Local shops, pubs, and restaurants – 1855 to the present
Windows On The Past
Long-time Primrose Hill resident Caroline Cooper spent some years researching the history of every one of Primrose Hill’s shops, restaurants pubs and cafés. Using Kelly’s Post Office Directories (published every five years until, sadly, they ceased to appear in the 1990s) she produced a series of A4 laminated cards showing the original uses of the place. Most businesses displayed them in their windows, sometimes for years afterwards.
In 2006 Caroline published the complete set in a book, ‘Windows On The Past’, with sales in aid of the threatened Chalk Farm Library. This website is starting out a an updated version of that book.
We are grateful to Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre, City of London Metropolitan Archives for their help and the Primrose Hill Conservation Area Advisory Committee for their original permission to use the 1972 photos.