Windsor Castle

The Windsor Castle dates from the 1820s but its main incarnation was as a classic Victorian public house, seminal in 1970s musical history.

The Windsor Castle

It started life as the building at one end of houses on the south side of the Harrow Road, then called Ormes Green.

When rebuilt about 1850, the new building was typical of the villa development in this part of Harrow Road. It has turrets on the top reminiscent of its namesake: the real Windsor Castle.

After passing about a hundred years as a classic local pub, it burst into musical significance.

It was renowned for early gigs by the Rolling Stones and the Who.

The pub was a punk rock venue in the mid to late 1970s. Playing there, among others, were Dr Feelgood, The Jam, U2 and the Psychedelic Furs. The 101`ers with Joe Strummer - his band prior to forming the Clash - played there. The inspiration for the ‘Protex Blue’ track is said to come from the contraceptive machine in the toilets of the Windsor Castle.

After moving considerably downmarket as a strip club, it closed in 2009.

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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

Lady Townshend Bridge House Added: 8 Sep 2023 16:02 GMT	Tenant at Westbourne (1807 - 1811) I think that the 3rd Marquess Townshend - at that time Lord Chartley - was a tenant living either at Westbourne Manor or at Bridge House. He undertook considerable building work there as well as creating gardens. I am trying to trace which house it was. Any ideas gratefully received Reply
PETER FAIRCLOUGH Brindley Street, W2 Added: 10 May 2021 14:46 GMT	We once lived here My family resided at number 53 Brindley Street Paddington. My grandparents George and Elizabeth Jenkinson (ne Fowler) had four children with my Mother Olive Fairclough (ne Jenkinson) being born in the house on 30/09/1935. She died on 29/04/2021 aged 85 being the last surviving of the four siblings Reply
Robert Burns Abourne Street, W9 Added: 5 Jan 2023 17:46 GMT	1 Abourne Street My mother, and my Aunt and my Aunt’s family lived at number 1 Abourne Street. I remember visitingn my aunt Win Housego, and the Housego family there. If I remember correctly virtually opposite number 1, onthe corner was the Lord Amberley pub. Reply
Hampden Street, W2 Added: 22 Aug 2023 12:31 GMT	Hampden Street, W2 My great great grandparents William and Hannah Playford lived at 60 Hampden Street from the mid 1880s when they moved from rural poverty in Norfolk to inner city hardship in Paddington and where all their children were born. My great grandfather was a road sweeper and sold cat meat. They had seven children in all, of whom five survived infancy: three boys who all volunteered for the army at the outbreak of WW1 and miraculously returned via Salonika, France and a German POW camp; and two daughters, the eldest of whom was my great grandmother, Annie Playford b 1888. She had an illegitimate daughter in 1910, my grandmother Hilda Sarah Catherine. She brought her up singlehandedly and assumed a false married name to conceal her (then socially unacceptable) status as a single mother. In fact she never married and would never tell my grandmother anything about her father. Because of her longevity (she died in 1986) I remember Annie very well. As a child I perceived her as grumpy, uncommunicative, unsocial and a voracious eater. Of course as an adult I realised this was borne from pride loneliness, ill health, a grim determination to survive, and hunger. Somehow she did survive on her own as a single parent, despite lack of family support and serious deprivation. She worked three back breaking menial cleaning jobs over many years to make ends meet. With the advent of DNA I now know the identity of my grandmother’s father which she always dearly wished to know herself. She used to ask her mother if she loved her. The answer: "I kept you, didn’t I?" In the context of the times, I think that says it all. I only wish nanny was still here so that I could tell her all about her father. Reply

LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Tony Whipple Frank Whipple Place, E14 Added: 16 Apr 2024 21:35 GMT	Frank Whipple Place, E14 Frank was my great-uncle, I’d often be ’babysat’ by Peggy while Nan and Dad went to the pub. Peggy was a marvel, so full of life. My Dad and Frank didn’t agree on most politics but everyone in the family is proud of him. A genuinely nice, knowledgable bloke. One of a kind. Reply
Theresa Penney Whites Row, E1 Added: 16 Apr 2024 18:08 GMT	1 Whites Row My 2 x great grandparents and his family lived here according to the 1841 census. They were Dutch Ashkenazi Jews born in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 19th century but all their children were born in Spitalfields. Reply
Wendy The Polygon Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT	Polygon Buildings Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings. Reply
Steve Charleville Circus, SE26 Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT	Road construction and houses completed New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only. Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date. Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London Reply
Steve Charleville Circus, SE26 Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT	Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS) One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc. I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever. Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London Reply
Charles Hornsey Rise, N19 Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT	My House I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s. Reply
NH Woodgrange Road, E7 Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT	Telephone House Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000 Reply
Paul Cox Aldine Street, W12 Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT	War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there. Reply

LOCAL PHOTOS

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This photo from 6 August 1857 shows guests at the wedding at Westbourne Lodge, Paddington (Royal Oak) The wedding was of Florence Augusta Saunders, daughter of Charles Saunders, first general secretary of the Great Western Railway, with the Reverend Frederick Manners Stopford. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was amongst the guests. During the wedding, both Brunel and Saunders were able to experience trains running beside the wedding party along the railway which they had built. TUM image id: 1556886976 Licence:	Mrs Siddons’ house at Westbourne Green c. 1800 TUM image id: 1557227342 Licence:	The Tabernacle is a Grade II*-listed building in Powis Square, W11 built in 1887 as a church. Photographed here in 2010. Credit: Asteuartw TUM image id: 1453285201 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Duke of Cornwall, Ledbury Road W11, around 1990. Later the Ledbury restaurant, holder of two Michelin Stars TUM image id: 1453282426 Licence:	The corner of Caird Street with Lancefield Street, Queen’s Park Estate. TUM image id: 1456818108 Licence:
SARM Studios, a recording studio, was established by Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records. They were originally known as Basing Street Studios. It has also been known in the past as Island Studios. SARM is an aconym of Sound and Recording Mobiles. At the studios, built inside a former church that had been deconsecrated, Blackwell recorded a number of artists there for Island Records, such as Iron Maiden, Bob Marley, Steve Winwood, Free, Bad Company, Robert Palmer, Jimmy Cliff, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, King Crimson, John Martyn, Mott the Hoople, Quintessence, Roxy Music, Brian Eno, Sparks, Cat Stevens, Spooky Tooth, Traffic, If, Jethro Tull, the Average White Band, and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. TUM image id: 1453376699 Licence:	New flats featuring in a photo taken from Adair Road (1962) TUM image id: 1489944954 Licence:	Caird Street street sign. TUM image id: 1456818442 Licence:	Looking south at and beyond No 1 Bosworth Road on the corner with Hazlewood Crescent (1952) Still from the film “I Believe in You” Credit: Reelstreets TUM image id: 1660313077 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Arundel Gardens Credit: Barbara Avis TUM image id: 1453911014 Licence:
Chippenham Mews (1959) This photo was taken by a Swiss maid who worked in the area during the late 1950s. Chippenham Mews lies behind Harrow Road running from Chippenham Road to Marylands Road. Building had been begun in the 1860s with substantial terraces near Harrow Road. The area did not attract the upper classes that were expected and parts of the area came to suffer from cramped layouts and houses. Credit: Gregoire Ming TUM image id: 1666003307 Licence:	Junction of Cirencester Street, W2 Cirencester Street was curtailed when the post-war Warwick Estate was built TUM image id: 1620671975 Licence:	Great Western Road (1959) Great Western Road, which runs past Westbourne Park station, replaced a lane called Green Lane. The bridge over the railway, pictured here, was known as Green Lane Bridge until the 1860s - maybe later. TUM image id: 1588415018 Licence:	People gather to hear speakers urge the people of Portobello Road to resist the 1957 Rent Act. This is on the corner with Blenheim Crescent which has seen little major change to the buildings between then and now. https://jamesrmacdonald.wordpress.com Credit: Alisdair Macdonald TUM image id: 1686924702 Licence:	The Cabbie’s Hut at the end of Kensington Park Road near the junction with Pembridge Road. From approximately this point, the footpath to the short-lived Kensington Hippodrome (1837-1840) led to the racecourse TUM image id: 1634648893 Licence: