SOCIAL LIFE.
Although Kingsbury was heavily
wooded, little evidence remains of early hunting
beyond the maintenance of dogs and horses by
Geoffrey le Scrope in 1325. (fn. 62) Hunting and hawking
rights formed part of the appurtenances of Kingsbury and Freren manors which were sometimes
leased out with the rest of the estate. (fn. 63) In 1713 the
lessee, James Brydges, later duke of Chandos, was
given the formal title of gamekeeper by All Souls
College. (fn. 64) Much later, a drag hunt met at Bacon
Lane. (fn. 65) Free fishing in the Brent formed an
appurtenance of Coffers manor (fn. 66) and apparently
passed to the Regents Canal Co., which leased it
out, together with rights of fowling and shooting,
in 1844. (fn. 67)
Before the 19th century recreation was virtually
confined to the inns. One in nine houses in 18thcentury Kingsbury was an inn. The King's Arms
in Edgware Road may have existed in the early 17th
century (fn. 68) and the Old or Lower King's Arms at the
Hyde, although not mentioned by name until 1698, (fn. 69)
was probably even earlier. Other early inns were the
Plough at Kingsbury Green (1748) (fn. 70) and the Black
Horse (1711) (fn. 71) and two Chequers inns (1751), (fn. 72) whose
sites are unknown. The Old King's Arms ceased to be
an inn between 1803 and 1851. (fn. 73) The New King's
Arms passed by 1785 into the hands of Thomas
Clutterbuck, (fn. 74) whose family owned most of the local
inns in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and
was rebuilt further north before 1914. (fn. 75) The old
Plough, a weatherboarded building with a tiled roof,
was demolished in 1932 and replaced by the
present building. (fn. 76) The Black Horse and the two
Chequers inns had disappeared by 1803 (fn. 77) but the
Red Lion on the corner between Edgware Road and
Kingsbury Road had probably opened by 1839. (fn. 78)
It was rebuilt in 1931. (fn. 79) Three more inns or beerhouses had been opened by 1851: (fn. 80) the Green Man
at Pipers Green, rebuilt in 1931, (fn. 81) and the Two
Poplars and the Boot, both at the Hyde and both
still there in 1901. (fn. 82)
Kingsbury's proximity to London and its
association with horsedealers (fn. 83) made it an ideal
place for horse-racing. Kingsbury races, which
flourished from 1870 until their suppression in
1878, were held near Bush Farm until 1873 and then
on land leased by William Perkins Warner, who was
also the proprietor of the Old Welsh Harp. The
races, which were held five times a year, attracted
'thousands of the scum of London', were denounced
as a carnival of vice, and were said to have caused
several families to leave the district. (fn. 84) Greyhound
racing, said to be taking place at Hill farm in 1928,
was defended as private, for 'the training and
convalescence of dogs'. (fn. 85) The connexion of the
district with horses may also account for the
presence of three polo grounds, one on each side of
Bacon Lane and one north of Forty Lane, in 1914. (fn. 86)
At the same date there was a shooting ground in
south-east Kingsbury, (fn. 87) probably identifiable with
the practice-grounds on Blackbird farm which
were used by the Metropolitan School of Shooting
in 1907. (fn. 88)
The growth of the aircraft industry led to the
opening of the London and Provincial Flying
School at Stag Lane, where pilots were trained
during the First World War. In 1923 the London
Aeroplane Club, under the auspices of de Havilland,
took over the airfield in Stag Lane, where Amy
Johnson learnt to fly and where the National
Aviation Display took place in 1932. (fn. 89) During the
19th and early 20th centuries Kingsbury, a
picturesquely rural district a short distance from
London, attracted many walkers (fn. 90) and cyclists, and
the Plough inn was once the headquarters of 13
cycling clubs. It was at the Plough, too, that four
Frenchmen and their three performing bears used
to stay. (fn. 91)
Kingsbury cricket club was founded in 1828 and
used a field in Townsend Lane, (fn. 92) possibly the
field adjoining Kingsbury House which was called
the Cricket Field in 1882, (fn. 93) or Silver Jubilee park.
Townsend cricket club, probably a descendant of
the earlier club, existed by 1928. (fn. 94) Sporting clubs
multiplied with suburban building and the opening
of factories. Phoenix Telephone & Electric Co. had
a social and athletic club by 1918. (fn. 95) There was a
winter tennis club by 1923 (fn. 96) and a tennis club at
Roe Green by 1925. (fn. 97) There were already four
athletic grounds in south-west Kingsbury by 1914 (fn. 98)
and many more by 1938, when most of Fryent open
space was divided into sports grounds. (fn. 99) A large
open-air swimming bath was opened in Kingsbury
Road in 1939. (fn. 1) By 1948 there were two cricket
clubs, two football clubs, and a swimming club. (fn. 2) The
Kingsbury Community Association provided other
sporting and dancing facilities during the 1950s. (fn. 3)
There was a literary and social club at the Hyde
in 1900 (fn. 4) and a horticultural society by 1923. (fn. 5)
Cinemas were built in the 1930s. There were two
in Edgware Road: the Savoy, also called the
Essoldo, which in 1970 was used for bingo and
wrestling, and the Curzon, formerly the Odeon. The
Essoldo at Queensbury was also, in 1970, used for
bingo. The Odeon in Kingsbury Road, near
Honeypot Lane, served western Kingsbury. (fn. 6)
The Kingsbury and Kenton News was founded as
an edition of the Wembley News in 1930. (fn. 7)