There was a comprehensive range of shops, hostelries and businesses in the town. On approaching along the London Road the first to meet your gaze would be the Robin Hood Inn. Looking along Brook Street you would be able to see the livestock market, which was run by William Brown & Co., auctioneers. Further along Brook Street on the left would be RMR Engineering, which was a major employer in the Old Silk Mill, and beyond that on the right there was the Gas Works. At New Mill there were the Queens Arms and Pheasant public houses and the large flour mill with a wharf onto the Wendover arm of the Grand Union Canal. There were two dairies in Bulbourne Road, run by Ayres & Son and Wilkins.

On entering the High Street the first shop on your right was the Tring Co-op, at numbers 60, 59 and 58, [the numbering remains unchanged to this day] next door to the china and glassware shop run by Gower & sons., with the old smithy at 54. On the left were the grounds of Tring Park, part of which later became the Memorial Gardens. Next came a section of the High Street with no shops, where the weekly street market was held every Friday.

Further on the right was the grocer’s shop of Gilbert Fulks which had been established in 1850, followed by Tring Motors at 51-52 [now Metcalfe’s hardware store], Bly’s antique shop at 50, and Wheeler Brothers, the drapers at 49. On the left there was the entrance to Tring Park, which had been the home of the Rothschild family until 1937. The house had been used by the Rothschild Bank during the war, and had recently become the Cone Ripman School [now the Arts Educational School]. Then, as now, the Rose and Crown Hotel occupied a prominent position opposite Church Square and the parish church.

Shops on the right between Church Square and Frogmore Street included W. Brown & Co., land agent and auctioneers established in 1832 at 41, the family butchers Wright & Sons at 39, and the ancient Bell Inn. Ives the draper was at 36, next door to the London Central Meat Co. at 35a. Numbers 34 and 33, which were later demolished when Dolphin Square was built, housed Sanders the fruiterer, and Clement the clock and watch maker. There was an outfitters at 30 and Goddard’s newsagent’s shop was at 28. On the other side of the road there was the stationers G. T. de Fraine & Co. [now the Black Horse Agencies] at 16/17, Stewart’s fruiterer’s at 18, followed by Glover’s grocers at 19, the National Provincial Bank at 20, and the Midland Bank at 21 & 22. Sallery the butcher was at 24, and at 26 there was Alex Smith the chemist, on the corner of Akeman Street.

A detour up Akeman Street would take you past T. N. Park’s electrical shop, which could sell you a radio, and later a television set. There was [and still is] the Victoria Hall, a fish and chip shop, Grace’s corn merchants [now converted to private housing], Rodwells mineral water manufactory, and finally the Rothschild Zoological Museum. On the other side there was Honour’s builders yard and in January Morthan Ltd, makers of model steam engines, moved their factory into the former Gaiety Theatre. Press reports say that the sloping floor is to be terraced, windows put in and electric current extensively laid on. … Mostly girl labour would be required but there will be a limited number of opportunities for lads who wish to learn a skilled job. The Swan inn was near the junction with Park Road

Alternatively a detour down Frogmore Street would take you past Philip Fancourt’s cycle shop, Goodliffe’s the grocers, Johnson & Son, fishmongers, and the Victoria Inn before reaching the Black Horse.