History of Headington Homewares
3 The Parade, Windmill Road
"The Parade" at the north-east end of Windmill Road was built next-door to the old Co-op on the corner in 1935 as part of The Parade. A large Victorian house that stood on this site (originally numbered 5 Windmill Road) had to be demolished to make way for Nos. 1, 2, and 3 the Parade, but its next-door neighbour, Rosslyn Villa, was incorporated into the Parade as Nos. 4, 5, and 6.
No. 3 The Parade has only ever been occupied by two businesses: Maypole Dairy and Headington Homewares.
It was the Maypole Dairy from 1935 to 1964, and since that date has been M.A. Ford’s hardware shop
Maurice Allan Ford was born in Wales, but in about 1930, when he was five years old, his family came back to Headington and he grew up in the house of his grandfather, the carpenter Bob Taylor, at 87 Windmill Road. He founded this shop in 1964 and it has now been going strong as a hardware store for over forty years.
Sadly Maurice Ford died on 17 January 2005 at the age of 79, but the Ford name still lives on: Headington Homewares continues to flourish in the care of one of his sons, while his other son runs the secondhand shop at 72A Windmill Road.