West Green Road Businesses

West Green Road: We’re In Business

The railways arrived in Tottenham in 1840 and 1872, transforming it from a rural district to a buzzing Victorian urban landscape. Between 1890-1900 the buildings we now know stretching along West Green Road also took shape – along with them the businesses that have developed, changed and served the community for all this time. 

(Entering West Green Road where it meets Tottenham High Road in 1925.From the collections and © Bruce Castle)

In 2018 a short 5-minute film ‘I am West Green Road’ directed and produced by Tottenham film-maker Eren Kaplan celebrated telling the story of the great diversity and strength of community through the businesses and residents in West Green Road today. The film explores how the existing businesses contribute to the overall health and wellbeing of the area, countering the sensationalist reporting of West Green Road ranked that year as ‘London’s unhealthiest high street’.  You can hear the united voices of local traders and customers and enjoy the film online.

(Screen-shot of ‘I Am West Green Road’, 2018 by Eren Kaplan)

Complementing this film, you can explore other business stories of Body Music and Headstart Bookshop, and the photographic portraits of traders and shoppers of West Green Road, taken by Australian photographer Stephanie Rose Wood when she lived in the neighbourhood.

Awarded a Rising Star in the 2015 Great British High Street Awards, West Green Road has enjoyed a delightful array of specially commissioned shopfront transformations by You and Me Architecture. Inspiration took its cue from the area’s rich history and community stories as well as the amazing range of services and products available along the road. Find out more about that project. And read on for a taste of some remarkable stories of businesses in West Green Road.

(Specially-redesigned shopfront of Celebrations partyware at 34 West Green Road in 2019.Photograph courtesy of You and Me Architecture)

Long-serving Traders

Myall’s Shoe Shop

One of the oldest and highly reputable traders in Tottenham was Myall’s Shoe Shop at 16 West Green Road, notching up over 175 years serving the locality until the year 2000. They were retailers of the ‘Hotspur’ Boots that apparently were worn by Spurs footballers when they won the F.A. Cup in 1921. You can see more about their shop with photographs and stories by the third generation of the Myall family, carefully collated by local historian Alan Swain.

Tottenham Wine

Being the second generation to own Tottenham Wine, Rickey Singh Gill’s family is fast approaching four decades running this specialist wine and craft beer store. His father took over the business from family friends in 1985, who had opened it originally in 1978 nearby in Tottenham High Road. Since 1982 Tottenham Wine has been at 1a-1b West Green Road marking the gateway into West Green Road.

The distinctive large windows on the second floor have fascinated passers-by with its pictures and paintings, now having undergone a more recent transformation. Proud of its commitment supporting community football in London, in 2018 Tottenham Wine was also awarded an African Caribbean Leadership Company Cultural Award by the West Indian Cultural Centre, N8 for its contribution and long service. 

(West Green Road (2010) by Tottenham-based artist Everal Hall ©.His painting shows Tottenham Wine on one side of the street and Body Music (Everybodies) on the other)

Poignant History: The Holocaust Survivor - Samuel Goldstein (1902-1972)

One of the most moving stories from West Green Road is that of Samuel Goldstein, a Polish-born Jew, who set up his business at number 35, living above the shop. In the summer of 1939 he had fled Nazi Germany, finding safety in England. His mother Frieda was left behind. She was deported from Berlin and by 1941 was taken to an extermination camp where she was killed the following year in a gas van. Their tragic story can be found on the Summerhill Road website.

Local historian Alan Swain has helped piece together the story of Samuel’s life in Tottenham. Sharing the story more widely, other memories of Sammy (as he was known locally) have come to light. He was a dental mechanic who was well respected and liked in the community and employed a small group of workers. One heartening recollection by one young worker was that Sammy would give fairly large discounts for dental repairs to African Caribbean locals and others in the community who had settled in this country.  

Daily Bread: Some Baking Stories

Dennington’s, the Bakers, 56 West Green Road

At the start of the 20th century, from 1900 – 1920s, there were eight bakeries dotted along the extent of West Green Road. By the 1950s this had reduced to five and going into the 1960s and ‘70s it was down to three serving the community. This would all chime with the growth of the newer and larger supermarkets outstripping the smaller shops by providing one place to get all your shopping (and sometimes providing it more cheaply).

One of the long-serving bakers was Dennington’s of 56 West Green Road. Here is the family story of the Dennington’s bakery shared with local historian Alan Swain about what it was like during the 1920s.

(View from about 1910 looking westwards along West Green Road taken from outside the Dennington’s bakery at number 56.You can also spot Freeman, Hardy and Willis the boots on the left side of the picture.From the collections and © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive.)

Tottenham Town Bakery, 38 West Green Road

Looking back, a large majority of Caribbean food businesses started off by preparing food at home during the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s. Some began in kitchens and living rooms, just cooking food for their communities. As their popularity increased, so they grew out of their houses and expanded their businesses into physical shops. Business owners had to make do with whatever ingredients and foodstuffs they could find in English markets. It would take sometimes months to get food from the Caribbean to the UK. By the time it got here, some of it was mouldy or had gone off. Nowadays, it takes less than a week to send over food and there are also huge supermarkets that supply Caribbean food.

Established in 1973 at 38 West Green Road, Tottenham Town Bakery is still located at the same spot in the street today. Now run by the next generation of bakers, for many this bakery has just ‘been there’ for as long as anyone can remember. At the bakery they say, ‘Being Jamaican means more to us at Tottenham Town Bakery. It means we have to ensure that we are the best at what we do and how we do it. We take great pride in offering great products with a great value and service.’ The amount of people queueing to get their favourites from the bakery is testimony to that.

(Courtesy: Tottenham Town Bakery)

Uncle John’s Bakery, 74 West Green Road

A little further down the road from Tottenham Town Bakery is Uncle John’s Bakery at number 74. This bakery is not just a staple on West Green Road with its Ghanaian baking treats but is a name known around the country now as a supplier to nationwide supermarkets. Find out more about Uncle John’s special story from another Tottenham Tale.

(Courtesy: Uncle John’s Bakery)

Big Names on the High Street - David Greig, 52 and 99 West Green Road

The grocery store David Greig started off very locally in around the year 1870 in Hornsey High Street, N8. The Greig family opened more shops, expanding into other community high streets like West Green Road, with shops operating from 1905 at numbers 52 and 99.

The business grew so much that it became a tried and trusted name amongst the burgeoning supermarket chains in the UK, and was considered a rival for Sainsbury’s. You can read more about this highly successful local grocer and how a plaque on their first shop and a local secondary school bear the name of Greig in Hornsey High Street.

(The trusted name on the high street – David Greig the grocer. This David Greig shop shown here (not local) was a butcher’s. Note the ‘Empire Lamb’ for sale – presumably New Zealand lamb. Courtesy: Wikipedia)

Unique Selling Points - The Swap Shop, 57 West Green Road

There are a number of fond memories about the unusual and very popular Swap Shop on West Green Road. Many would look in the window for hours, enticed and intrigued by the shop’s contents. Run by Christopher Pearse with his wife, they described themselves as an ‘Antique and Modern Dealer’ – the shop was there from the late ‘40s, ‘50s. ‘60s and ‘70s with some remembering it in the 1980s.

You could find all sorts for sale at the Swap Shop – ice skates, recorders, guitars and sheet music, even war memorabilia, practical jokes and stink bombs! A few remember the shop-owner as rather grumpy but it didn’t put them off. You can explore a lot of the memories gathered together by local historian Alan Swain.

The memories may be many but there are few images of what this shop looked like, although one photograph from 1974 taken by local resident Jim Clark (1925 – 2018) has the sign of the Swap Shop just in shot, positioned up high along the row of shops in West Green Road.

(The Swap Shop sign can just be seen on the left hand side of this photograph of West Green Road from 1974, taken by Jim Clark (1923-2018).From the collections and © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive.)

Dolls’ Hospital, 126a West Green Road

Wrapped around the corner of where West Green Road meets Lawrence Road was a prominent landmark for children - the Dolls’ Hospital. The little hospital for its small patients was part of H.C. Cooper’s hairdressing and barber shop. For a few children, this was the scariest of shops, seeing the dolls staring out of the shop window. But for the majority it was fascinating and part of a weekly pilgrimage to go and look at the dolls. If your doll was broken and needed mending, or you made dolls yourself, then Mr and Mrs Cooper were there to offer advice and attend to the dolls handed over to their care.

On the Facebook page ‘I Grew Up In Tottenham’, Lesley said she used to work at the dolls’ hospital: ‘I worked there Saturdays from 1956 and I helped repair the dolls that came in. Mr Cooper did most of the repairs. I helped putting new hair on the dolls and sew smaller repairs. Mrs Cooper made new clothes for the dolls. I certainly learned a lot from them both. Mr Cooper and Ben were the barbers while Mrs Cooper had a ladies’ hairdressers upstairs.’

Dyke & Dryden, 126 West Green Road

The pioneering Dyke & Dryden story in Tottenham goes back almost 60 years ago. In May 1965, Dyke & Dryden was established by Len Dyke and Dudley Dryden in West Green Road, selling records and cosmetics. Joined by Tony Wade in 1968, their story is one of unprecedented Black enterprise from the 1960s in this country. 

Overcoming discrimination and prejudice, these three men became the founders of the first Black Afro hair and beauty company in the UK. They used their own money to set it up as High Street banks did not support Black businesses. As trailblazers they succeeded in building Britain’s first Black multi-million-pound business enterprise. Their name ‘Dyke & Dryden’ was the by-word for Black and beautiful hair and beauty products. They ran the ‘Afro Hair and Beauty Show’, one of the major international exhibitions in the industry. 

(Dyke & Dryden products – from the collections and photograph © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive)

If it wasn’t for Dyke & Dryden, barber shops and hairdressing salons would not have developed the way they did. During the 1970s and 80s, Black women were virtually invisible to many hair and beauty manufacturers. Dyke & Dryden changed that by providing an array of Black hair care products. Until 1973, Dyke & Dryden had been importing and selling reggae music from Jamaica, connecting the Caribbean with those living in the UK. They used the same business format to cater for women in providing Black Afro hair and beauty products. 

The first Dyke & Dryden Black Afro haircare shop opened in West Green Road, initially at number 43 and then 126. More shops opened around the country as well as other business ventures. Their travel agency opened in Tottenham, with destinations to the Caribbean and Africa. Establishing a chain of outlets, Dyke & Dryden became the first Wholesalers. To this day, the presence of the wholesale business is still evident on the premises on Brantwood Road in Tottenham, where the name Dyke & Dryden can just be seen on the side of the building.

(There are few, if any, photographs of the Dyke & Dryden shops in West Green Road – where it all started. In this streetview from 1974, the shop they had at number 43 is just visible in the shadows on the left hand side. From the collections and photograph © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive)

A Nubian Jak Community Trust Black Plaque was unveiled above the shop at 126 West Green Road on 13 November 2020 as part of a project to recognise significant Black figures in British history and to celebrate the legacy of these three pioneering businessman.

(From the collections and photograph © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive)