Quentin Pickard has provided this photo, taken around 1971. The sign says:
C SPANTON & CO. LTD.
TIMBER IMPORTERS & MERCHANTS
SAWING, PLANING & MOULDING MILLS

The sign to the left:
DOORS, MOULDING
OAK AND COLUMBIAN
PINE FLOORINGS

The timberyard occupied the sites of numbers 135 and 136 High Street, just to the east of St Lawrence's church on the south side of High Street. It had a High Street frontage of nearly 50 feet (15m) and was in the process of being demolished when the photo was taken.

Three trade directories show this was a timberyard for nearly 50 years: in 1928 and 1933 run by G E Turk, then Charles Spanton (1940 through to around 1971).

Jack Iason wrote in September 2017: 'My aunt and uncle used to live above Spantons wood mill, their name was Henry and Lilian Kelly and the door shown in the derelict mill is the one they used as their front door. My uncle worked at the wood mill and I used to play in the shaving/sawdust bin when I visited them at weekends, I also remember long machines and the house boats behind the yard on the river Brent.'
'Also my uncle said that King Edward 8th used to drink with them in the pub across the road, (don’t know the name of the pub) presumably after his abdication?'

(Possibly The Pigeons?)

More information about 135 and 136 and former occupants.

Published January 2010; updated September 2017