Hounslow

[marty21]

yes the Pembury Estate in Hackney... its not even near Heathrow

tbh, that has improved over the last couple of years, it's still grim, but slightly less grim than before

i haven't been to hounslow in years, i did teacher training at west thames college in 94/5 and spent about 6 months travelling to there from hackney 3 days a week

didn't find it depressing, but it was pretty forgettable, can't remember much about the place tbh

 

[java1200]

I mean, no-one says "I live in Hammersmith & Chelsea" do they?

Well they wouldn't, considering there's no such borough. Hammersmith & Fulham or Kensington & Chelsea.

 

[marty21]

I mean, no-one says "I live in Hammersmith & Chelsea" do they?

they would if they had flats in both places

 

[William of Walworth]

The only positives I can think of are its close to Heathrow

That's a negative, the plane noise is awful out there

 

[marty21]

That's a negative, the plane noise is awful out there

it's every 90 seconds at peak flying time i think

 

[Isambard]

Provides a lot of work like, Heathrow mind. My lezza cousin is "security" for KLM!

 

[Barney Bee]

Brentford FC!! Yes we miss them. What fun those away days down at Griffin Park were. Especially the last one!

Fulham Mod

ooooo mod you evil bastard.
I've just logged back on - i'm new and had no idea you were Fulham.

 

[Random One]

i live in Hounslow (about 5 mins from H.West Tube), don't have a problem admitting it and i don't think it is THAT depressing. Although i do think it has got worse over the last 10 years. I don't see what makes it so much worse than some other areas.

 

[Barney Bee]

The bloke who independently chose which game machine to use on the Lottery tonight was 'from Hounslow'.

 

[Random One]

lol

 

[butterfly child]

Well they wouldn't, considering there's no such borough. Hammersmith & Fulham or Kensington & Chelsea.

Heh, I knew I'd get picked up on that one.

Still applies though, dunnit, people don't say "I live in the borough of....."

 

[butterfly child]

That's a negative, the plane noise is awful out there

You get used to it though, I certainly did.

I used to enjoy lying in bed, and watching the planes come in.

They really are VERY loud over Hounslow high street...

 

[butterfly child]

i live in Hounslow (about 5 mins from H.West Tube), don't have a problem admitting it and i don't think it is THAT depressing. Although i do think it has got worse over the last 10 years. I don't see what makes it so much worse than some other areas.

We really ought to organise a Hounslow curry night, but hardly anyone will turn up

 

[Random One]

We really ought to organise a Hounslow curry night, but hardly anyone will turn up

i won't be coming why pay for curry in hounslow when mum will cook you something a gazzillion times better!

the plane noise is not that bad-the only time it is irritating is in the summer when u have windows open..

 

[rutabowa]

i had the best curry i've had in London in Hounslow. I think it's alright.

 

[butterfly child]

i won't be coming why pay for curry in hounslow when mum will cook you something a gazzillion times better!

the plane noise is not that bad-the only time it is irritating is in the summer when u have windows open..

Social interaction????

 

[BEARBOT]

i havent been to hounslow in years...this thread has got me curious about the place.i loved in brentford for 6 months(nice quirky musical museum there which is all about mechanical music makers,wish i had gone in,has anyone???) and remember going specially to hounslow for the pound shops a few times

of course who can forget the lovely 5:30 am wake up call on most summer summer mornings of the thundering jet engines.nice.wish the plane would have airlifted me out of green dragon lane

on the other hand,i dont think hounslow is as bad as woolwich/plumstead(hell on earth) say or certinaly not as bad as stonebridge park,near harlsden

.hounslow is not nice to look at really and is quite far out(zone 4),with little alternative cultural stuff goin on.PARTS of hackney arent nice(my bit is ok tho,near the canal) and have a bad atmosphere and teen gangs just like hounslow/woolwich/stonebridge or any urban working class area but they are at least in zone 2 and there are at least some social outlets for creative people/experimental/leftfield music here who for folks who arent ultra monied "shoreditch twats" .

there is plenty of scenic stuff to see in the general area of hounslow, canal walks in brentford, chiswisk house,hogarth house.no gigs or gallery parties or experimental films tho

 

[Barney Bee]

no gigs or gallery parties or experimental films tho

Is Watermans not open anymore? They used to show 'arty' films if not experimental ones.
BTW I have been to the little music museum many moons ago. I remember it being quite cool but ,erm, little.
Also check out Kew Bridge Steam Museum just up the road.

 

[boing!]

Hounslow is great for pound shops. Very useful when you need to do your christmas shopping on a very tight budget.

 

[tim]

BTW I have been to the little music museum many moons ago. I remember it being quite cool but ,erm, little.

The Music mnuseum is currently moving to a new home, in one of the new blocks of yuppy flats, which will give them more space to fully expose all their organs. It will iclude a concert hall for their flashing Wurlitzer. Sounds good but will probably lack some of the atmosphere of the decaying old church they were in before. The steam museum is also really fun, particularly, when they get the 150 year old dinosauric pumping engine going.

 

[BEARBOT]

im sorry the musical museum is now moving...looked a very special place QUIRKY is cool

watermans art centre seemed cool too, never made it there sadly,was not in the area all that long.


xmess shopping at pound shops is the ONLY way..esp if you have grab bag £1 pressie party..i got naked fella playing cards

 

[tim]

im sorry the musical museum is now moving...looked a very special place QUIRKY is cool

watermans art centre seemed cool too, never made it there sadly,was not in the area all that long.


xmess shopping at pound shops is the ONLY way..esp if you have grab bag £1 pressie party..i got naked fella playing cards

The new building is very bland looking, but at least it will give them more exhibition space.

 

[Random One]

Social interaction????

i don't remember what that is...i spend far too much time on here avoiding it!!!

 

[Sir Belchalot]

Hounslow West may be a bland dump but does have a mega-cheap South Indian Deli opposite the tube. Lovely food, worth stopping off if you're going to/from the airport.

 

[butterfly child]

Hounslow is great for pound shops. Very useful when you need to do your christmas shopping on a very tight budget.

I'd rather go without that receive something from a pound shop!

[/snob]

 

[changingman]

Is there a more depressing area in London (or England) than horrid, horrid little Hounslow?

Northolt. And Gant's Hill. And Feltham , and New Addington, and bits of Carshalton, and Silvertown. In fact London is surrounded by a suburban belt (I should know, I live in it) of grey, dismal, squat, gloomy, rain-stained pebbledashed and fake-yorkstone-clad houses and tatty high streets full of charity and pound shops with litter blowing up the pavements and KFC boxes in the paved-over front gardens.
This was impressed upon me most vividly when, a few years ago, during a period of un-and under-employment I took a driving job to get me out of the house and keep me from using the heating at home. I spent most of every day driving around in it - about 80 percent of the outer London area is grim beyond description. God only knows what it must be like oop north..

 

[changingman]

Housnlow facts:

The Bluetones came from Hounslow West. Good band.

Renee from Allo Allo was injured in the big storm in 1987 near Houslow High Street.

The Gateways in Hounslow West was once a Cinema.

There is an estate called 'Beavers Estate'. No lie.

Errr...thats it I think.

It was also where Hendrix played his first gig in the UK, the very night he arrived. In the Duke of Cambridge pub, near the bus garage.

 

[changingman]

Is Watermans not open anymore? They used to show 'arty' films if not experimental ones.

Watermans is still there, but sadly a pale shadow of its former self. Still good for films, although hardly anybody ever goes any more. They closed it down a while ago for "refurbishment". Nearly 3 years later, once all its audience had drifted off elsewhere, it reopened almost exactly the same except they no longer put on live music, which killed it for me. I've seen some of the best gigs ever in that place .. Junior Wells and his 9-piece American band for one, amazing.

And the most unforgivable thing they did was cancel Dominic Gray's wonderful Christmas pantomime. It was an annual family treat, never have I heard entendres so double. Absolutely filthy. And the kids loved it just as much on their own level too. He even put on an adult version in the last two years it was on there. Gone now to the hideous Treaty Centre in Hounslow central. Terrible shame. Local lore is the council want to run it down so they can close it and sell the land for even more luxury flats.

But this is groovy, bohemian Brentford, home to stars of the magnitude of Nick Lowe, Robert Rankin, and Anna Ford, not dismal Hounslow.

 

[Cotch]

Is there a more depressing area in London (or England) than horrid, horrid little Hounslow?

Try looking in East or South London.

 

[1svana]

yeah, but (at least closer to) better nightlife, cultures...etc down SE