A look back at Harold Hill and Romford shops from yesteryear

Photos from the Havering Libraries archives include jewellers Gloria Paul in Farnham Road in Harold Hill of the late 1950s, as well as The Fifty Shilling tailors in South Street, Romford two decades prior.

Gloria Paul in Farnham Road in Harold Hill circa 1956/57

Gloria Paul in Farnham Road, Harold Hill (Image: Havering Libraries-Local Studies)

Gloria Paul jewellers was once part of the Farnham Road shopping centre, commonly known as Hilldene Shops.

To the left of Gloria Paul was the Co-op and to the right Froggatt and Burton baby carriages, according to Havering Libraries.

Hilldene Shops opened in 1952 at a cost of £663,000 to give Harold Hill a shopping centre suited to its size and population, it added.

RELATED LISTICLE: Romford's vintage shops from the Havering Libraries archive

Burney's Soft Furnishing and Household Linens in Hilldene Avenue, 1961

Burney's Soft Furnishings and Household Linens in Hilldene Avenue, Harold Hill in 1961 (Image: Havering Libraries-Local Studies)

This photograph shows the queue for the January sales at Burney's Soft Furnishing and Household Linens in Hilldene Avenue, according to Havering Libraries.

An accompanying sign for the Romford Washing Machine Centre can be seen to the left.

World's Stores in South Street, Romford circa 1913 

World's Stores in South Street circa 1913 (Image: Havering Libraries-Local Studies)

World's Stores, to the centre of this postcard view, was in South Street, shown in this photo looking towards the railway bridge.

Picture frame maker HF Blackwell stood to the right of World's Stores, which was a grocers, according to Havering Libraries.

Green's Stores in Main Road, Gidea Park, Romford, circa 1965

Green's Stores in Gidea Park circa 1965 (Image: Havering Libraries-Local Studies)

Green's Stores was a grocers and tea dealers, according to Havering Libraries.

The grocers and other shops on the block between 184 and 192 Main Road were estimated to have been built in 1912.

The Fifty Shilling on South Street in Romford circa 1936

The Fifty Shilling tailor in South Street circa 1936 (Image: Havering Libraries-Local Studies)

The Fifty Shilling tailor traded under that name until the mid 1950s before rebranding as John Collier, according to Havering Libraries.

It opened in September 1933 to replacing Lasham’s Chemists, which had been on the corner of South Street and High Street for more than 90 years.

The origins of the Fifty Shilling tailor are with Henry Price who started Price's, branded as a "high end economic tailor" in 1906 in Keighley, Havering Libraries added.