This page was first created in 2002 and then was updated in 2009.  Some of the commentary touches on changes between 1977 when an American friend went home and 2002/2009 and some on changes between 2002 and 2009.

The Packhorse pub is no more.  After being closed altogether for a while in 2008, and with an uncertain future, the building has reopened as a Wildwood restaurant and bar.  The interior has not been changed much in this latest re-incarnation but is radically different from the pub of 1977.  The building on the left is a new office block built on part of the Packhorse's car park.

The window on the left is part of the Wildwood restaurant but was used for a long time as a charity shop.
Chiltern Florist is pretty much unchanged.  An Indian restaurant has occupied the next site for several years, albeit with at least one name change, but before that it was a branch of Tesco.  Neville Johnson selling bespoke furniture has replaced the longstanding ladies hairdressing  establishment.  You can see the 2002 picture here.

This group of shops with a central entrance houses a butcher, a delicatessen and a bakery with a cafe.
On the left, Richardson's has been in the village for some years but moved from the unit next door when this complex was created. The middle bit has had a number of identities, including a wine shop, a branch of David Shuttle and presently an Italian style delicatessen.  Jung's, the baker, is to the right.  Richardson's unit was a branch of the Southern Electricity Board, and then a greengrocer.  The middle unit was a paint and wallpaper shop for a while.  Jung's unit has been many things including a party shop, but 30 years ago, it was a branch of Brendon's selling televisions and radios.

Another change since 2002 is the arrival of this Interiors shop, with TVF Audio Visual upstairs.  The building was a Woolworths and then a leather furniture shop.  Davies jeweller is unchanged.  Dry cleaning has been the trade of the next shop throughout this period, although it used to be Achille Serre.  The pied wagtails that used the trees seen in 2002 as their roost have lost their home but people find the seats somewhat cleaner.

Travel Time is a recent arrival, this site having been many things through the years.  Trades that come to mind are newsagent (NSS), antiques (Aristocat) and carpets.  Somewhere between 1969 and 1977 Fishers expanded from one unit to the three it occupies now.  The unit on the left was a fruiterer and florist, the middle one was Fishers and the righthand one was Botts the fishmonger who may have moved across the road in this period.

Clark's shoe shop has been replaced by a Auberge du Chocolat.  Dorosu, Bo-Peep in 2002, lady's lingerie, was Rayner's the chemist, a delightful if somewhat old-fashioned establishment.  Across Bulstrode Way is Lloyds TSB, renamed from plain Lloyds Bank.  The 2002 picture is here.

                How it was in 2002

Big changes here since 2002.  Graham's dressed gentlemen for many years but was replaced by Oxfam after the Graham family retired from their business.  Lunn Poly travel agent, or Holiday Shop as they style themselves, has had a name change to Thomson.  Back in 1977 the site was a laundromat.  Aldridge, the greengrocer, has been replaced by a betting shop.  Unwin's was the last in a line of Off Licences, and the shop has become Krembo but earlier the unit was a baker's and then a jeweller.

NSS ran this large unit as a newsagent until Forbuoys came along.  Martin's is just another name for Forbouys so not much change there.  Before that, it was Budgen's Supermarket, which moved to a new building in Station Road but by 2009 is no longer represented in GX.  The lady's hairdresser with the black canopy has been in that business all this time, presently under the Brox banner.

Trudels used to sell china and glassware, then Lyttons sold fuirnishing fabrics and now Country Casuals offer ladiy's clothing.  For a shortish period in the 1980's it was an art shop.  The Jade Room occupied the premises now run as The Good Life Chinese restaurant, and the white fronted  shop was The Weathervane before it became Patricia International Fashions.
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After crossing the railway bridge we have Station Approach on the left.  Only a small change to the shop front has occured since 2002.

W H Smith and Sketchley Cleaners have been here all these years, although the snazzy fronts are recent in both cases.  Veritas, kitchen design and fitting, is now closed but there are signs that another kitchen design company intends to start up (January 2010).  Grahame Peck occupied that unit until the business moved a few doors along in the  mid-1970's.

A brief digression to the cinema in Ethorpe Crescent, showing movies through all this period, but under a number of different banners.  On the right, what was Midland Bank is now known officially as HSBC.

Boots the Chemist expanded into the unit next to the bank a few years ago. Before that, it was an Off Licence, latterly Victoria Wine.  Not showing too well in the picture is Blue Dragon dry cleaners and launderers which has been there since before 1977.  This unit and the next two were previously used by Waitrose and then by Oakshotts.

This is where Grahame Peck moved to, but the men's outfitting business has now gone to be replaced by a branch of Costa.  Abbey National has been here for all these years, although it has had a few makeovers.  Oakshotts, grocers, was here in the 1970s.   Next to Abbey National, the ladies have been able to have their hair done for probably twenty years, but before that Franks sold fruit and veg - and ice cream - we bought his big chest freezer when he ceased to sell ice cream!

These two units were International Stores, a small supermarket chain - what a choice for food shopping we had then!  By 1990, the first one was a travel agent, although under a different name, and then Lights and Shades retailer of - well, lights and shades!  Lights and Shades changed to Lighting Matters and absorbed the travel agent's space.  The corner shop, now an estate agent, was the National Provincial Bank, followed by Bramfield and Northcote selling antiques and collectables - the closure of the bank was in the mid-1970's.

And finally, on the west side of Packhorse Road, we come to the Ethorpe Hotel.  More or less unchanged from a long time before the period we are looking at, it has had several changes of image.

I do hope you found the tour informative.  Would you like to look at the east side now? 

You just might want to go back to the introductory page!

Photos © Guy Gorton