Forum Topic

Forgotten shop name

None of us can remember and its driving me mad.  What was the name of the hardware shop on Chiswick High Road before it became Robert Dyas?

Robin Thomas Henry Broadway ● 3476d25 Comments

Catos ?

Michael Moran ● 3476d

Agreed

Richard Atterwill ● 3476d

I still call it Cato's :).

Susan Kelly ● 3475d

Where Robert Dyas is located now 326 Chiswick High Road was Goodban Ltd Drapers it it was located at 326, 328, 330,332, 334, and 336.Catos had two shops in Chiswick One by Turnham Green Station and one in Acton Lane, which is or was the shop sells baths

Bernard Allen ● 3475d

Wow, that must have been a huge shop... Santander, Boots AND Robert Dyas!  And not a coffee shop, mobile phone shop or estate agent included!!

Louise Cole ● 3475d

There was a 'Carpenters' hardware shop too in the early 80s.

Sarah Sharp ● 3475d

Was that near the Police station as I was thinking about one there where I once met the actor jimmy Lynch?

Elizabeth Jane Daley ● 3475d

Phew what a relief, Yes Catos (Cato's?) Thanks.Now, interstingly Goodbans (another comment) was Chiswick's Department Store (there was one in North End road too) which is why it straddled, what, three shop fronts.  As well as a wide range of goods it had a caff on the mezanine where I used to have lunch.  But, hardware was Cato's.

Robin Thomas Henry Broadway ● 3475d

Can't remember a hardware shop near police station although it might have been where the Nature's food shop is now.  I think you mean Kenny Lynch???.... where he now?

Robin Thomas Henry Broadway ● 3475d

The hardware shop close to the police station was Gerrard. A lovely store owned by Mrs Gerrard

Richard Atterwill ● 3475d

And it had a single cash desk at the end of the shop and the assistants used to put the money in a little canister and attach it to wires, pull the handle and it would abseil up to the desk, where your change would be returned by the same method.  Great stuff for kids.

Micki Hawkes ● 3475d

William Cato opened his first hardware store in Duke Road in 1901. It was quickly followed by a shop in the High Road in 1905, next to the Chiswick Empire theatre. By the 1970s there were 34 branches across London and the south east. When Goodbans closed, Cato’s opened a large store on part of the site. The family sold the business in 1990 to Robert Dyas. At 14, I used to push a trade bike for Catos from their Acton Lane shop. I use to deliver anything they sold,  Delivered Paraffin with a 5 gallon container (in the front of the bike) to houses around Thurnham Green and fill up their 1 gallon containers. Also had fun delivering an 10ft extension ladder to Percy Road in Shepherds Bush, got a good tip for that one.

Bernard Allen ● 3474d

I think the bath shop still has Cato's written in the threshold.I took over a paper round in Ealing Common from one of the Cato sons. He would have been about 17 when I was about 13.Catos was definitely located where Dyas is now, at some point.The actor wouldn't have james Ellis who played Berrt Lynch in Z Cars , would he? He certainly lived in Chiswick at one point, Thornton Ave I think.

John C Seymour ● 3474d

Yes it was James Ellis (I must have got his real name confused with the person he played in Zcars!)

Elizabeth Jane Daley ● 3474d

My cooker and hob came from Cato's. I've just replaced the oven seal myself after buying one online 30+ years later. How times have changed!

Philippa Bond ● 3474d

Carpenter's was near the police station where the whole food shop is now, I think.  Didn't Cato's move from the High Road to next to Turnham Green station before eventually closing?

David Marles ● 3474d

CatoThere was a "big" Cato on the High Road and a "little" Cato by Turnham Green Station. I still use the luandry basket that I bought there circa 1980.

Charlotte Kasner ● 3473d

Everyone Misses the Large Catos in Acton Lane behind the old pack horse

Bernard Allen ● 3473d

Now thinking of actors in Chiswick (there were four in my street for many years)and local shops, I was standing behind John Hurt in Chris's fish/chip shop on Turnham Green Tce one evening in the 80s at that time owned and run by Chris (Greek) - he and his staff were always efficient but dour and looked miserable.  John Hurt was served and asked, "would there be anything else?" and Hurt said (do the voice), "Well, a smile wouldn't come amiss"!

Robin Thomas Henry Broadway ● 3473d

Forgotten? Catos seems long remembered by us all.

Jim Lawes ● 2384d

4 year old thread Jim

Bob Guyett ● 2384d

Aren't we back to Catos?

Vanessa Smith ● 2384d

Was it Cato's?

Philippa Bond ● 2384d

I guess this is back because someone is doing their family tree!  I didn't notice this thread was so old.

Philippa Bond ● 2384d

Think it was Catos and there's still a Catos with the same style logo in East Sheen, Upper Richmond Rd

Stephen Gould ● 2384d