Slough High Street Then and Now

· by · in Slough. ·

Every High Street has a past, and that includes Slough in Berkshire. In this post you will find loads of before and after photos of the shops in Slough High Street. Inspired by a photograph I saw inside the Daniel store labelled ‘Slough 1935 – 1956’, immediately I thought, was there really a Daniel store in Slough?? For those of you who aren’t familar with Daniel, it is a huge department store in Windsor that is 100 years old this year. It really is a part of Windsor. But the Slough branch, that got me intrigued.

Daniel-Slough-1936---1956

I don’t recognise this store front from today’s High Street at all, so I suspect it may have been demolished when the Queensmere shopping centre was built in the 1970s. I asked in a local facebook group if anyone remembered the store, even though you would have to be in your 70s at least to be old enough to remember it.

A number of people said it is now Debenhams, but some say that would have been Suters at that time. Some say it was on the Crown corner (now the shops next to The Curve). Others say it was down an alleyway that led to the Cat Ballou Club, which was demolished when the Queensmere Observatory shopping centre was built. I had a look at some local history books at the library and I couldn’t see anything that resembles the above photo.

The Daniel photo got a lot of interest on Facebook, so I thought I’d share some before and after photos I did when we first moved to the area.

This building at 210 – 216 High Street was originally a Waitrose before becoming a Sainsbury’s. Recently it was a 99p store, then Poundland no.2 and now the store is vacant.

Sainsburys-Slough-then-and-now-99p-store-poundland

BHS – I still can’t believe this brand has gone from the UK high street. Slough’s branch was at 204-208, and currently vacant.

BHS-Slough-then-and-now

In the below photo, I had always thought the buildings had character, even if the shopfronts themselves were brash. Though it looks like even in the 1970s, there were vacant shops then.

Loyds-Slough-then-and-now-Specsavers

At 190-192 was my favourite shop, Woolworths. And that is now Poundland and JD Sports.

Woolworths-Slough-then-and-now-poundland

At number 188, what is now Select was River Island, and back in the 80s it was Texas Instruments and Hall of Cards. And before that it was the Eagle pub.

Hall-of-cards-Texas-Instruments-Select-River-Island-Slough-then-and-now

Now on to the outside of the Queensmere shopping centre, Poundworld used to be Littlewoods.

Littlewoods-Slough-then-and-now-poundworld

Debenhams at 115 – 161 High Street used to be Owen Owen (I think it was an Allders in between).

Owen-Owen-Slough-then-and-now-debenhams

And before that is was Suters Department Store. You can see M&S to the left, now sadly vacant.

Suters-Slough-then-and-now-debenhams

Virgin Media at 141 was H Samuel. Halifax at 145 was Burton. And before that, H Samuel and Dudd & Co was a pub call The Reindeer Inn.

Burton-Slough-then-and-now-halifax

Starbucks at 146-149 in is a rebuilt building, but it has been built exactly how it used to look. It used to be an Etam store.

Etam-Slough-then-and-now-Starbucks

And then at the forgotten end of the High Street where Wetherspoons and all those estate agents are, well here is a before and after.

Slough-High-Street-Then-and-Now

I hope you found that interesting. If you used to go shopping in Slough, do you remember any of the stores in the photos?

Sabrina x

 

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27 responses to “Slough High Street Then and Now”

    • Bet you never dared try the Littlewood’s Cafe. That was an unusual shop with entrance and ground level and below ground second floor. This is where the cafe was was located. The food was ghastly, and I recall on one occasion being handed a glass of foaming orange squash which tasted like dishwater. !978 or thereabouts.

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  2. Ah I used to love Slough high street when I was there about 10 years ago. So much change!! And I remember Etam so well from my childhood. I think I still have some vest tops from there!

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    • What were you doing here 10 years ago?! Yes the stores are completely different, that’s why I find it so interesting that the actual buildings are the same. I used to love Etam, well Tammy Girl when I was skinny enough lol!

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  3. certaintly remember those shops from growing up in slough during the 70s & 80s.
    we used to do our weely shop on a friday in sainsburys & waitrose opposite, which eventually was knocked down to make way fot the observatory shopping centre.
    also fosters where i got my upton grammar school uniform from back in the day.
    my older sister worked as a saturday girl in etams & also later started work in nat west bank further up the high st (towards langley direction) which last time i went back i think was now a nandos.
    i aslo remember the macdonalds (which i think is still there) being one of the 1st in the country so big excitement for all us kids, not sure what year, but remember going to a friends birthday party there when we were about 7, so that would be 1976 or 77.

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  4. I grew up in Maidenhead and my grandparents lived in Langley, we shopped in Slough regularly. I remember being bought party dresses at Suters, also going to see Santa there. Later when I was in my early teens C&A was the place to buy clothes (think it was where Wilko is now). That forgotten end of the High Street – the Green Shield Stamp place was up there & I remember going to get my Bionic Woman doll there!! There was also a lovely Italian ice cream place. Also not forgetting the Fulcrum theatre, went to see several shows there and it was the first place I saw any live ballet. Bit of a shame poor old Slough high st is so run down now.

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  5. Interesting. Thank you for a trip down memory lane, although I only remember back as far as the early 90’s. I was born in ’77. Lived in Slough since ’79. The changes I have seen are crazy, unrecognisable to what it was. I am now saying goodbye to Slough for pastures new. I really don’t know if I will miss it?

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  6. What was next to the old Etam in High street, A butchers i believe, Could it have been a Dewhurst or one of there other trading names,

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  7. Great place to live in 60’s. Lived in Wexham most of my life now live at the coast. My father was manager of the big cooperative society known as RACS. My mother worked in BHS.

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  8. I lived in Slough for over 40 years and remember the high street buzzing with crowds on Saturday mornings for much of that time. It’s sad in many ways to see how much has disappeared in recent years though, with many shops empty now both large and small.
    I can recall that the Woolworths site was occupied by both Currys and Dixons shortly afterwards, right through the 1980’s and into the early 1990’s. I even worked at the Dixons branch for a short while in 1988 during my youth. Always crowded on Saturdays, with the odd BBC celebrity coming in for a look at the latest technology as well (seriously, a few did live relatively close to Slough to make it a convenient stop off for shopping at the time).
    Woolworths came back to Slough after the Observatory had been built, moving some time later into the old C&A store inside Queensmere, up until their closure in 2008 at any rate.
    So much history along one street, it does deserve to be remembered and documented.

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  9. I lived in Slough during the 60s and early 70s. Lived on Farnham Road near to Farnham Royal. Went to Slough High (I gather this is now a housing estate) and then Slough College. Used to meet my friend outside Suters every Saturday. We’d go in a cafe called ? the Cadena, which was above one of the shops. I remember Friday nights at The Cat disco, which was down an alleyway off the High Street. Also used to work in Woolies as a Saturday girl – when I wasn’t bunking off to watch Chelsea when they were playing at home!

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    • Are you Suzy shephard with a brother Chris if you are i would love to catch up i am family …. Ross

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  10. Do you remember the cat stamps you got on your hand if you went outside the cat balou club
    But wanted to go back in!
    Used to start at the pied horse before going to cat
    Happy days

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  11. Thank you for posting this article. I worked at Littlewoods in the late 70’s as a Window Dresser. It was unusual for a Littlewoods store in that it had three entrances. One on the main high street, one on the right hand side of the store which was within the shopping centre and the third one at the rear of the store inside the shopping centre. Each entrance had windows for displays and there were several areas inside the store that featured displays. This was a time when Littlewoods was at its peak, ahead of M&S and BHS in terms of style and service……..how times have changed?

    I haven’t been back to Slough since the early 80’s and doubt I would recognise it now, but I have some great memories of having fun at work….something that seems sadly lacking in the current climate!

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    • Thank you for sharing your memories, I think I can just about picture it. I guess the front would have been where the discount store is now, the side where the little shops are inside barber shop etc, and the rear where the old Next was. I’d love to go back in time and visit!

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  12. Like one of the other commenters, I lived in Maidenhead as a child and used to visit Slough regularly for shopping. I remember thinking Suter’s Department Store was the height of sophistication. The restaurant wallpaper had an Alpine scene which seemed so exotic in the 1960s and they had sugar lumps in silver bowls on the table that you could just help yourself to! What luxury.

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  13. Our family moved to slough in the late 60’s I lived on the britwell estate till 1987, so I grew up through all of this recent history. I particularly remember the old indoor market that really made slough for me. The slough model centre in there the masive model Vulcan bomber Ill never forget that stuff, this site has taken me down memory lane thanks just amazing. I have been back last year and it’s a real shame to see in now.
    Its lost its soul, so sad to see.

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    • I remember the indoor market very well always had an aroma of fresh fruit and veg. The model shop was a little boys dream and my mother used to buy me small balsa wood gliders and if she could stretch to it a balsa wood plane with a red wind up propeller. Hours of fun, very happy memories.

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  14. Pingback: 2020 Through The Seasons In Slough | The Mummy Stylist·

  15. Thanks for this ! My Grandmother lived at 149 High Street in 1935 according to her marriage certificate. Its now Starbucks and and is in great condition. Fascinating to see this

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  16. The Sainsbury / Waitrose information is incorrect. Waitrose was on the other side of the road (odd numbers not evens), roughly where the Observatory is. There was a side alley to the right which when you walked down took you past the Cat Balou later Studio 1 which led to the Waitrose car park, accessed from Wellington Street.
    I remember finishing school (Slough & Eton C of E aka Raggy Road) walking to Waitrose to put in my Thursday / Friday shift 4pm – 8pm and Saturdays 7am – 6pm all for £14 per week and loved every moment. And that was between 1979 and 1981. Our till supervisor was a jovial west Indian lady, Mrs. Carty. She looked after us kids well.
    Sainsbury was…bear with me…..at the junction of Alpha Street North and the High Street, Halfords was on the right hand corner, the Floral Arms pub on the left…. you turned left and Sainsbury was up in the left.

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    • Hi Tim, Mrs Carty was my mum Doreen. Sadly she passed away in 1997 but it’s nice to know people remember her fondly 😊. She loved her job. When I was child I used to go to the Waitrose Christmas party’s in the old shop. I Worked in waitrose too at Weekends in the early 90’s. It was the new shop in the Observatory.

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  17. My dad was manager of Perring furniture store next to the old post office (near Chandos Street) on the High Street during the 1950’s. I worked at J Isaacs huge furniture store at 249- 253 High Street from 1969 to 1984. The alleyway on the RH side ( where a gym now stands) led to the old co -op dairy with the Cat Balu club behind Isaacs shop and warehouse. Happy days,

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  18. I was born in Slough in 1942. My patrents had a two room flat above Lilly & Skinners shoe shop at 78 High Street close to The Crown public house. striblings grocers was next door. Opposite was the ABC bakery, Dolcis shoe shop and Walkers jewellery shop. There were flats above most of the shops and when I started at St Mary’s C of E in Herschel St in 1945 there were plenty of other children joining me walking to school. Simons, Suters, Coads were all Department Stores. There was a branch of Daniels too and Ashley Russells. Lots of shoe shops. Finefare was the first supermarket at the end of the fifties. Waitrose replaced one of the cinemas at the beginning of the sixties. It was very different!

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