Archive for the ‘LondonPhotos’ Category

Chiswick House & Gardens – 1989

Saturday, November 9th, 2024

Chiswick House & Gardens: On Wednesday 1st November 1989 I took the train to Chiswick and walked around the gardens of Chiswick House, making a brief detour to the Thames at Chiswick Mall and then returning to the gardens and then walking back to the station.

Obelisk, Chiswick House Gardens, Chiswick, Hounslow, 1989 89-10j-11
Obelisk, Chiswick House Gardens, Chiswick, Hounslow, 1989 89-10j-11

It was a place we often took our photography students for a day’s outings early in their one or two year course, a public park where they could wander freely and safely with a brief to take pictures. The park is owned by the London Borough of Hounslow and surrounds the house and the gardens are open every day and free to enter, but English Heritage charge for entry to the house. We never took the students inside.

The obelisk was erected here in 1732, but the classical sculpture on the base is much older, and had been given to Lord Burlington in 1712. It was replaced by a copy in 2006, with the original now inside the house.

Classic Bridge, Chiswick House Gardens, Chiswick, Hounslow, 1989 89-10j-14
Classic Bridge, Chiswick House Gardens, Chiswick, Hounslow, 1989 89-10j-14

The gardens changed greatly over the years as Lord Burlington and his friend William Kent who had helped in design the house in a neo-Palladian style – completed in 1729 – put in their ideas. Kent later became largely responsible for the gardens, which are one of the earliest examples of a grand English landscape garden.

But this bridge only arrived after Burlington’s death in 1753, added in 1774 to the designs of James Wyatt for Georgiana Spencer, the wife of William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire who then owned the property. It is over the Bollo Brook which runs through the gardens and was used to fill its lakes and run fountains, but later became too polluted so was culverted under the lake to continue towards the Thames close to Chiswick Bridge.

The house was probably never a comfortable place to live, having been designed primarily as a place to show off the considerable classical purchases Burlington had acquire during his three ‘Grand Tours’ as a young man and to demonstrate his devotion to the architectural ideas of Andrea Palladio which had begun on his tour of the Venice region in 1719.

Chiswick House Gardens, Chiswick, Hounslow, 1989 89-11a-53
Chiswick House Gardens, Chiswick, Hounslow, 1989 89-11a-53

Development of the gardens continued under the Cavendish family, including the building of a 300ft long conservatory in 1813 for the cultivation of camelias, then incredibly expensive and thought to be tender plants – though they grow quite well in the icy winters of Japan and the Himalayas. A formal garden in an Italian style was built around it. But this formal arrangement of hedges dates from Burlingtons own plans for the garden with vistas and statuary and columns.

Sphinx, Chiswick House Gardens, Chiswick, Hounslow, 1989 89-11a-43
Sphinx, Chiswick House Gardens, Chiswick, Hounslow, 1989 89-11a-43

The Cavendish family let out the property to various tenants and in 1892 it became a mental hospital for wealthy patients, the Chiswick Asylum until 1929 when it was sold to Middlesex County Council. After war damage the house became run by the Ministry of Works in 1948, latter English Heritage and in 2005 they formed the Chiswick House and Gardens Trust with Hounslow Council to bring management of house and gardens together.

Steps, Chiswick House, Chiswick, Hounslow, 1989 89-11b-66
Steps, Chiswick House, Chiswick, Hounslow, 1989 89-11b-66

I’d visited the house and gardens at intervals over the years, often with my family, and by 1989 the gardens were in rather better shape having been rather let go a little wild in some earlier years. On Flickr there is a very different picture taken from more or less the same viewpoint in 1978, and you can also find more pictures from a visit with my family in 1984 and with students in 1988.

Chiswick House, Chiswick, Hounslow, 1989 89-11b-51
Chiswick House, Chiswick, Hounslow, 1989 89-11b-51

I think this is another classical relic in at the entrance front of the house.

Urn, Chiswick House Gardens, Chiswick, Hounslow, 1989 89-11b-55

An urn in a very formal garden area. The next frame on Flickr shows the entire urn. I also made a very similar image in colour.

Urn, Chiswick House Gardens, Chiswick, Hounslow, 1989 89-11b-43
Urn, Chiswick House Gardens, Chiswick, Hounslow, 1989 89-11b-43

During the day there I made over 60 black and white exposures of the house and gardens, but most were rather similar to pictures I had made in earlier years and so I haven’t bothered to digitise them.


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Westminster & Waterloo November 1989

Wednesday, November 6th, 2024

Westminster & Waterloo: I’m not sure now why I was in London on Wednesday November 1st 1989, but probably I had been to see an exhibition at the Photographers Gallery during my half-term holiday. I took a slightly longer walk than usual to get back to Waterloo from Soho through Trafalgar Square and then along to Waterloo Bridge and across it to get back to the station.

Trafalgar Square, Westminster, 1989 89-10j-65
Trafalgar Square, Westminster, 1989 89-10j-65

Back in 1989 there were still people feeding the pigeons in Trafalgar Square and I made this rather atmospheric “contro-jour” image – not my usual kind of thing – I generally try to make pictures about substance rather than effect.

Trafalgar Square, Westminster, 1989 89-10j-66
Trafalgar Square, Westminster, 1989 89-10j-66

My next frame was a little more like my normal work, though still making use of the backlit water in the fountains.

Royal Society of the Arts, John Adam St, Westminster, 1989 89-10j-56
Royal Society of the Arts, John Adam St, Westminster, 1989 89-10j-56

Adelphi, the district south of Strand was developed by the Adams brothers (Robert and James), and the name is the Greek for brothers. The area here had been the London palace for the Bishop of Durham which had gardens going down the the River Thames and this was demolished for the new buildings. Financially the project was a disaster and they were only saved from bankruptcy by the Adam Buildings Act 1772 which enabled a public lottery to be run to save them.

The headquarters of the Royal Society of the Arts, then the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, was built by the brothers between 1768 and 1772 and is said to be London’s first neoclassical building.

Adelphi Building, Robert St, Savoy Place, Westminster, 1989 89-10j-44
Adelphi Building, Robert St, Savoy Place, Westminster, 1989 89-10j-44

Parts of the area were demolished in the early 1930s for the building of the massive Art Deco New Adelphi Building by Collcutt & Hamp finished in 1938. A speculative office building it has since been occupied by a number of well-known companies. The Grade II listed building with sculptures by Gilbert Ledwood has been internally refurbished since I made this picture. There is a public right of way, Lower Robert Street, beneath the building.

Outpatients, Royal Waterloo Hospital for Children and Women, Waterloo Bridge, Stamford St, Waterloo, Lambeth, 1989 89-10j-35
Outpatients, Royal Waterloo Hospital for Children and Women, Waterloo Bridge, Stamford St, Waterloo, Lambeth, 1989 89-10j-35

I took a few more pictures in the area (not online) before making my way across Waterloo Bridge and onto Waterloo Road where I photographed the decoration on the former Outpatients Department of the Royal Waterloo Hospital for Children and Women.

This had been set up in the City of London in 1816 and was at the time one of very few hospitals that would treat children, though still only as outpatients. It gained the Royal in its title in 1821 when the Duke of York became a patron and moved to this new larger site three years later in 1824. The hospital was rebuilt to designs by Charles Nicholdson in 1903-5. It became part of the NHS in 1948 and closed in 1976.

In its later years it had a notorious psychiatric ‘Ward 5’ which carried out a number of highly dangerous treatments on its patients which led to deaths and other deleterious effects. On my 1990s map it is a part of King’s College.

St John's Waterloo, Waterloo Rd, Waterloo, Lambeth, 1989 89-10j-21
St John’s Waterloo, Waterloo Rd, Waterloo, Lambeth, 1989 89-10j-21

This fine building was built in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars when the population of London was expanding rapidly and the Houses of Parliament voted a sum not exceeding a million pounds for the building of new churches to serve areas with large populations “more particularly in the Metropolis and its Vicinity.”

It was one of three churches designed by Francis Octavius Bedford in this project, and they were all built in what was then becoming an unfashionable Greek Revival style, completed in 1824.

St John's Waterloo, Waterloo Rd, Waterloo, Lambeth, 1989 89-10j-23
St John’s Waterloo, Waterloo Rd, Waterloo, Lambeth, 1989 89-10j-23

The church was badly damaged in the Second World War in 1940, and stood without a roof and with much of the interior destroyed for almost ten years, with services taking place in the crypt. It was restored in 1950 with its interior in a ‘Festival of Britain’ style though some original parts remain, and was rededicated as the Festival of Britain Church. It is Grade II* listed.

I went across the road to Waterloo Station in time to catch my train home.


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Bash The Rich & Diwali – 2007

Sunday, November 3rd, 2024

Bash The Rich & Diwali: On Saturday 3rd November 2007 I photographed Class War attempting to march to David Cameron’s house in Notting Hill before going to Alperton for the Brent Diwali Parade. Here I’ll use – with some slight changes and some comments – what I wrote in 2007 about these events on My London Diary.


Bash The Rich – Class War – Notting Hill

Bash The Rich & Diwali - 2007
Fitwatch get between the police FIT team photographer and the event

Bash the Rich‘ is probably still a popular slogan [and the title of a highly readable memoir by Ian Bone, subtitled ‘The true-life confessions of an anarchist’ still available], but the anarchist demonstration in Notting Hill which marched to Tory leader David Cameron’s house on Saturday attracted only around a hundred supporters (I think quite a few decided they would rather stay in the pub.)

Bash The Rich & Diwali - 2007

The were watched, harassed and escorted by a similar number of police, with the inevitable police photographer to goad FitWatch into action.

Bash The Rich & Diwali - 2007
Ian Bone

The police did allow the march to take place, if with a number of fits and starts, holding it for no apparent reason at various places, and it went along Oxford Gardens until it reached the junction with Wallingford Avenue, apparently withing shouting distance of Cameron’s home, although the Tory leader was sensibly miles away for the weekend.

Bash The Rich & Diwali - 2007

There were a number of minor clashes between demonstrators and police, with three arrests being made, although I understand all were later released without charge.

Some of the friction was caused by a little over-keen encouragement of the marchers to move when the police wanted them to move – and I too was pushed on numerous occasions, and stopped from leaving the march for some time after I went inside the cordon.

Some of the police were also treated to considerable abuse, but most retained their good humour – as did most of the marchers.

Earlier, some had taken a walk around the area following Tom Vague‘s truly fascinating ‘Bash the Rich Class War Radical History Tour of Notting Hill‘ which had been published online by Indymedia UK as the souvenir programme for the event.

[Tom Vague is “writer and editor of the post-punk fanzine Vague as well as numerous publications on situationists, psychogeography and West London radical history.” Among these is ‘LondonPsychogeography – Rachman Riots and Rillington Place‘, described “almost as the autobiography of Nothing Hill with him as the inspired mouthpiece, his own biography mixed with that of the subject. He is the place.”

Somewhere I still have my copy of the programme, but it is still online if you sign up for 30 days free to ‘Your Media Publisher’publisher Yumpu where a number of Indymedia ePapers including this can be downloaded. It is no longer available in the Indymedia UK archive.

I left before a final rally at the end of the march to go to Alperton. ]

More pictures at Bash the Rich.


Brent Diwali Parade – Alperton

Diwali. the festival of lights, is one of the main events in the Hindu calendar and thousands of people come to watch and take part in the parade and festivities in Brent.

I arrived in time to watch some of the preparations and stayed for the start of the parade,

But then went home to watch the fireworks rather than waiting to see those in Barham Park.

[Brent is the UK’s most diverse borough by country of birth, with just over half of its residents born abroad, including many in India and other Asian countries, the Caribbean, Africa, Ireland and Eastern European countries. Until cuts in local government funding by the Tory-led government after 2010 the council funded a number of festivals including Diwali to bring communities together.

In the 2011 census almost 18% of the population of Brent identified themselves as Hindu, but many from the other communites came to join in and watch the Diwali events.]

More pictures at Brent Diwali Parade


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A Short Walk in Tottenham

Wednesday, October 30th, 2024

A Short Walk in Tottenham: My next London walk came on Friday October 27th 1989 when I rushed to jump on a train after finishing a morning of teaching and then took the Victoria Line to Tottenham Hale, arriving around 2pm. I’d managed to arrange my teaching timetable by including an evening class so that I finished on Fridays at noon but this was the last time it would be worth travelling to London to take photographs before the clocks went back to GMT at the weekend.

The Hale, Tottenham Hale, Haringey, 1989 89-10i-42
The Hale, Tottenham Hale, Haringey, 1989 89-10i-42

The first two pictures I made were both of this scene, a strangely blank building with signs on it which informed it it was the home of ‘Garbi Ltd‘ and ‘Short Stories of London‘, both manufacturers of men’s wear. Perhaps ‘Short Stories of London’ might be a good title for a book of my pictures one day.

Despite considerably redevelopment in the area I think this building is still there at No 33, thought with a rebuilt frontage and still in the clothing trade though now wholesale and retail sales, open to the public. It became Soniez House and more recently since around 2011 Morelli with two large ground floor windows and a wide glass door, but retaining the first floor windows in my picture.

I think the traffic flow in this area has altered and there are no longer the traffic signs I made use of – although the tree which it amused me to use with them as a framing device is I think still in place.

Mountford House, Tottenham Green East, Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10i-43
Mountford House, Tottenham Green East, Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10i-43

I walked west from The Hale to Tottenham Green East, just off the High Road, opposite the Council Offices. Mountford House, a late 18th or early 19th century Grade II listed pair of houses, was then in use as offices for Haringey Health Authority, but is now private flats on the road at the edge of the small open space.

Mountford House, Tottenham Green East, Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10i-45
Mountford House, Tottenham Green East, Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10i-45

This is a later extension to Mountford House and it doesn’t appear to be included in the rather strange listing text which calls this “Pair of houses in north east part of Prince of Wales’s General Hospital grounds.” Whatever its date I think it was nicely done an complements the simpler porch to the northern of the two houses.

Main Entrance, Prince of Wales Hospital, Tottenham Green East, Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10i-44
Main Entrance, Prince of Wales Hospital, Tottenham Green East, Tottenham, Haringey, 1989 89-10i-44

And this is that Prince of Wales Hospital, then surrounded by a solid fence over which I could see some broken windows and its Fleur-de-Lys symbol with the motto ‘Ich Dien’ around the crown, the Prince of Wales’s badge and coat of arms. The motto, ‘I serve’, was perhaps more suitable for a hospital than for many of the Princes, who got up to some very odd things.

According to the Lost Hospitals of London, the hospital had started in 1867 as the Evangelical Protestant Deaconesses’ Institution and Training Hospital in a converted cottage and moved into a house on this site in 1861. It got a new building in 1881 and was extended in 1887, becoming Tottenham Hospital in 1899 and after another extension the Prince of Wales General Hospital in 1907. It closed in 1983 and was converted to flats in 1993 as Deaconess Court.

Tottenham High Cross, High Rd, Tottenham, Haringey 1989 89-10i-31
Tottenham High Cross, High Rd, Tottenham, Haringey 1989 89-10i-31

This brick cross erected around 1600 replaced a wooden cross first recorded in 1409. In 1809 the plain brick cross was covered in stucco and the Gothic style ornamentation in my picture. The Grade II listed cross is still present but has been moved a little to fit in with new road layout since I photographed it.

Behind it is the fine Estate Office of George Ellis on the corner of Rawlinson Terrace, sadly rather defaced around ten years ago. The terrace itself with its crenellated parapet replaced ‘Turner’s House’ lived in by a vet called Turner with his brother, a farrier in the yard next door. When a horse ridden by a ‘gentleman from Stamford Hill‘ slipped and broke its leg outside the vet set it and the horse’s owner was so impressed he gave the horse to the vet on condition that he did not part with it. And he didn’t, even after its death, when he “fixed the skeleton by means of iron supports, and placed it over the farrier’s shop, where it served the purpose of an advertisement for the veterinary surgeon as well as for the farrier.”

The house was demolished and replaced by Rawlinson Terrace in 1881, named after Emma Rawlinson, the wife of the builder James Stringfellow. The horse’s skeleton was then for some years displayed on top of an undertakers on the opposite side of the road.

Ritzy, Venue, High Rd, Tottenham, Haringey  1989 89-10i-22
Ritzy, Venue, High Rd, Tottenham, Haringey 1989 89-10i-22

Built as a roller skating rink designed by architect Ewen S. Barr in 1910, it included an electric theatre, but the roller skating craze slumped quickly and the whole building opened as the Canadian Rink Cinema in 1911. It was converted into a dance hall, the Tottenham Palais, and later when owned by Mecca Dancing Ltd, The Tottenham Royal.

When I took this picture it was the Ritzy, ‘A Perfect Place for a Great Night Out’, but it had a whole string of names including the Mayfair Suite, the Aztec Temple, Club U N, and the Zone before being demolished around 2004.

The Old Well, Philip Lane, High Rd, Tottenham, Haringey  1989 89-10i-24
The Old Well, Philip Lane, High Rd, Tottenham, Haringey 1989 89-10i-24

The Lord of the Manor who lived in Bruce Castle had this well dug in 1791 and it was used by locals until 1883 when it was found to be polluted, which was rather a shame as they had added the current structure over it only seven years earlier. It was restored in 1953 to commemorate the coronation of Elizabeth II.

Behind the well the High Cross Infants School, later called Holy Trinity School, dates from 1847, one of the schools linked to the National Society for Promoting Religious Education established to provide a Church of England elementary education for poor children who paid two pence a week (later raised to three) ‘School Pence’ to attend. Condemned in 1924 it survived to be Grade II listed in 1974 and so remains there to this day.

Time was getting on and I walked the short distance down the High Road to Seven Sisters Underground Station to start my journey and get home in time for dinner.


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Custody Deaths, Kurds, Abortion, Zombies & More – 2007

Sunday, October 27th, 2024

Custody Deaths, Kurds, Abortion, Zombies & More: Saturday 27 October 2007 was an unusually busy day for me and the lengthy write-up on My London Diary reflects this. The main event as on every last Saturday of October this century was the annual rally by the United Families and Friends of those who have died in custody who meet in Trafalgar Square for a slow march down Whitehall to a rally outside Downing Street – and I hope to post something about yesterday’s event shortly.

But the stories and pictures from 2007 are a little hard to find at the bottom of a long web page, so here I’ll republish the post – with the usual minor corrections and changes with links to the pictures I took.


Then on Saturday, everything was happening. I had to run around to start with to collect my unsold pictures from the City People show at the Juggler in Hoxton. [Although this web site is stilll on line, that organisation is long since gone dissolved the following year.} Fortunately I’d sold one of my four pictures, so that made them easier to carry, but it was a rush to be back in the centre of London.

Pro-referendum on Europe Rally – Yard, Westminster

Custody Deaths, Kurds, Abortion, Zombies & More - 2007

Campaigners were just leaving as I arrived and I more or less missed the demonstrators who wanted a referendum on the changes to the European Union.

A couple more pictures

Protest Against Custody Deaths – Trafalgar Square & Whitehall

Custody Deaths, Kurds, Abortion, Zombies & More - 2007

Instead I really started at Trafalgar Square, where the annual event remembering those who have died in custody was taking place, organised by the families and friends of those concerned.

Custody Deaths, Kurds, Abortion, Zombies & More - 2007

Its an occasion that always shocks me by the sheer number of people who have died in such disgraceful or suspicious circumstances, in police cells, in prisons and elsewhere. It’s an event i sometimes find it hard to photograph, both emotionally and physically – thankfully autofocus works even when your eyes are filling with tears.

[I returned to this protest later outside Downing Street – more below]

More pictures

Kurds Demand – Stop Turkey – Trafalgar Square,

Custody Deaths, Kurds, Abortion, Zombies & More - 2007

While the United Families protest is getting ready, a large crowd of Kurds swarms into Trafalgar Square and holds a short rally, protesting against the Turkish governments approval of incursions into northern Iraq to attack the PKK there. Both the Kurds and the Armenians have suffered greatly at the hands of the Turks (who in turn have been rather screwed by the EU over Cyprus,

It’s a typically exuberant performance, and one that I enjoy photographing, but rather a distraction from the family and friends event.

more pictures

Anti-Abortion (Pro-Life) Rally – Old Palace Yard, Westminster

Custody Deaths, Kurds, Abortion, Zombies & More - 2007

There seems to be hiatus at this point, so I catch a bus down Whitehall. Walking along to Old Palace Yard I pass a few of the pro-referendum demonstrators, though some others have stayed to join in the anti-abortion protest.

This is rather smaller than I’d expected, perhaps around 500 people, although it is the only event that makes the BBC news bulletins I hear when i get home later in the day.

more pictures

Lloyd George – Parliament Square

I listen a little to the anti-abortion speeches but then go to parliament square to take a look at the new statue of Lloyd George – which fails to impress me. Of course he was long before my time – although I did have a landlady as a student in Manchester who had worked as a secretary for him – but somehow I feel the statue trivialises him, looking rather like an enlarged version of a plastic figure you might find in a box of cornflakes rather than a statue.

Another picture

Peace Train – Parliament Square,

The peace train is beginning to form a protest in Parliament Square and I go along to talk to them and take a few pictures.

more pictures

More from Protest Against Custody Deaths

I rejoin the ‘Families And Friends’ march by now making a considerable protest opposite Downing Street, where a delegation has permission to deliver a letter to the Prime Minister’s residence at no 10.

For some reason the police decide not to allow those with press cards into the street in the normal way. I don’t like going in – the security checks are a nuisance and being restricted to a pen on the other side of the street is normally hopeless. But I think as a matter of principle that access should not be unreasonably prevented – even if personally I don’t want to take advantage of it.

By the time the delegation emerge, the mood is getting rather angry. one young policeman is getting surrounded and insulted and is trying hard to ignore it.A few minutes later a motor-cyclist foolishly stays in the route of the march, and is soon surrounded by angry people. He has to be rescued by his colleagues.

There are police who are racist, who are thugs, who are bullies. Too many who have got away with murder, often thanks to covering up or a lack of diligence in investigation by their colleagues. If it were not so, there would be no demonstrations like this one. But there are also officers who do their best to carry out a difficult and necessary job in a decent, reasonable and even-handed way – even though they may sometimes get disciplined for doing so. Those who bear the brunt of considerable and understandable hate directed against the police at a demo like this are not necessarily the guilty.

more pictures

Crawl of the Dead IV – City and Southwark

It’s time for me to leave and make my way to the City, where this year the zombies are starting their walk at a pub on Ludgate Hill. I go into the pub and talk to some of them and take photographs, and am gratified to find that quite a few have seen my pictures of them from around Oxford Street the previous year.

By the time they emerge from the pub it is getting dark, and my flash by now is refusing to work at all. I have to make do either with available light (and there isn’t a lot) or the pretty useless flash built into my camera, but I still manage to get a few decent pictures, even though some are rather noisier than I’d like.

There are quite a few people around as we go over the Millennium Bridge, and more in front of Tate Modern, where zombies decide to play dead for a while. Then we visit the famous crack in the Turbine Hall, coming out towards the Founder’s Arms, where I made my goodbyes and turned for home.

Many more pictures on My London Diary


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Wine, Bingo, Market Tower and Houses

Friday, October 25th, 2024

Wine, Bingo, Market Tower and Houses continues my walk in Islington on Sunday 15th October 1989 which began with the post Memorials, Eros and More. The previous post was Liverpool Road, Highbury Corner & Caledonian Rd.

The Wine Press, Caledonian Rd, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10h-26
The Wine Press, Caledonian Rd, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10h-26

The Wine Press sold wine by the case at wholesale prices and its doorway had once been surrounded by 15 labelled barrel ends, but the lower four had been removed by the time I made this picture.

At the top you can just see the bottom of a large 2D representation of a wine bottle and out of picture to the right on the wall was a similar flat picture of a bottle of Anglias Brandy, a brandy from Cyprus. I took a second picture – not yet digitised – showing more of the frontage.

Wine was still very much a drink of the metropolitan middle classes and an establishment such as this very much a sign of the gentrification of Islington and other former working class areas of London.

Top Rank Bingo, 474, Caledonian Rd, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10h-13
Top Rank Bingo, 474, Caledonian Rd, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10h-13

Designed by architect Frederick E Tasker and, opened in 1937 as Mayfair Cinema, it was briefly renamed The Eagle in 1942 but reverted after a popular outcry. Taken over by Essoldo in 1952, it became Essoldo Caledonian Road until 1965 when it became Essoldo Bingo Club. Later it was Top Rank Bingo and finally Jasmine Bingo, closing in 1996. Demolished in 1998.

Clock Tower, Caledonian Market, Caledonian Park, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10h-16
Clock Tower, Caledonian Market, Caledonian Park, Lower Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10h-16

Grade II* listed, built as the clock tower of the Caledonian Market in 1855, designed by James Bunstone Bunning, Architect and Surveyor to the Corporation of the City of London. The market was built on Copenhagen Fields which had been the meeting point for the crowd of 100,000 who marched from here through London to support the Tolpuddle Martyrs on 21 April 1834. 175 years later I photographed TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady unveiling a plaque on the tower to commemorate this on 25th April 2009.

The ‘Grand Demonstration‘ was I think the first mass demonstration by trade unions and the start of a successful popular campaign that led eventually to the men being released – a pardon was granted in 1835 (but it was 1837 before they arrived back in the UK.) The 2009 march that followed the unveiling was rather smaller, but colourful with some trade union banners including that of the Tolpuddle Branch Dorset County of the National Union of Agricultural Workers.

House, 348-352, Camden Rd, Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10i-65
House, 348-352, Camden Rd, Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10i-65

This remarkable Victorian property on Camden Road appears to have been built as three houses as the three entrances and street numbers suggest, with 350 having a much grander entrance than its two neighbours. 348 appears to be called ‘The Cottage’. Perhaps someone reading this will know more about the history of this building and enlighten us.

Cambridge House, 354-6, Camden Rd, Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10i-66
Cambridge House, 354-6, Camden Rd, Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10i-66

The lettering on the front of this house has been changed since I took this photograph, with the addition of the word ‘Collegiate School’ in a central line. There was a Collegiate School at first in Camden St and then at 202 Camden Road before moving to Sandal Rd and Edgware, but so far as I can ascertain with no connection to this building which is now flats.

I think this large semi-detached residence dates from the mid-19th century but again have been unable to find any more about it.

Macready Place, Holloway Rd, Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10i-52
Macready Place, Holloway Rd, Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10i-52

This building has been demolished and replace by ‘The Arcade’ student accommodation with the Big Red bar at ground floor level on Holloway Road.

The lettering at top right appears to have once read CYCLES and was presumably a shop on the corner with Holloway Road. The posters on the wall below it are for an event at the Hackney Empire by the Campaign For Free Speech on Ireland on Tuesday October 17th 1989.

Albemarle Mansions, 542-554, Holloway Rd, Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10i-55
Albemarle Mansions, 542-554, Holloway Rd, Holloway, Islington, 1989 89-10i-55

The frontage of Albemarle Mansions stands out above the shops on Holloway Road and was clearly meant to distinguish these mansion flats built in 1898 from the various working class blocks of the same era built by philanthropic companies. Albemarle is a name brought over from France with the Norman Conquest and the title Earl of Albemarle was created several times over the century since then.

My walk on 15th October 1989 more or less came to an end here, and I made only one more picture – not on line – on the short walk to Holloway Road station on the North London Line on my way home.


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October Plenty & Martyrdom of Ali – 2005

Wednesday, October 23rd, 2024

October Plenty & Martyrdom of Ali: On Sunday 23rd October 2005 I photographed two very different cultural events in London, October Plenty, a theatrical harvest festival event on Bankside and in the afternoon a Shia Muslim annual mourning event in London to mark the Martydom of Ali, the cousin of the prophet Muhammad. Again I’ll share the text and pictures from My London Diary, with a few corrections to case, spelling etc.


October Plenty: The Lions Part – Globe Theatre & Bankside

October Plenty & Martyrdom of Ali

The Lions Part is a group of actors who came together in the Original Shakespeare Company but now pursue independent professional careers in theatre and TV etc , but work together on various projects including three regular celebrations on Bankside in co-operation with the Globe Theatre.

October Plenty & Martyrdom of Ali

One of these is October Plenty, loosely based on traditional English harvest festivities and particularly celebrating the apple and grain harvest.

October Plenty & Martyrdom of Ali

Characters in the procession include the Green Man (or Berry Man), the Hobby Horse and a large Corn Queen stuffed with fruit and veg. Not to mention a violin-playing Dancing Bear and other musicians and more characters who take part in several plays and performances in various locations.

October Plenty & Martyrdom of Ali

The day started in front of the Globe Theatre with the bear, then the procession came and led us into the Globe Theatre, where they gave a short performance before we went through the streets to Borough Market where further plays and games were scheduled. I decided it was time for lunch and left at this point.

more pictures


The Martydom Of Ali – Hub-e-Ali, Marble Arch

Hub-e-Ali organise an annual mourning program in London to mark the Martydom of Ali, the cousin of the Prophet Muhammad and the first person to embrace Islam, who was martyred in 660CE in Kufa, Iraq.

Ali was struck by a poisoned sword while leading dawn prayers in the mosque, and died two days later. The event and its consequences continue to divide Muslims down to the present day.

Many (and not only Muslims) have regarded Ali as the model of a just Islamic ruler, working to establish peace, justice and morality.

The procession both marks the killing of Ali and also looks forward to the day when a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad will return to be the saviour of the world.

It also celebrates the duty of the followers of Islam to speak out against oppression and immorality, and to live pious lives in solidarity with the oppressed.

To show their sorrow, those taking part in the mourning parade (Jaloos) recite eulogies about Ali and beat their breasts (Seena Zani.) A coffin (Taboot) is carried as a part of the procession, along with symbolic flags. There is also a long session of recitations before the parade.

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DPAC Court Vigil, a Poet Arrested, Musical Poor Doors & More 2014

Tuesday, October 22nd, 2024

DPAC Court Vigil, a Poet Arrested, Musical Poor Doors & More: Wednesday 22nd October 2014, ten years ago today was a busy day for me. You can read my full accounts of the various events I photographed on the links to My London Diary, along with many more pictures, but here I’ve only space for a short outline. Below is my day more or less in order.


DPAC High Court Vigil for ILF – Royal Courts of Justice,

DPAC Court Vigil, a Poet Arrested, Musical Poor Doors & More 2014

When disabled people won a court case over withdrawal of the Independent Living Fund the government simply put back the closure of the fund. Today’s protest by Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) supported a second case against the closure. Speakers at the vigil included three MPs, John McDonnell, Andy Slaughter and Jeremy Corbyn, as well as many from various disability groups.

DPAC Court Vigil, a Poet Arrested, Musical Poor Doors & More 2014

At the end of the protest, DPAC carried out their usual direct action, blocking Strand outside the court with their wheelchairs.

DPAC Court Vigil, a Poet Arrested, Musical Poor Doors & More 2014

More at DPAC High Court Vigil for ILF.


End UK shame over Shaker Aamer – Parliament Square, London

DPAC Court Vigil, a Poet Arrested, Musical Poor Doors & More 2014

Protesters were continuing their regular vigils opposite Parliament for Shaker Aamer, imprisoned and tortured for over 12 years and cleared for release in 2007. They believe he was still being held because his testimony would embarrass MI6 as well as the US.

End UK shame over Shaker Aamer.


Westminster Tube Station & Canary Wharf

I took the tube from Westminster to Canary Wharf to visit the Bridges exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands, later returning to Westminster. I paused in Westminster Station to take some panoramic images of the interior, designed as Piranesian, though sometimes I get more of the feeling of Escher as you seem to walk endlessly up escalators and around the interior.

I found the show a little disappointing, but took advantage of my visit there to take a few more panoramic images.

A few more pictures,


Democracy Camp – Plinth Guy & Poet Arrested – Parliament Square

I made a couple of visits to the Democracy Camp in Parliament Square both before and after going to Canary Wharf. Although the camp had been ejected from the main grass area workshops and rallies were still taking place throughout the day, and Danny, the ‘Plinth Guy‘ was still up there with Churchill since the previous day – and there were cheers when he completed 24 hours.

Earlier someone had been arrested for throwing him a bottle of water, and when performance poet and activist Martin Powell arrived with a plastic tub of food he was warned he would be arrested if he tried to give it to Danny.

He replied it could not possibly be a crime to feed a hungry person and threw it extremely accurately over police heads and into Danny’s waiting hands. Arrested and marched away he loudly recited his poem ‘The Missing Peace’.

Danny was still in place when I returned at 5pm but the police had called in their climbing team. I listened while its leader talked with him, and Danny told him he would not resist arrest if they came to take him down peacefully. But I had to leave before they started to do so.

Democracy Camp – Poet Arrested


Musical Poor Doors – One Commercial St

This was Class War’s 14th weekly protest at the ‘rich door’ of Redrow’s One Commercial St flats and it was a lively affair with the banners dancing to the music of Rhythms of Resistance, a poetic performance and some rousing speeches against social apartheid.

There ws strong police presence but there was no trouble, with a carnival atmosphere and banners dancing up and down the wide pavement in front of the rich door. Most of the police appeared to be enjoying the event too.

As usual after an hour of protesting people dispersed and I went into Aldgate East station to begin my journey home.

More at Musical Poor Doors.


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Borough Market & Apprentice Boys – 2006

Monday, October 21st, 2024

Borough Market & Apprentice Boys: On Saturday 21st October I went to the 250th anniversary celebrations at Borough Market and then to a march celebrating the closing by apprentices of the gates of Derry to the forces of King James II in 1688 which led to the siege of Derry the following year. Here are my accounts of both events from My London Diary in 2006 with a few minor alterations to make them more readable and links to more pictures on the site.

Borough Market: 250th Anniversary – Southwark

Borough Market & Apprentice Boys

Borough Market started with the Romans a couple of thousand years ago, and around a thousand years ago was thriving on and around London’s only bridge across the river Thames. In the next few centuries it moved a little south into Borough High Street, and in 1550 received a royal charter, although like all London markets it was under the control of the City of London.

Borough Market & Apprentice Boys

Increased congestion in Borough High Street lead to the first of nine Acts Of Parliament about the market’s activities in 1754, which moved it out of the road a few yards west to its present site. The agreement with the city authorities, which established the new market was made 250 years ago in 1756. Every year the Lord Mayor of London visits the market and collects fruit for the poor. It is now the only remaining wholesale and retail market in London.

Borough Market & Apprentice Boys

The market is now officially a charity, but has always existed to support the residents of St Saviour’s Parish. Any surplus made by the market now goes to Southwark Council and the residents of the former parish get a rebate on their council tax.

Borough Market & Apprentice Boys

The Worshipful Company of Fruiterers have also been celebrating the 400th anniversary of their Royal Charter in 1605. They had been inspecting (and levying duty) on London’s fruit and veg since 1292 or earlier, and received ordinances in 1463.

Borough Market & Apprentice Boys

Until recently, Borough Market was a wholesale market, but its small size and transport problems meant that ten years ago it was almost empty and in a very poor state. Since then it has grown as a retail site for high quality food and drink, with many small specialist suppliers, as well as other small businesses. Two small parts of the site have been sold to provide money to rebuild and improve the market.

The Lord Mayor arrived with a small guard of pikemen and there were a few speeches. The fruiterers provide fresh fruit for a number of shelters for the homeless. The Lord Mayor and his party then toured the market, which had some fine displays of produce as well as its normal superb foods.

more pictures


Apprentice Boys of Derry March – Westminster

The Apprentice Boys Of Derry is a protestant organisation dedicated “to maintaining the spirit of liberty” displayed by the 13 apprentices who closed the gates of the city to the approaching army of the Catholic King James II in 1688. He demanded that the city surrender, receiving the now famous reply “No surrender!” The association which now organises parades to commemorate this was founded in 1814.

As well as in Derry itself, there are Apprentice Boys Clubs around the world, and each year there are several marches in London. At times their marches by or through largely Catholic areas have been extremely contentious, and the banning of their Portadown march in 1986 led to serious riots. Recent events in today’s calmer climate have caused fewer problems.

The march started near Victoria Station and went through Parliament Square to the Cenotaph in Whitehall where a wreath was laid. I left them at Trafalgar Square, on their way to a service at the Independent Congregational Church in Orange Street, behind the National Gallery, followed by a social evening.

more pictures


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Inequality, Democracy Camp & the Blessed Sacrament – 2014

Friday, October 18th, 2024

Inequality, Democracy Camp & the Blessed Sacrament – On Saturday 18th October 2014 over 80,000 people marched in London to call for workers to share in the economic recovery which has seen a great increase in wages of chief executives while workers have lost out. Later I went to Parliament Square where the Democracy Camp finally took over the area. When police left, I left to photograph a Catholic religious procession.


Britain Needs A Pay Rise – Embankment

Inequality, Democracy Camp & the Blessed Sacrament

I walked along the Embankment a couple of hours before the march was due to start and already it was beginning to fill up with marchers, and I returned later from photographing Democracy Camp protesters in Parliament Square just in time to catch the end of a photocall with TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady in front of a bus covered with a green banner with the message ‘Britain Needs a Pay Rise’ and people holding large white numbers 1,7 and 5.

Inequality, Democracy Camp & the Blessed Sacrament

The gap between rich and poor is widening in the UK, with company chief executives in 2014 getting 175 times the pay of the average worker. Wealth is also hugely unequally divided, with the “the richest 50 families in the UK held more wealth than half of the UK population” by 2023. Only 8 of the 37 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries are now less equal than the UK.

Inequality, Democracy Camp & the Blessed Sacrament

Eventually the march set off, and after photographing the start of the march I stayed in place to photograph the rest of the march as it came past me.

Inequality, Democracy Camp & the Blessed Sacrament
Matt Wrack, FBU

“At the front were the major unions, the health workers and the teachers, the firefighters and more, a reminder of how much we still depend on unionised workers despite the largely successful attacks by Thatcher and later governments which have almost eliminated the unions in many areas.”

“Further back the marchers were more varied, and I met rather more people I knew, including those with CND, Focus E15, Occupy London and other radical movements.”

I kept taking pictures as people came past me for around an hour and a quarter, when people were still coming past but it was close to the end. Rather than continue with them to Hyde Park where the final rally would be starting I considered taking the Underground – it would probably be over before those marchers arrived. But I decided I had enough pictures of the event and went instead to Parliament Square to see what was happening at the Democracy Camp.

Many more pictures at Britain Needs A Pay Rise.


Democracy Camp Takes the Square – Parliament Square

When I arrived the tense standoff between police and protesters around the edges of the grassed area was continuing. Many of the protesters had temporarily left the square to join in with the TUC march but were beginning to arrive back.

One group “from UK Uncut came into the square dancing to the sound of a music centre on a shopping trolley. As they danced on the pavement in front of the statue of Churchill, Westminster Council officials prompted police into action and together with one of the Heritage Wardens the police moved to attempt to seize the sound system.”

Democracy campers linked arms to make it difficult for the warden and police to reach the system” but eventually the group were surrounded and “Martin Tuohy showed his ID as Senior Westminster Warden at Westminster City Council and together with another employee grabbed the system with police looking on.”

After some tense argument the UK Uncut group were allowed to leave the square along with their sound equipment with the warning that unless they took it away from Parliament Square it would be taken from them.

More people arrived from the TUC march, where some had carried “two large wood and fabric towers, one with the words POWER and OCCUPY and the other the word DEMOCRACY. Together with other protesters they ran onto the grass square and raised the towers

Others joined them including some carrying a long ‘Real Democracy Now!’ banner and the rally began.

The first speaker was “Labour MP John McDonnell. Among the other speakers were Occupy’s George Barda, environmentalist Donnachadh McCarthy and Russell Brand, who after speaking posed for photographs together with many of those present. “

The sudden invasion of the grass had taken the police and Heritage Wardens by surprise, and they had been unable to do anything to prevent it. But during the rally police began “massing around the square in blocks of around 20, obviously posed in a military looking formations ready to run onto the square.” As well as perhaps 200 ordinary police, reinforcements arrived “arrived with two larger groups of blue-capped TSGs obviously spoiling for a fight.”

“Then the police suddenly started to disappear while Brand was speaking. Perhaps someone had realised that with Russell Brand talking, any attack on the protesters would have generated massive and largely negative media coverage. Much better to come back late at night and do it after the mass media had left (which they did.)”

Nothing seemed likely to happen until much later, so I left for another event.

More at Democracy Camp takes the Square.


Procession of the Blessed Sacrament – Westminster Cathedral to Southwark Cathedral

I arrived just in time to see the procession emerge from Westminster Cathedral – no photography was allowed inside.

I followed it down the road to Lambeth Bridge where they stopped for a change of dress as Auxiliary Bishop Paul Hendricks put on his robe to carry the sacrament in Southwark diocese.

I left the procession at the south end of the bridge to catch a bus back to Waterloo and make my way home.

Procession of the Blessed Sacrament.


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