This page was first created in 2002, updated in 2009 but now many things have changed.  Some of the commentary touches on changes between 1977 when an American friend went home and 2002/2009 and some on changes over more recent years.

It is now March 2020 and there have been many changes in the last 12 months.  Pending a full update, I have added some notes to the text.

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.  This view is unchanged in 2019.

Another scene that has not changed.  The window on the left is part of the Wildwood restaurant but was used for a long time as a charity shop.
Guinot beauty salon has replaced Chiltern Florists which occupied this unit far a very long time.  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.

It is a scene that has not changed much since 2014.  Hob salons occupies premises that have changed hands a number of times.  It has been a branch of Southern Electricity, a greengrocer and Richardsons the butcher.  Jungs operates a cafe, a deli and a baker's shop.  Previous occupants of one or the other of the two units were David Shuttle and a paint & wallpaper retailer as well as a party shop but go back 30 years and it was a branch of Brendon's selling televisions and radios.
Jungs has gone but we are promised a new catering establishment "soon".

 Multiyork has gone, as it has everywhere, but this old photo is more attractive than the present scene of white windows and a To Let sign..  I wonder if a new tenant will be found this year.  The furnishings shop Gilroy Interiors which was in Station Road has taken over these premises after they were vacant for many months.  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.

Travel Time is the only shop that is essentially unchanged.  Fishers occupied three units as one shop but the arrival of the supermarket outlets did not allow that to continue.
We now have a branch of Sainsbury's occupying two units while Fishers concentrated on being a butcher within just one unit but Fisher's butcher's shop in now run by Tariq..  Big changes!
More changes!  The double fronted Sainsbury's has been replaced by Screwfix which seems an unlikely occupant.  I wonder how it will prosper. 

Another charity shop has taken over from  Auberge du Chocolat.  Blush Boutique has taken over from La Belle.  La Belle is the latest name on the front of  the ladies fashion shop.  It has been Gita, Dorosu in 2009, Bo-Peep in 2002, all lady's fashions, was Rayner's the chemist, a delightful if somewhat old-fashioned establishment.  

Across Bulstrode Way is Lloyds Bank, no longer labelled Lloyds TSB..  The 2002 picture is here.  The branch is now closed.
The street furniture is new too.  The planted tubs appeared a year or two back and now we have baskets and flags on the street lamps.

             
One of the few lengths of the road that has not changed since 2009 but there have been many changes 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.

More changes in 2019 - Winser has changed its colour.  . Winser, recently Krembo, was Unwin's the last in a line of Off Licences,  Earlier the unit was a baker's and then a jeweller.  Eateries of one sort and another have multiplied in Gerrards Cross so we now have a Pizza Express.  NSS ran this large unit as a newsagent until Forbuoys came along which changed its name to Martins.. Before that, it was Budgen's Supermarket, which moved to a new building in Station Road but by 2009 is no longer represented in Gerrards Cross. 

The lady's hairdresser under the name Brox continues in action.  Trudels used to sell china and glassware, then Lyttons sold fuirnishing fabrics, then Country Casuals offered lady's clothing, now swept away for another food outlet - a baker..  For a shortish period in the 1980's it was an art shop. 

The Jade Room, then The Good Life occupied the premises now run as Caffe Nero.  The shop on the right was Patricia's fashions for many years but is now Lomito, a restaurant offering steaks and other goodies..

The railway bridge constructed during the creation of the Tesco store on the other side of the road has been, very recently, adorned with these plant tubs..  We also catch a glimpse of the Barclays Bank in Station Approach..

After crossing the railway bridge we have Station Approach on the left.  Only a small change to the shop front has occured since 2002.
The little kiosk just to the right of this picture is now used by Tiger Lily, the florist which used to be opposite the cinema entrance

W H Smith and Timpsons have been here all these years, but with various changes of appearance.  Extreme Design on the corner of Ethorpe Crescent deals in kitchens.  The new traffic lights at the junction of Packhorse Road and Station Road do not do it any favours.  The traffic lights at the end of Station Road have gone, which is a big improvement to traffic flow.

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 became HSBC but is now closed and empty..

Boots the Chemist, with a new colour scheme on the facia,  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.

The mo        The most important change here is that we have our safe pedestrian crossing again.  It was removed as part of the Tesco "improvements".  The dry cleaners shop has had a make-over with a new colour scheme.  The shop is where Grahame Peck moved to, but the men's outfitting business has now gone to be replaced by a branch of Costa..  Santander took over the business of Abbey National , including these premises.  Oakshotts, grocers, was here in the 1970s.
Santander is now closed and empty.  

Next to Santander, 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!  The next 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.  Lighting Matters has left the shop on the left which is now yet another coffee shop glorying under the name ONE4SIX.  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.  The only recent change here is that the estate agents at the end on the right has changed its name again!

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!

Updated in January 2019 and in March 2020.

Photos © Guy Gorton
guy.gorton@btinternet.com