Photographs of Hornchurch High Street take us all the way back to the early 1900s, showing an almost unrecognisable road with no cars, long-lost pubs and lots of flat caps.
In the century that followed, shops changed, buildings were knocked down and rebuilt, and cars replaced carts – these images capture it all at different points in history.
The Bull Inn – c.1905
This photo shows the Bull Inn, in around 1905, when the landlord was George Heath and an advert announces the availability of “Horses and Carriages Let Out on Hire”.
Believed to date back to the 16th Century, the pub was renamed The Fatling and Firkin in the 1990s, and later simplified to Fatling Hornchurch.
Hornchurch Carnival – c.1910
This photo was taken of the high street during the Hornchurch Carnival, showing the street crowded with residents, and even people leaning out the windows to catch the action.
On the left, a shop owned by the Drake family – which operated as both a hairdresser and a newsagent – can be seen, with a bootmaker’s shop next door.
White Hart Hotel – c. 1932
In this image, F.W. Franklyn & Son bootmakers can be seen on the left, occupying the same spot it had since at least 1840, according to Havering Libraries.
In the centre of the photo is the newly built White Hart Hotel, which was approved in January 1930 and in use by May 1932.
Junction of High Street and North Street – c. 1960
This photo shows the junction of High Street and North Street in around 1960, with Burton’s outfitters on the left and recently built shops and flats opposite.
The Green Lantern restaurant moved from its spot here at 135 High Street to a new unit at 194 in 1962.
High Street – February 1987
This image looks toward what had been the White Hart Hotel until 1986, when it was re-named Madison Exchange.
Other shops which can be seen are the Norman Douglas wallpaper shop on the left, electrical store H.W. Stone/Trend and drapers and outfitters Pollards.
