We will miss friendly Yiewsley

SOME years ago a lady who had moved from Yiewsley to Hertfordshire wrote to the Gazette. She said she regretted not leaving dirty and unfriendly Yiewsley sooner, for the happier and sunnier fields of Hemel Hempstead.

We have moved to Northumberland after 28 years in Yiewsley and our experience is very different. Most of all we are sorry to leave our friends in the area. Our immediate neighbours Colin, June and Peter (and Bob and Jess) were great friends to us over the years.

Bob was a Dunkirk army veteran who went on to support the Atlantic Convoys in Scotland.

There are many others we miss – Noah, Senevi, Padma, Iqbal, Michelle, Sam and all their families, as well as lots of others in our street. Over the years a succession of cheerful local teenagers have provided cat-sitting services for us, and more recently the splendid Maureen (hello from “Hello”).

We would like to pay a last tribute to Ron Richards whom we were lucky enough to live near to until he passed away a few years ago. He was a true gentleman, always raising his hat to ladies in the street, but more importantly a kind, understanding and tolerant man, too modest to mention being a Burma Star veteran.

It will be hard to find replacements for some of the steadfast local businesses. Cowley Road Tyres (manager Dave) and PK Knight’s or The Clutch Centre (Peter and Steve) from have kept many cars on the road over the years and always provide reliable and fair advice as well as great service.

I am sure locals recall the Yiewsley Tandoori, one of the best Indian restaurants in London and a loss when the owner retired.

Mr Raison who ran his hardware shop in Station Road was always known (and not only by us) as “the man who has everything”.

Mark Whenman’s great for shoe repairs and the greengrocers are terrific. Yiewsley is also fortunate to have a number of more “corporate” shops (supermarkets, etc) too, but the staff are mostly friendly and helpful. It all goes to show that parts of Hillingdon and therefore London are still just like villages – we know Yiewsley isn’t the only such area.

Good luck to Hillingdon Council. It is not until we moved away that we fully appreciated what an efficient service we were given, and you are to be congratulated on the ongoing improvements to Yiewsley.

We wish all the people of Yiewsley well, especially those who walked by in Falling Lane and wondered where the sound of bagpipes was coming from. BOB HUNTER AND JO HERBERT via email