Did you know that...
Greenford is part of the historic county of Middlesex. The first mention of this area comes from 848. It was then called Grenan Forda. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon words “grene” and “ford” and it means settlement at the green ford. The nearby Perivale was known as Little Greenford and this area was called Great Greenford. This North West London area has a population of 46,000. It is one of Ealing’s largest suburbs. Sculptor C.J. Allen, singer Elyar Fox, TV producer Jack Good who is associated with The Beatles and The Monkees, and officer William Thornton are some of the most notable Greenford residents.
The area is regarded as the birthplace of the modern organic chemical industry. Sir William Perkins established a chemical factory here in the 19th century. This is where mauveine or aniline purple was discovered. A blue plaque in Oldfield Lane North marks the spot. The Hovis factory was also in Greenford. A local joke was saying that Queen Elizabeth I only eats bread made from Hovis flour. Rockware Avenue bears the name of the Rockware glass-works factory in the area. In 1921, food manufacturer J. Lyons and Co. bought land in Greenford and established a factory. The company was the biggest local employer. King George V and Queen Mary visited the place on several occasions.
Ready Brek breakfast cereals were made in Greenford in the 1950s. Since 1998, the factory was redeveloped into the Lyon Way Industrial Estate. Oldfield Tavern was developed on the site where William Perkins kept his horses. This is where rock group Detours met drummer Keith Moon. They became the well-known band called The Who. A block of flats and a gas station stand on the site of the now-demolished tavern. Members of the Edison Lighthouse band hail from this area. The capital’s only motorbike museum, London Motorcycle Museum, is located in Greenford.
