancient thatched cottage stood nearby which had been hired and inhabited by Syndercombe in 1657. . Syndercombe arrested, tried, and condemned to death. He was sentenced to death but committed suicide. Renamed as the "White Horse" upon rebuilding in 1890, as the "Bush" in 1899, as the "Fringe and Firkin" in 1997, as "O'Neill's" in c1999, and as the "Sindercombe Social" in 2014. The Bush Theatre was originally in an upstairs room here.
43a tram depot – this was a short lived horse tram depot with a cobbled entrance through which trams left the main line in Goldhawk Road.
49 Goldhawk House built 1906. This is offices where many companies in entertainment are based. In 1914 it was headquarters of Frank Mayle and Sons building supplies merchants but also specialists in plate, sheet and safety glass. Manufacturers and processers of constructional glass products; stained glass; leaded lights; behind workshops are known as The Glasshouse.
52 Railway Arms. Built in 1922, it is now a shop.
55 The Railway Tavern. This was later known as The Bushranger and then in 2004 became a Young's pub called The Stinging Nettle. It opened in 1864 when the Metropolitan Line opened and closed in 2012, it is now a Costa Coffee.
Goldhawk Road Station. Opened in 1914 by the Metropolitan Railway on a line originally opened in 1863. It now lies between Shepherd’s Bush Market and Hammersmith, on theHammersmith and City Line and the Circle Line.
77 British Prince pub. Closed 2003
84 Shepherd and Flock Pub. Built in 1869.
Holland Park Avenue
The road crosses Counters Creek on the edge of the roundabout and junction with Holland Road.
203 Duke of Clarence. Closed in 2001, it was eventually demolished in 2003.Venue for folk music
Holland Road
193 Holland Arms. 1866 This was an old pub on what was the Hammersmith road which was known successively as the Horse and Groom and in 1716 the White Horse Inn, Demolished for the Shepherd’s Bush roundabout.
Kensington and Richmond Railway
This ran through the area of this square. It ran north to the west of the Hammersmith and City line running out of Hammersmith Station paralleling it and Hammersmith Grove. It passed under the Hammersmith and City south of the present Goldhawk Road Station and continued north of Sulgrave Road following its curve. It continued eastwards along what is now Charecroft Way and then curved to follow north of Sinclair Rad. It joined what was the West London Extension Railway north of the present Kensington Olympia Station. The line dated from the 1860s and following agreements with other railways ran trains from Richmond to Kensington. A station on Shepherds Bush Road was opened in 1874 and closed in 1916. It was also used by other rail companies. This declined and by 1926 this stretch had been disused for ten years. The line was thus removed and the land sold.
Lakeside Road
Previously called Wharton Road and then Rayleigh Road
108 Shepherds Bush Road Methodist Church. This building was the original church hall with the church fronting onto Shepherds Bush Road and which has since been demolished. War memorial plaque in the church
Lena Gardens
Lena Gardens Primary School. The school beaame an academy in 2014 and has now closed. It originally opened in 1929
37 London Regional Transport Hammersmith Rolling Stock Depot. It was built by the Great Western Railway in 1905. It is now only used for general maintenance and storage of the trains which operate on the Hammersmith & City line. It was built by the Great Western Railway to be operated by the Metropolitan Railway when the joint railway was electrified in the early 20th century. Recently 13 manually-operated sets of points have been replaced and a control box that is the first of its kind on the Underground. The Maintenance Sheds have been turned into a fully automated siding with 8 tracks. A concrete slab track bed has been installed.
The Osram siding to the east of the depot building was built for the Ford Motor Co. in the Great World War for delivering road vehicles, and was later acquired for Osram by the Air Ministry during the Second World War
Back entrance to the Osram Works
Lime Grove
South end of the road was once Brooklyn Grove
Gravel pit. This covered the north end of the road on the west side until the 1890s.
Urania Cottage. This was on the east side of the road, about halfway down the current road but stood between what was once Lime over to the north and Brooklyn Grove to the south. This was founded by Charles Dickens in the late 1840s following an approach by Angela Burdett Coutts as an alternative to existing institutions for ‘fallen’ women and wanted to provide an environment where they could learn skills. All women who spent time there were apparently required to emigrate. Dickens became heavily involved in management of the home. Closed in the 1860s.
Trunk and Portmanteau works 1890s, this appears to be in what had been Urania House –also on the site ‘The Last House” and “The Old House”
Lime Grove Studios was a film, and TV studio. It was built by the Gaumont Film Company in 1915. Many Gainsborough Pictures films were made here from the early 1930s. In 1949, it was purchased by the BBC for television broadcasts until 1991. It was demolished in 1993.
Shepherds Bush Station. This opened in 1864 on the Hammersmith and City Line. This ran then between Hammersmith and Ladbroke Grove through an area with clay pits and brickworks. It was operated by the Great Western Railway, with a broad gauge train service - the wider space between tracks can still be seen today. An 1885 fire in an arch under Shepherd’s Bush station destroyed much of the wooden station structure, which had to be rebuilt. In 1914 it was closed and demolished. Much of the site was taken over by Gaumont for their Lime Grove Studios.
Lime Grove Baths. These were opened by the Mayor of Hammersmith E.C. Rawlings in the 1907. With a gala and aquatic display. there was both a first class and second class bath the site als0 included a Boxing Hall as well as a laundry and public Washhouse. Private baths had granolithic flooring and enamelled oak cubicles, with divisions of enamelled slate. In the 1960s Saturday afternoon TV wrestling programmes came from here. The main bath was closed in 1980 because the roof’s inner skin was breaking away, but the second class pool remained open until the opening of a new swimming complex. The Baths were later converted to flats
London College of Fashion. The Hammersmith College of Art and Building had been founded in 1891 by Francis Hawke, as evening classes and in 1904 it was taken over by London County Council and moved to a new building in Lime Grove. The .Hammersmith School of Building and Arts and Crafts was originally he Hammersmith School of Building, later becoming the Hammersmith School of Trades. It was built by the London County Council in 1913, by the Council’s Architects Department. The rear block was the Technical Institute or School of Arts and Crafts designed also by L C C Architects Department in 1905-6. There is an original boundary wall with arched entrances. A trade school for girls was erected on the same site in 1914. A new building was opened in 1930. Hammersmith College merged with Chelsea College of Art in 1975. 1986 it became a constituent college of the London Institute, formed by the Inner London Education Authority for its art schools and specialist colleges of printing, fashion and distributive trades. In 1989 the School was renamed Chelsea College of Art & Design. I later became part of the London College of Fashion.
Mulberry. This is in the rear courtyard of the college and probably planted in 1904.
Loris Road
The community garden started in 1983. There is small woodland and a paved central area with a mosaic and a Time Capsule. There is a play area for children bad a simple eco-shed, with kitchen/office, toilet and tool storage designed by Studio E Architects and constructed by Ecolibrium Solutions.
Masbro Road,
37 Willson’s Radiator Works. They manufactured silencers. There are now flats on the site.
40 St Mary's RC Primary School. The school was established in 1850 by the Catholic Poor Committee as a teacher training school under the Brothers of Christian Instruction. The teacher training element moved to Strawberry Hill in 1925. In the 1970’s the school was moved to its Masbro Road following a fire. However, it remains in the parish of Holy Trinity, Brook Green.
42 This was the Lord Nelson pub. Closed 1997, now housing.
57 Havelock Tavern. Now a gastro pub. Built in 1869 it has a blue tiled frontage with stripped- feel inside.
87 Masbro Centre. This is the hub of Hammersmith’s community centres run by the Urban Partnership Group. Set up in the 1990s it is now a community freehold asset and now covers five sites across Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush. It is built in what was the Council Central Kitchen.
88 Bird in Hand, this pub is now a posh restaurant. Dating originally from the 1870s it was rebuilt in red brick in 1929 as a large plaque tells us. Brown tiles and decorative cement plaques.
100 Saint Matthew. Built in 1870-71 designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield, in 1870-1871. It was funded by ‘pew rents,’ and the majority of the churchgoers came from Sinclair Road where they had live-in servants. There are various art works in the church including an important altar piece. After the Great War the parish changed with the building of the Springvale Estate. In the Second Would War the church was damaged and closed. The Lady Chapel has plaques in memory of those men of the parish who gave their lives in the Great War and a plaque on the back row of the choir records the men who died in the Second World War. It has since been used as a location for TV and films.
Milson Road
The western end of the road was once Alexandra Road.
Central Kitchen. This is the buildings now in use by the Masbro Centre
Milson Road Health Centre
Minford Gardens
Originally this road ran parallel to the Kensington and Richmond railway line and houses on the north side of the road backed onto it,
St Simon. The church with its attached hall dates from 1879 designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield. It has a spire, clock tower and a small garden. It has an organ of 1865 from Dunblane cathedral "Rebuilt by Eustace Ingram, London 1893".
Netherwood Road
17a Netherwood Autos. This garage site at the backs of houses has been home to a number of small; industrial units, including a boot maker in 1926 and a plumber at another time. Print works are shown on maps of the 1960s.
Norland Road
49 Queens Arms Pub. Demolished for the roundabout to be built.
Norland Yard
A.F,Ferguson timber stockists onsite here from the Great War until the 1940s
Pennards Road
Sunlight Laundry this became Spring Grove Laundry and closed in 2009
Actarc works Applied High Frequency Makers of induction heating equipment 1950s
Poplar Grove
1a Kingdom Hall Jehovah’s Witnesses.
1a this was built as Shepherds Bush, Fulham and District Synagogue. Ashkenazi Orthodox opened in 1924, rebuilt 1938/9, refurbished 1963, and closed 1989.
Redan Street
45 Addison Youth club Youth club offering indoor football, pool, table tennis, basketball and IT facilities. It has also been used as a nursery school ad a dance studio it originated as a mission church
Saint Matthew’s Mission Church. It was for the lower orders – servants and the poor
Richford Street
Richford Gate Primary Care Centre
85 Quantex Arc Ltd they produce single-use disposable pump technology.
87 PDD Innovation. Established in 1980 this firm specialises in engineering and industrial design. Previous occupiers have been film and entertainment companies.
87 Walton House. Walton Sound & Film Services. They were present here in the 1970s
89 Dulux Decorator Centre. Dulux are an international paint firm, originally Australian. This is one of a chain of stores in the UK associated with Azo Nobel
Richmond Way
The Kensington and Richmond Railway crossed the road slightly north of the roundabout with new buildings on the roadsides. There is a slight hump in the road here. The line diverted from the west London line slightly south of the K West hotel – and this can be seen from the Addison road bridge.
Cycle Docking Station. This at the end of the road where the junction with Shepherd Bush Green is now blocked. With a walk way through to Shepherds Bush Station. There is also the base of a very large advertising sign
1 Duke of Edinburgh. This pub closed in 2012 and has now been converted to residential use.
Rockley Road
The line of the Richmond and Kensington Railway is now under housing.
Shepherd’s Bush Common
Green. This is a triangular open space originally Fulham Manor waste and acquired by the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1872. It was once called Gagglegoose Green. . It is shown with this name on OS map of 1822 and there are references in the 17th to the name. It could refer to a family called Shepherd or to actual shepherds. There were farms in this area until the late 19th. The marshy land was drained in 1871and this has needed to be done again recently#
The Green was originally laid out with paths, provided with a drinking fountain at its west end, with plane trees planted around the perimeter. Toilets at one time were included on Uxbridge Road corner, and opposite the Shepherds Bush Hotel. There was also a drinking fountain near the War Memorial opposite the cinemas. In 1985 the perimeter was planted with evergreen shrubs and tracks laid out to provide cycle paths around the Green.
Winged Victory, War Memorial from 1922 by H. C. Fehr. It is on a stone mausoleum shaft with bronze Roll of Honour plaques on a three tiered plinth set in a railed grass and paved enclosure.
Underground toilets. Decorative railings surround a former underground lavatory with ceramic work from the early 20th, later used as a snooker hall and/or a nightclub and now closed. They stand in a railed enclosure which includes a lamp standard.
Playground. The very young have a slide, swings and sand pit with diggers. Older children have a challenging climbing frame, tyre swing, tunnel side and outdoor climbing walls as well as musical instruments to turn and press.
Shepherds Bush Green.
Roundabout – This was on a minor crossroads on Holland Park Avenue, with Holland Road and Shepherds Bush Green. The A3220 Holland Road was upgraded in the 1950s. Later the West Cross Route linked into it and in 1970 the current roundabout was opened. It was meant to be grade-separated, but the route to the south had some difficulties and was never built.
13-15 The Telegraph. This pub is now a restaurant. The original pub was 20 yards to the east and replaced was by the current building
West 12 Shopping and Leisure Centre, this originally opened in 1971 as the Shepherd’s Bush Centre as a new single storey shopping centre
Vue Cinema. This is in the shopping centre. It was then the Warner Village Shepherd’s Bush and was opened in 2001. It was re-branded Vue in 2004.
Galaxy Cinema. This was in the new shopping centre and operated by Lew & Leslie Grade as the first in a new chain. Only this one opened. It closed in 1975 and converted into a shop.
58 The Pavilion Cinema. This opened in 1923 was designed by Frank T. Verity for Israel Davis, and made Verity’s reputation. Inside was Italian renaissance decoration. It had the second Compton 4Manual/17Rank organ built. The organ had percussions added in 1924, and in 1931 was rebuilt with the first modern console of the Gaumont-British type on a lift.., There was a stage and four dressing rooms. There is a brick and stone frontage which won a RIBA London Street Architecture Award. It was badly damaged in 1944 bombing and closed until 1955 having been restored by Samuel Beverley and reopened as the Gaumont Theatre. In 1962 it became the Odeon, and in 1969, closed for reconstruction. The stalls became a Top Rank Bingo Club and the cinema itself became Odeon 1
Odeon 2. This lies between the Shepherd’s Bush Empire Theatre and the Pavilion/Gaumont/Odeon. It was the Shepherd’s Bush Cinematograph Theatre opened in 1910. Along the side of the building was a long stone panel which had ‘Cinematograph Theatre – Continuous Performance – Seats 1/– 6d 3d’.It was partially rebuilt by John Stanley Beard and reopened in 1923 and renamed Essoldo in 1955. It closed for modernisation in 1968. It was the Classic from 1972 and finally Odeon 2 from 1973 to its closure in October 1981. The interior was then gutted and it was converted into a large pub with an Australian theme know as ‘Walkabout’, this closed in 2013. It was the used as a site office for building workers and demolished in 2019, although the facade remained to be used as an entrance to a hotel.
56 Shepherds Bush Empire. It opened in 1903 designed by Frank Matcham for Oswald Stoll. The frontage is Art Nouveau, plus a tower with a Baroque copula on top, which once contained a lantern and a circular metal ‘Empire’ sign... The upper circle and gallery have their own separate entrances. Inside is ornate and here are boxes at dress circle level. There are also boxes in the upper circle level topped by a semi-circular feature. All the great music hall artists appeared here in the first few weeks. American Bioscope was part of the variety programme and in 1909, a Chronomegaphone was added. Eventually it was equipped with a Western Electric sound system and Sunday film shows ran until the late 1940s. With the coming of Television the Empire closed in 1953. Soon after the BBC Television took it over and converted it. The upper parts of the building were obscured by lighting gantries, which hid Matcham’s decorations. TV cameras roamed around this area where once an audience sat. Many big hit shows were to be broadcast from here, but after 40-years, the BBC moved to White City Television Studios at Shepherd’s Bush, and the Empire Theatre was sold in 1992. New owners restored close-to its original 1903 opening and set up a programme of pop/rock concerts opening in 1994.
Shepherd's Bush Market
The market is sited on what was Railway Approach, intended as access road to station. During the war these railways arches where the market is now were used for billeting troops and stabling horses. The market dates to the early part of the 20th and opened for business in around 1914, with shops lining the railway viaduct
Shepherd's Bush Road
Once known as Brook Green Lane.
Little Brook Green. Separate part of the common west of Shepherd’s Bush Road.
186 this was Brook Green School. It has been extended for use as offices and studios in 2005. The school was for children with physical disabilities and dated from probably 1885 and closed in 1947.
184 Former motor service depot and showroom. This was built in 1916 by H Heathcote and Sons of Manchester for the Motor Company (England) Ltd. It had a complete reinforced concrete frame; brick clad with painted cement dressings. There is a vehicle entrances on ground floor. At either end of the building are large lifts (still operational) to take vehicles to upper floors that on the left rising onto the flat roof where vehicles were test driven. This was Ford's first industrial building in the London area and the quality of materials and design reflects the status of the motor car at this period. The depot was taken over by Citroen in 1926. It has later been used as a storage depot and has since been converted to office use by a data science company.
Standard with lantern. This is in cast iron open-work with Greek key pattern cast iron railings. It is north of 184 and includes a rectangular brick gatehouse. They were part of the security gate to the Ford building.
Police Station. This was replaced by the Osram Building. It had been designed by Farquharson & McMorran
180 Osram Works. Osram is a German company. The Brook Green works was one of the earliest lamp factories in Britain set up in 1881 to manufacture the Lane-Fox type of carbon lamps. Fluorescent and various electronic tubes became its main product. The works survived over 100 years, with production ending in 1988. Work went n here from 1893, although it is not clear whether or not this was an entirely new factory, or if it had been the site of earlier carbon arc operations. The building was extended later, but most o t was demolished in 1988. The factory range of 1915-16 survives. The landmark seven storey Osram Tower is topped by an octagon with a little copper dome; by John S. Quitter & Son, 1920-1. , a metal sculpture on the copper cupola depicts the movement of the atom and with "OSRAM" lettering that was once illuminated, now a Tesco supermarket and Peabody housing
Osram Court. War memorial plaque saying G.E.C. in grateful memory of the employees of this company who fell in the service of their company in the Great War 1914-18.
170-2 Brook Green Hotel. This is on the site of the Barley Mow, rebuilt in 1886 by Young's. Modernised 'gin palace', retaining features, this is a spacious pub and restaurant with a ceiling. It has a hard floor but comfortably provided with padded seats and a few sofas. The basement houses a comedy club and the hotel provides accommodation.
Carpet Cleaning works 1890s. The works had a big chimney and caused lots of pollution, thus was on or near the Osram works
Poplar House Laundry 1890s. This was on or near the Osram works
Shepherds Bush Road Wesleyan Methodist Chapel stood on the gcorner with Netherwood Street in the late 19th and early 20th. It was later demolished and the site used for flats. All that remains is the perimeter wall of uncoursed masonry blocks. The church hall to the rear is now used as the church.
55 The Richmond. Local pub dating from the early 20th.
Grampions. Grampians flats stand on the line of the Richmond and Kensington Railway and the block’s basement facilities are in the railway cutting. It was designed by Maurice Webb in as an Art Deco block built between 1935 and 1937. The designs for the block were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1935. It is ten-stories with curving shops flanking the entrance, 1935 by Collcutt & Hamp.
Kensington and Richmond Line crossed under the road. There is still a slight ‘hump’ in the road. There are commercial premises under the bridge.
Shepherds Bush station. This stood on the west side of the road and dated from 1874. It was built by the London and South West Railway as the Richmond and Kensington Railway closed in 1916. There were two platforms with steps down to them from the road with the booking office between; there was a signal box at the end of the up platform. Most of this remained into the1950s.
Shepherds Bush Baptist Tabernacle, founded in 1907 and designed by P.W.Hawkins. It closed in 2008.
Spring Vale Terrace
Clear Cut. This is on the site of the Cranford Works Stationery which was previously the Argyle Steam Laundry. In 1867 Springvale Works carried out bleaching and dyeing with an 80 foot chimney which towered over McCullock’s bleaching grounds in Spring Vale where calico and muslins were whitened and starched
Springvale Engineering Works. Motor works
Sulgrave Gardens
This stands on the site of the former Shepherds Bush station which fronted on Shepherds Bush Road. The entrance to the tunnel under the road is clearly visible at the back of the estate.
Sulgrave Road
Railway cottages. 18th houses on the south side of the formation Richmond and Kensington Railway.
Iron viaduct this is said to be behind the cottages and that it has been bricked up
Trussley Road
This is the site of brick bridge foundations and embankment on the Richmond and Kensington railway junction with the Metropolitan Railway. There are few surviving relics.
Caswell Grove Works Cranes and Erections Ltd. 1950s Grove Metals
Uxbridge Road
General Auto Services garage. This was east of the Central Line Station and was one of the largest private bus companies in the 1930s.
Uxbridge Road Station. This was on the West London Railway 1869-1940. It was opened served by the London & North Western Railway and the Great Western Railway. In 1905 it passed to the Metropolitan Railway, and later London Underground's Metropolitan line. It was at the east end of Uxbridge Road on the site of what is now the Holland Park roundabout and closed because of Second World War bombing. It remained reasonably intact for some years after closure, but eventually all that remained were the street level building, bits of stairway, and grassy platform mounds. These were swept away around 1971 for road widening schemes
Shepherds Bush Underground Station. This was on the site of the present Shepherds Bush Station. Previously a station existed almost on the same site as the present Shepherd's Bush station. It opened in 1900 and was the original western terminus of the Central London Railway with a ticket hall designed by Harry Bell Measures. The station was renamed Shepherds Bush Green in 2008
Shepherd's Bush station this opened in 2008 and lies between Willesden Junction and Kensington Olympia on London Overground, Wembley Central and Kensington Olympia on Southern Rail and White City and Holland Park on the Central Line. It is on the same site as the Uxbridge Road Station which closed in the 1940s. Development in the area means that a new station was possible...
28 The Mail Coach Pub. This was an Inter-war red brick pub. Since demolished in 2003 for the underground station. Was previously called London.
96- 102 The Wellington Arms. The landlord was Butty Sugruet, who was a strong man who pulled busses with his teeth. This pub dated from the 1870s and was a Slug & Lettuce when it closed in 2006. It is now used as a takeaway chicken shop and a gaming arcade.
164 Star Cinema. This was in a Pereira Mansions which dates from 1905. The Electric Cinema opened in 26th 1907 and in 1910 alterations were carried out by Melville S. Ward for Electric Theatre Ltd. By 1918, it had been re-named Star Cinema. It closed in 1923 and became a shop.
170 Defectors Weld. Young’s pub named for a local spy one of the "Cambridge five" Cold War spies worked nearby at the BBC and 'weld' is a joint/joining. Previously called Edwards and was the Beaumont Arms
172-4 The Green Pub. Opened as a Wetherspoon in 1990 having been converted from a shop.
5 Fire Station. Designed by Frank van der Weerden 1900 and in - in use from 1901-1920
7 Passmore Edwards Library. This was designed by Maurice Bingham Adams as Passmore Edwards Free Library Hammersmith. It was built in 1895, and a foundation stone, in the wall was laid by Passmore Edwards. In 2008 a new library was built in the Westfield London development. In 2011 the library re-opened as the new home of the Bush Theatre
Bush Theatre. This was established in 1972 as a showcase for the work of new writers. It was initially in the Bush Hotel.
31 White Horse pub. The pub s through the small archway to the rear, but the building as a whole is a Tesco.
Silver cinema . The Silver Cinematograph Theatre was built on the site of the Albion Brewery and opened in 1914. It had a stone facade, with the name ‘Silver’ over the entrance. It was badly damaged by German bombs in 1940. It never reopened and it was demolished.
11-13 Griggs Brothers, Albion Brewery,
The Church of St Stephen and St Thomas built 1849–50, designed by architect Anthony Salvini. Rev Wilfred Wood became curate to St Stephen's, later becoming the Church of England’s first black bishop. In 1966 the vicar set up the Shepherds Bush Housing Association to help solve the problems of homelessness and poverty in the area. Today St Stephen's serves a hot meal to up to 100 homeless people every Monday.
St Stephen’s Primary School. This was part of the original village of Shepherd’s Bush and built at the same time as the Church
Wells Road
Shepherd's Bush Bus Garage. LT London Transport garage on site of old railway line. It has originally been a London Motor Omnibus Garage called Vanguard and was transferred from Vanguard Motorbus Company to LGOC in 1908. It closed on the Great War but reopened in 1923 although previously used as a terminal stand. A new garage was built there in 1954. Still in operation.
Sources
AIM.Web site
Children’s Homes. Web site
Barton. London’s Lost Rivers
Buildings to see in Fulham and Hammersmith
Cinema Theatre Association. Newsletter
Cinema Treasures. Web site
Closed Pubs. Web site
Clunn. The Face of London
District Dave. Web site
Disused Stations. Web site
Field. London Place Names
Friends of Brook Green. Web site
Glazier. London Transport Garages/
Grace’s Guide. Web site
Hammersmith and Fulham Council. Web site
Hillman & Trench, Underground London
Historic England. Web site
Ian Visits. Blog
Jackson, London’s Local Railways
Lamptech. Web site
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Web site
London Encyclopaedia
London Gardens Online. Web site
Lost Lidos. Web site.
O’Connor. Forgotten Station
Old and New London
Pevsner and Cherry, London North West
Sabre. Web site
St.Mary’s Primary School. Web site
St.Matthew’s church. Web sire
St.Simon. Web site
URS. Web site
What pub? Web site
Addison Gardens
Addison Primary School. This was Addison Gardens School built by the School Board for London in the 1890s and expanded in the 1920s. It pioneered the use of films in education, had a school orchestra, and was the site for the Ministerial inauguration of the Milk in Schools Scheme.
Railway Bridge. The bridge carries the road over the Network Rail railway line between Kensington Olympia and Shepherd's Bush. There is an OS benchmark on the brick pier at the far end of the parapet. It is a cut mark sprayed with white paint. The bridge is too long for the current lines which it crosses. It would also have crossed the Kensington and Richmond line, which veered to the west slightly north of the bridge.
Adie Road
Grove Studios. This was The Laboratory. Sculptor Henry Moore worked here 1924-1928. Plaque on the building inaugurated by his daughter.
Aldine Street
Aldine House. Office and print location which connects buildings in Aldine Place to the rear.
Batoum Gardens
Entrance to the Loris Road garden with mural of the Cork and Kerry Mountains painted by Russell Barrett
Berghem Mews
This is now a ‘stylish office village’.
London Co-op Laundry buildings. The laundry was here from the 1880s. It was replaced by an exhibition joinery business.
Blythe Road
Blythe Road was previously called Blinde Lane
Blythe House. This was an ancient mansion and in the early 19th had been the home of an émigré French royalist. Following a period as a school for young ladies in 1867 it beaame a boys' reformatory. To the rear was a school building and a playground. This was the first Roman Catholic boys' reformatory to be set up in 1855. It was run by the Congregation of the Brothers of Mercy with some Belgian staff. They taught shoemaking and bread baking. The school moved away in 1870. It was replaced by St Stephens School also a Roman Catholic boys' reformatory. There were many problems and it was returned to the Brothers of Mercy and eventually closed in 1887. Shepherds Bush road now runs through the western most part of the house site.
79-81 Swan Laundry. Built on the site of the reformatory playground. They appear to have taken over Blythe House and replaced it with their works. There are now modern firms in the building,
188 Modern cylindrical properties The Round House by Michaelis Boyd Associates. Built 2016 house with eight bedrooms, slides to hidden areas and a fireman’s pole connecting the ground and first floor.
120 Old Parr’s Head. Originally this was the Duke of Edinburgh in the mid 19th. Closed in 2014 and now housing.
43 Jameson. This pub is now a ‘steak and Thai’. It was previously called The Fox & Hounds; Freemasons Arms; and Ringmaster and ‘the Trump Arms’ sometimes and more recently.
Brook Green
This square covers the northern section only. The brook here, referred to c.1420 as ‘le Brooke’, is now covered over. The eastern mouth of Stamford Brook is said to be Parr's Ditch or Black Bull Ditch. It ran due east through Hammersmith into a natural trough which is now the park area of Brook Green. It was converted to sewer in 1876/
Brook Green Common. This was formerly manorial waste along the course of Parr’s Ditch, and the boundary between Hammersmith and Fulham from 1834. It was bought by the Metropolitan Board of Works from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, in 1881.
Caithness Road
24 Crofton Lodge. Folly with a tower
Charecroft Way
The road is on the route of the Kensington and Richmond Railway.
The Shepherds Building. This was Miford House, Inland Revenue Offices now business units. It housed the Estate Duty Office of the Inland Revenue until the early 1990s when it moved to Nottingham. It exactly follows the line of the railway which it was built on. It and the road date from the late 1960s.
Coal Warf Road
Ran north alongside the west of the railway line, to a coal wharf considerably to the north
Coverdale Road
The Miles Coverdale Primary School, This opened in 1916, it is a three storey red brick building. The school was initially called Thornfield Road School and then Coverdale Road School. It was built by the London County Council. There is a row of mature trees in the back garden adjacent to the school boundary.
Faroe Road
Faroe Road Studios. This was built in 1908 for the London School Board for ‘physically defective’ children. Post Second World War it is shown on maps as “Central Kitchen”.
Gainsborough Court
New housing on the site of Lime Grove Studios. Named Gainsborough after the sister studios in Islington
Girdlers Road
12 In 1921 Leon Underwood Brook Green School of Art here. It offered full-time and some evening classes and included etching and printmaking. The School closed in 1938.
Goldhawk Road
The road runs west from Shepherd’s Bush Green to Stamford Brook, becoming increasingly upmarket as it goes. It is part of the Roman road to the west but the name is from a 15th family. The trams turned it into a more urban road in the early 20th. In the 17th plots against Cromwell's life were attempted here.
Actarc Works. Applied High Frequency Makers of induction heating equipment 1950s. This works was at the bottom of Pennard Road on an ex-laundry site.
2 The Sindercombe Social. This was once the Bush Hotel. The name is said to be that of a Leveller conspirator in the 1650s who was involved in a plot to assassinate Oliver Cromwell near here. Until 1890 an ancient thatched cottage stood nearby which had been hired and inhabited by Syndercombe in 1657. . Syndercombe arrested, tried, and condemned to death. He was sentenced to death but committed suicide. Renamed as the "White Horse" upon rebuilding in 1890, as the "Bush" in 1899, as the "Fringe and Firkin" in 1997, as "O'Neill's" in c1999, and as the "Sindercombe Social" in 2014. The Bush Theatre was originally in an upstairs room here.
43a tram depot – this was a short lived horse tram depot with a cobbled entrance through which trams left the main line in Goldhawk Road.
49 Goldhawk House built 1906. This is offices where many companies in entertainment are based. In 1914 it was headquarters of Frank Mayle and Sons building supplies merchants but also specialists in plate, sheet and safety glass. Manufacturers and processers of constructional glass products; stained glass; leaded lights; behind workshops are known as The Glasshouse.
52 Railway Arms. Built in 1922, it is now a shop.
55 The Railway Tavern. This was later known as The Bushranger and then in 2004 became a Young's pub called The Stinging Nettle. It opened in 1864 when the Metropolitan Line opened and closed in 2012, it is now a Costa Coffee.
Goldhawk Road Station. Opened in 1914 by the Metropolitan Railway on a line originally opened in 1863. It now lies between Shepherd’s Bush Market and Hammersmith, on theHammersmith and City Line and the Circle Line.
77 British Prince pub. Closed 2003
84 Shepherd and Flock Pub. Built in 1869.
Holland Park Avenue
The road crosses Counters Creek on the edge of the roundabout and junction with Holland Road.
203 Duke of Clarence. Closed in 2001, it was eventually demolished in 2003.Venue for folk music
Holland Road
193 Holland Arms. 1866 This was an old pub on what was the Hammersmith road which was known successively as the Horse and Groom and in 1716 the White Horse Inn, Demolished for the Shepherd’s Bush roundabout.
Kensington and Richmond Railway
This ran through the area of this square. It ran north to the west of the Hammersmith and City line running out of Hammersmith Station paralleling it and Hammersmith Grove. It passed under the Hammersmith and City south of the present Goldhawk Road Station and continued north of Sulgrave Road following its curve. It continued eastwards along what is now Charecroft Way and then curved to follow north of Sinclair Rad. It joined what was the West London Extension Railway north of the present Kensington Olympia Station. The line dated from the 1860s and following agreements with other railways ran trains from Richmond to Kensington. A station on Shepherds Bush Road was opened in 1874 and closed in 1916. It was also used by other rail companies. This declined and by 1926 this stretch had been disused for ten years. The line was thus removed and the land sold.
Lakeside Road
Previously called Wharton Road and then Rayleigh Road
108 Shepherds Bush Road Methodist Church. This building was the original church hall with the church fronting onto Shepherds Bush Road and which has since been demolished. War memorial plaque in the church
Lena Gardens
Lena Gardens Primary School. The school beaame an academy in 2014 and has now closed. It originally opened in 1929
37 London Regional Transport Hammersmith Rolling Stock Depot. It was built by the Great Western Railway in 1905. It is now only used for general maintenance and storage of the trains which operate on the Hammersmith & City line. It was built by the Great Western Railway to be operated by the Metropolitan Railway when the joint railway was electrified in the early 20th century. Recently 13 manually-operated sets of points have been replaced and a control box that is the first of its kind on the Underground. The Maintenance Sheds have been turned into a fully automated siding with 8 tracks. A concrete slab track bed has been installed.
The Osram siding to the east of the depot building was built for the Ford Motor Co. in the Great World War for delivering road vehicles, and was later acquired for Osram by the Air Ministry during the Second World War
Back entrance to the Osram Works
Lime Grove
South end of the road was once Brooklyn Grove
Gravel pit. This covered the north end of the road on the west side until the 1890s.
Urania Cottage. This was on the east side of the road, about halfway down the current road but stood between what was once Lime over to the north and Brooklyn Grove to the south. This was founded by Charles Dickens in the late 1840s following an approach by Angela Burdett Coutts as an alternative to existing institutions for ‘fallen’ women and wanted to provide an environment where they could learn skills. All women who spent time there were apparently required to emigrate. Dickens became heavily involved in management of the home. Closed in the 1860s.
Trunk and Portmanteau works 1890s, this appears to be in what had been Urania House –also on the site ‘The Last House” and “The Old House”
Lime Grove Studios was a film, and TV studio. It was built by the Gaumont Film Company in 1915. Many Gainsborough Pictures films were made here from the early 1930s. In 1949, it was purchased by the BBC for television broadcasts until 1991. It was demolished in 1993.
Shepherds Bush Station. This opened in 1864 on the Hammersmith and City Line. This ran then between Hammersmith and Ladbroke Grove through an area with clay pits and brickworks. It was operated by the Great Western Railway, with a broad gauge train service - the wider space between tracks can still be seen today. An 1885 fire in an arch under Shepherd’s Bush station destroyed much of the wooden station structure, which had to be rebuilt. In 1914 it was closed and demolished. Much of the site was taken over by Gaumont for their Lime Grove Studios.
Lime Grove Baths. These were opened by the Mayor of Hammersmith E.C. Rawlings in the 1907. With a gala and aquatic display. there was both a first class and second class bath the site als0 included a Boxing Hall as well as a laundry and public Washhouse. Private baths had granolithic flooring and enamelled oak cubicles, with divisions of enamelled slate. In the 1960s Saturday afternoon TV wrestling programmes came from here. The main bath was closed in 1980 because the roof’s inner skin was breaking away, but the second class pool remained open until the opening of a new swimming complex. The Baths were later converted to flats
London College of Fashion. The Hammersmith College of Art and Building had been founded in 1891 by Francis Hawke, as evening classes and in 1904 it was taken over by London County Council and moved to a new building in Lime Grove. The .Hammersmith School of Building and Arts and Crafts was originally he Hammersmith School of Building, later becoming the Hammersmith School of Trades. It was built by the London County Council in 1913, by the Council’s Architects Department. The rear block was the Technical Institute or School of Arts and Crafts designed also by L C C Architects Department in 1905-6. There is an original boundary wall with arched entrances. A trade school for girls was erected on the same site in 1914. A new building was opened in 1930. Hammersmith College merged with Chelsea College of Art in 1975. 1986 it became a constituent college of the London Institute, formed by the Inner London Education Authority for its art schools and specialist colleges of printing, fashion and distributive trades. In 1989 the School was renamed Chelsea College of Art & Design. I later became part of the London College of Fashion.
Mulberry. This is in the rear courtyard of the college and probably planted in 1904.
Loris Road
The community garden started in 1983. There is small woodland and a paved central area with a mosaic and a Time Capsule. There is a play area for children bad a simple eco-shed, with kitchen/office, toilet and tool storage designed by Studio E Architects and constructed by Ecolibrium Solutions.
Masbro Road,
37 Willson’s Radiator Works. They manufactured silencers. There are now flats on the site.
40 St Mary's RC Primary School. The school was established in 1850 by the Catholic Poor Committee as a teacher training school under the Brothers of Christian Instruction. The teacher training element moved to Strawberry Hill in 1925. In the 1970’s the school was moved to its Masbro Road following a fire. However, it remains in the parish of Holy Trinity, Brook Green.
42 This was the Lord Nelson pub. Closed 1997, now housing.
57 Havelock Tavern. Now a gastro pub. Built in 1869 it has a blue tiled frontage with stripped- feel inside.
87 Masbro Centre. This is the hub of Hammersmith’s community centres run by the Urban Partnership Group. Set up in the 1990s it is now a community freehold asset and now covers five sites across Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush. It is built in what was the Council Central Kitchen.
88 Bird in Hand, this pub is now a posh restaurant. Dating originally from the 1870s it was rebuilt in red brick in 1929 as a large plaque tells us. Brown tiles and decorative cement plaques.
100 Saint Matthew. Built in 1870-71 designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield, in 1870-1871. It was funded by ‘pew rents,’ and the majority of the churchgoers came from Sinclair Road where they had live-in servants. There are various art works in the church including an important altar piece. After the Great War the parish changed with the building of the Springvale Estate. In the Second Would War the church was damaged and closed. The Lady Chapel has plaques in memory of those men of the parish who gave their lives in the Great War and a plaque on the back row of the choir records the men who died in the Second World War. It has since been used as a location for TV and films.
Milson Road
The western end of the road was once Alexandra Road.
Central Kitchen. This is the buildings now in use by the Masbro Centre
Milson Road Health Centre
Minford Gardens
Originally this road ran parallel to the Kensington and Richmond railway line and houses on the north side of the road backed onto it,
St Simon. The church with its attached hall dates from 1879 designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield. It has a spire, clock tower and a small garden. It has an organ of 1865 from Dunblane cathedral "Rebuilt by Eustace Ingram, London 1893".
Netherwood Road
17a Netherwood Autos. This garage site at the backs of houses has been home to a number of small; industrial units, including a boot maker in 1926 and a plumber at another time. Print works are shown on maps of the 1960s.
Norland Road
49 Queens Arms Pub. Demolished for the roundabout to be built.
Norland Yard
A.F,Ferguson timber stockists onsite here from the Great War until the 1940s
Pennards Road
Sunlight Laundry this became Spring Grove Laundry and closed in 2009
Actarc works Applied High Frequency Makers of induction heating equipment 1950s
Poplar Grove
1a Kingdom Hall Jehovah’s Witnesses.
1a this was built as Shepherds Bush, Fulham and District Synagogue. Ashkenazi Orthodox opened in 1924, rebuilt 1938/9, refurbished 1963, and closed 1989.
Redan Street
45 Addison Youth club Youth club offering indoor football, pool, table tennis, basketball and IT facilities. It has also been used as a nursery school ad a dance studio it originated as a mission church
Saint Matthew’s Mission Church. It was for the lower orders – servants and the poor
Richford Street
Richford Gate Primary Care Centre
85 Quantex Arc Ltd they produce single-use disposable pump technology.
87 PDD Innovation. Established in 1980 this firm specialises in engineering and industrial design. Previous occupiers have been film and entertainment companies.
87 Walton House. Walton Sound & Film Services. They were present here in the 1970s
89 Dulux Decorator Centre. Dulux are an international paint firm, originally Australian. This is one of a chain of stores in the UK associated with Azo Nobel
Richmond Way
The Kensington and Richmond Railway crossed the road slightly north of the roundabout with new buildings on the roadsides. There is a slight hump in the road here. The line diverted from the west London line slightly south of the K West hotel – and this can be seen from the Addison road bridge.
Cycle Docking Station. This at the end of the road where the junction with Shepherd Bush Green is now blocked. With a walk way through to Shepherds Bush Station. There is also the base of a very large advertising sign
1 Duke of Edinburgh. This pub closed in 2012 and has now been converted to residential use.
Rockley Road
The line of the Richmond and Kensington Railway is now under housing.
Shepherd’s Bush Common
Green. This is a triangular open space originally Fulham Manor waste and acquired by the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1872. It was once called Gagglegoose Green. . It is shown with this name on OS map of 1822 and there are references in the 17th to the name. It could refer to a family called Shepherd or to actual shepherds. There were farms in this area until the late 19th. The marshy land was drained in 1871and this has needed to be done again recently#
The Green was originally laid out with paths, provided with a drinking fountain at its west end, with plane trees planted around the perimeter. Toilets at one time were included on Uxbridge Road corner, and opposite the Shepherds Bush Hotel. There was also a drinking fountain near the War Memorial opposite the cinemas. In 1985 the perimeter was planted with evergreen shrubs and tracks laid out to provide cycle paths around the Green.
Winged Victory, War Memorial from 1922 by H. C. Fehr. It is on a stone mausoleum shaft with bronze Roll of Honour plaques on a three tiered plinth set in a railed grass and paved enclosure.
Underground toilets. Decorative railings surround a former underground lavatory with ceramic work from the early 20th, later used as a snooker hall and/or a nightclub and now closed. They stand in a railed enclosure which includes a lamp standard.
Playground. The very young have a slide, swings and sand pit with diggers. Older children have a challenging climbing frame, tyre swing, tunnel side and outdoor climbing walls as well as musical instruments to turn and press.
Shepherds Bush Green.
Roundabout – This was on a minor crossroads on Holland Park Avenue, with Holland Road and Shepherds Bush Green. The A3220 Holland Road was upgraded in the 1950s. Later the West Cross Route linked into it and in 1970 the current roundabout was opened. It was meant to be grade-separated, but the route to the south had some difficulties and was never built.
13-15 The Telegraph. This pub is now a restaurant. The original pub was 20 yards to the east and replaced was by the current building
West 12 Shopping and Leisure Centre, this originally opened in 1971 as the Shepherd’s Bush Centre as a new single storey shopping centre
Vue Cinema. This is in the shopping centre. It was then the Warner Village Shepherd’s Bush and was opened in 2001. It was re-branded Vue in 2004.
Galaxy Cinema. This was in the new shopping centre and operated by Lew & Leslie Grade as the first in a new chain. Only this one opened. It closed in 1975 and converted into a shop.
58 The Pavilion Cinema. This opened in 1923 was designed by Frank T. Verity for Israel Davis, and made Verity’s reputation. Inside was Italian renaissance decoration. It had the second Compton 4Manual/17Rank organ built. The organ had percussions added in 1924, and in 1931 was rebuilt with the first modern console of the Gaumont-British type on a lift.., There was a stage and four dressing rooms. There is a brick and stone frontage which won a RIBA London Street Architecture Award. It was badly damaged in 1944 bombing and closed until 1955 having been restored by Samuel Beverley and reopened as the Gaumont Theatre. In 1962 it became the Odeon, and in 1969, closed for reconstruction. The stalls became a Top Rank Bingo Club and the cinema itself became Odeon 1
Odeon 2. This lies between the Shepherd’s Bush Empire Theatre and the Pavilion/Gaumont/Odeon. It was the Shepherd’s Bush Cinematograph Theatre opened in 1910. Along the side of the building was a long stone panel which had ‘Cinematograph Theatre – Continuous Performance – Seats 1/– 6d 3d’.It was partially rebuilt by John Stanley Beard and reopened in 1923 and renamed Essoldo in 1955. It closed for modernisation in 1968. It was the Classic from 1972 and finally Odeon 2 from 1973 to its closure in October 1981. The interior was then gutted and it was converted into a large pub with an Australian theme know as ‘Walkabout’, this closed in 2013. It was the used as a site office for building workers and demolished in 2019, although the facade remained to be used as an entrance to a hotel.
56 Shepherds Bush Empire. It opened in 1903 designed by Frank Matcham for Oswald Stoll. The frontage is Art Nouveau, plus a tower with a Baroque copula on top, which once contained a lantern and a circular metal ‘Empire’ sign... The upper circle and gallery have their own separate entrances. Inside is ornate and here are boxes at dress circle level. There are also boxes in the upper circle level topped by a semi-circular feature. All the great music hall artists appeared here in the first few weeks. American Bioscope was part of the variety programme and in 1909, a Chronomegaphone was added. Eventually it was equipped with a Western Electric sound system and Sunday film shows ran until the late 1940s. With the coming of Television the Empire closed in 1953. Soon after the BBC Television took it over and converted it. The upper parts of the building were obscured by lighting gantries, which hid Matcham’s decorations. TV cameras roamed around this area where once an audience sat. Many big hit shows were to be broadcast from here, but after 40-years, the BBC moved to White City Television Studios at Shepherd’s Bush, and the Empire Theatre was sold in 1992. New owners restored close-to its original 1903 opening and set up a programme of pop/rock concerts opening in 1994.
Shepherd's Bush Market
The market is sited on what was Railway Approach, intended as access road to station. During the war these railways arches where the market is now were used for billeting troops and stabling horses. The market dates to the early part of the 20th and opened for business in around 1914, with shops lining the railway viaduct
Shepherd's Bush Road
Once known as Brook Green Lane.
Little Brook Green. Separate part of the common west of Shepherd’s Bush Road.
186 this was Brook Green School. It has been extended for use as offices and studios in 2005. The school was for children with physical disabilities and dated from probably 1885 and closed in 1947.
184 Former motor service depot and showroom. This was built in 1916 by H Heathcote and Sons of Manchester for the Motor Company (England) Ltd. It had a complete reinforced concrete frame; brick clad with painted cement dressings. There is a vehicle entrances on ground floor. At either end of the building are large lifts (still operational) to take vehicles to upper floors that on the left rising onto the flat roof where vehicles were test driven. This was Ford's first industrial building in the London area and the quality of materials and design reflects the status of the motor car at this period. The depot was taken over by Citroen in 1926. It has later been used as a storage depot and has since been converted to office use by a data science company.
Standard with lantern. This is in cast iron open-work with Greek key pattern cast iron railings. It is north of 184 and includes a rectangular brick gatehouse. They were part of the security gate to the Ford building.
Police Station. This was replaced by the Osram Building. It had been designed by Farquharson & McMorran
180 Osram Works. Osram is a German company. The Brook Green works was one of the earliest lamp factories in Britain set up in 1881 to manufacture the Lane-Fox type of carbon lamps. Fluorescent and various electronic tubes became its main product. The works survived over 100 years, with production ending in 1988. Work went n here from 1893, although it is not clear whether or not this was an entirely new factory, or if it had been the site of earlier carbon arc operations. The building was extended later, but most o t was demolished in 1988. The factory range of 1915-16 survives. The landmark seven storey Osram Tower is topped by an octagon with a little copper dome; by John S. Quitter & Son, 1920-1. , a metal sculpture on the copper cupola depicts the movement of the atom and with "OSRAM" lettering that was once illuminated, now a Tesco supermarket and Peabody housing
Osram Court. War memorial plaque saying G.E.C. in grateful memory of the employees of this company who fell in the service of their company in the Great War 1914-18.
170-2 Brook Green Hotel. This is on the site of the Barley Mow, rebuilt in 1886 by Young's. Modernised 'gin palace', retaining features, this is a spacious pub and restaurant with a ceiling. It has a hard floor but comfortably provided with padded seats and a few sofas. The basement houses a comedy club and the hotel provides accommodation.
Carpet Cleaning works 1890s. The works had a big chimney and caused lots of pollution, thus was on or near the Osram works
Poplar House Laundry 1890s. This was on or near the Osram works
Shepherds Bush Road Wesleyan Methodist Chapel stood on the gcorner with Netherwood Street in the late 19th and early 20th. It was later demolished and the site used for flats. All that remains is the perimeter wall of uncoursed masonry blocks. The church hall to the rear is now used as the church.
55 The Richmond. Local pub dating from the early 20th.
Grampions. Grampians flats stand on the line of the Richmond and Kensington Railway and the block’s basement facilities are in the railway cutting. It was designed by Maurice Webb in as an Art Deco block built between 1935 and 1937. The designs for the block were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1935. It is ten-stories with curving shops flanking the entrance, 1935 by Collcutt & Hamp.
Kensington and Richmond Line crossed under the road. There is still a slight ‘hump’ in the road. There are commercial premises under the bridge.
Shepherds Bush station. This stood on the west side of the road and dated from 1874. It was built by the London and South West Railway as the Richmond and Kensington Railway closed in 1916. There were two platforms with steps down to them from the road with the booking office between; there was a signal box at the end of the up platform. Most of this remained into the1950s.
Shepherds Bush Baptist Tabernacle, founded in 1907 and designed by P.W.Hawkins. It closed in 2008.
Spring Vale Terrace
Clear Cut. This is on the site of the Cranford Works Stationery which was previously the Argyle Steam Laundry. In 1867 Springvale Works carried out bleaching and dyeing with an 80 foot chimney which towered over McCullock’s bleaching grounds in Spring Vale where calico and muslins were whitened and starched
Springvale Engineering Works. Motor works
Sulgrave Gardens
This stands on the site of the former Shepherds Bush station which fronted on Shepherds Bush Road. The entrance to the tunnel under the road is clearly visible at the back of the estate.
Sulgrave Road
Railway cottages. 18th houses on the south side of the formation Richmond and Kensington Railway.
Iron viaduct this is said to be behind the cottages and that it has been bricked up
Trussley Road
This is the site of brick bridge foundations and embankment on the Richmond and Kensington railway junction with the Metropolitan Railway. There are few surviving relics.
Caswell Grove Works Cranes and Erections Ltd. 1950s Grove Metals
Uxbridge Road
General Auto Services garage. This was east of the Central Line Station and was one of the largest private bus companies in the 1930s.
Uxbridge Road Station. This was on the West London Railway 1869-1940. It was opened served by the London & North Western Railway and the Great Western Railway. In 1905 it passed to the Metropolitan Railway, and later London Underground's Metropolitan line. It was at the east end of Uxbridge Road on the site of what is now the Holland Park roundabout and closed because of Second World War bombing. It remained reasonably intact for some years after closure, but eventually all that remained were the street level building, bits of stairway, and grassy platform mounds. These were swept away around 1971 for road widening schemes
Shepherds Bush Underground Station. This was on the site of the present Shepherds Bush Station. Previously a station existed almost on the same site as the present Shepherd's Bush station. It opened in 1900 and was the original western terminus of the Central London Railway with a ticket hall designed by Harry Bell Measures. The station was renamed Shepherds Bush Green in 2008
Shepherd's Bush station this opened in 2008 and lies between Willesden Junction and Kensington Olympia on London Overground, Wembley Central and Kensington Olympia on Southern Rail and White City and Holland Park on the Central Line. It is on the same site as the Uxbridge Road Station which closed in the 1940s. Development in the area means that a new station was possible...
28 The Mail Coach Pub. This was an Inter-war red brick pub. Since demolished in 2003 for the underground station. Was previously called London.
96- 102 The Wellington Arms. The landlord was Butty Sugruet, who was a strong man who pulled busses with his teeth. This pub dated from the 1870s and was a Slug & Lettuce when it closed in 2006. It is now used as a takeaway chicken shop and a gaming arcade.
164 Star Cinema. This was in a Pereira Mansions which dates from 1905. The Electric Cinema opened in 26th 1907 and in 1910 alterations were carried out by Melville S. Ward for Electric Theatre Ltd. By 1918, it had been re-named Star Cinema. It closed in 1923 and became a shop.
170 Defectors Weld. Young’s pub named for a local spy one of the "Cambridge five" Cold War spies worked nearby at the BBC and 'weld' is a joint/joining. Previously called Edwards and was the Beaumont Arms
172-4 The Green Pub. Opened as a Wetherspoon in 1990 having been converted from a shop.
5 Fire Station. Designed by Frank van der Weerden 1900 and in - in use from 1901-1920
7 Passmore Edwards Library. This was designed by Maurice Bingham Adams as Passmore Edwards Free Library Hammersmith. It was built in 1895, and a foundation stone, in the wall was laid by Passmore Edwards. In 2008 a new library was built in the Westfield London development. In 2011 the library re-opened as the new home of the Bush Theatre
Bush Theatre. This was established in 1972 as a showcase for the work of new writers. It was initially in the Bush Hotel.
31 White Horse pub. The pub s through the small archway to the rear, but the building as a whole is a Tesco.
Silver cinema . The Silver Cinematograph Theatre was built on the site of the Albion Brewery and opened in 1914. It had a stone facade, with the name ‘Silver’ over the entrance. It was badly damaged by German bombs in 1940. It never reopened and it was demolished.
11-13 Griggs Brothers, Albion Brewery,
The Church of St Stephen and St Thomas built 1849–50, designed by architect Anthony Salvini. Rev Wilfred Wood became curate to St Stephen's, later becoming the Church of England’s first black bishop. In 1966 the vicar set up the Shepherds Bush Housing Association to help solve the problems of homelessness and poverty in the area. Today St Stephen's serves a hot meal to up to 100 homeless people every Monday.
St Stephen’s Primary School. This was part of the original village of Shepherd’s Bush and built at the same time as the Church
Wells Road
Shepherd's Bush Bus Garage. LT London Transport garage on site of old railway line. It has originally been a London Motor Omnibus Garage called Vanguard and was transferred from Vanguard Motorbus Company to LGOC in 1908. It closed on the Great War but reopened in 1923 although previously used as a terminal stand. A new garage was built there in 1954. Still in operation.
Sources
AIM.Web site
Children’s Homes. Web site
Barton. London’s Lost Rivers
Buildings to see in Fulham and Hammersmith
Cinema Theatre Association. Newsletter
Cinema Treasures. Web site
Closed Pubs. Web site
Clunn. The Face of London
District Dave. Web site
Disused Stations. Web site
Field. London Place Names
Friends of Brook Green. Web site
Glazier. London Transport Garages/
Grace’s Guide. Web site
Hammersmith and Fulham Council. Web site
Hillman & Trench, Underground London
Historic England. Web site
Ian Visits. Blog
Jackson, London’s Local Railways
Lamptech. Web site
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Web site
London Encyclopaedia
London Gardens Online. Web site
Lost Lidos. Web site.
O’Connor. Forgotten Station
Old and New London
Pevsner and Cherry, London North West
Sabre. Web site
St.Mary’s Primary School. Web site
St.Matthew’s church. Web sire
St.Simon. Web site
URS. Web site
What pub? Web site
Comments