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BHS, Rolls-Royce, Pubs & Funerals, Hammersmith – 1990

BHS, Rolls-Royce, Pubs & Funerals, Hammersmith: The previous post from my walk on Sunday 7th January 1990 was Latymer, Cromwell, Britannia, Chapels, Shops & Bevan – 1990.

*Bridge Avenue, Hammersmith, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1990, 90-1e-65*

Bridge Avenue used to run from King Street to Hammersmith Bridge Road close to Hammersmith Bridge, but was severed with the building of the Great West Road through Hammersmith in the 1960s, the section to the south of this now being Bridge View, though the two are still linked for cyclists and pedestrians by a crossing.

This derelict building was demolished and replaced by a block of offices which is now occupied as the sixth-form block of a Free School. You can faintly make out its former name above the doorway BRITISH HOME STORES. This had its main 1937 Deco frontage at 111-117 King Street, still visible above more recent shopfronts (see below.)

I also photographed the Grade II listed mid-nineteenth century terrace at 1-31 on the east side of Bridge Avenue but have not yet digitised this.

*Frank Dale & Stepsons, King St, Hammersmith, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1990, 90-1e-66*

Frank Dale and Stepsons was an unusual business name and the shop, a high-end car showroom, seemed an unusual building for a high street here. The company, trading in Rolls-Royce and Bentley motor cars was set up by Frank Dale in 1946 in Paddington, moved to Holbein Place off Sloane Square in 1966, on to Fulham in 1972 and to these larger premises in Hammersmith in 1985. In 2000 they went further west to Harlequin Avenue off the Great West Road in Brentford and since 2020 has been based in Sandhurst on the borders of Berkshire, Hampshire, and Surrey. The company history is well illustrated on its web site.

This building at 120-124 King Street was on the site of a pub established in 1419 and later known as the Plough & Harrow Public House. The building dated from 1903 and the pub closed around 1960. The facade was retained when the site was rebuilt around 2002 and its ground floor resurrected the old pub name as a Wetherspoons. A pleasantly airy alternative to the William Morris a short walk away it was closed by the company in June 2025. The upper floors are a hotel.

*Wades, King St, Hammersmith, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1990, 90-1e-51*

This is the 1937 Deco frontage of the former British Home Stores. When I made this picture it was Wades’ NATIONAL UPHOLSTERY CLEARANCE CENTRE, but was holding its Branch Closing Down Sale. Wade Upholstery are apparently “recognised as one of the finest British makers of sofas and chairs, with a history dating back to 1921, and is sold by the best furniture retailer’s around the world.”

*Amalgamated Plating Works, Railway arches, Cambridge Grove, Hammersmith, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1990, 90-1e-54*

Two bridges carry the District and Piccadilly lines across Cambridge Grove and this entrance is on the west side of the road next to the northern of the two. Since 2020 this has been The Clay Garden, a ceramics studio running pottery classes, membership, private hire and masterclasses.

*The Cambridge Arms, pub, Cambridge Grove, Hammersmith, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1990, 90-1e-55*

The Cambridge Arms was built in 1853 but following a major refurbishment in 1997 it was renamed The Stonemasons Arms and it mainly caters for young professional people and prides itself for “serving craft beer and sourdough pizzas daily.”

Behind it is St John the Evangelist, Glenthorne Road, by William Butterfield built 1857–9. Grade II* listed, it closed as a church in 2005 and is now used by Godolphin and Latymer School as a performing arts centre.

*The Cambridge Arms, pub, Cambridge Grove, Hammersmith, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1990, 90-1e-41*

Another pictures of the Cambridge Arms. Formerly a Watney Combe Reid house it was revamped by Fuller’s. On its side are what I think are the arms of the Prince of Wales – the Duke of Cambridge is a hereditary title of nobility in the British royal family.

*Arthur Luckett, Funerals, Glenthorne Road, Hammersmith, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1990, 90-1e-56*

Arthur Luckett was an undertaker with this shop at 59 Glenthorne Road, Hammersmith. Later it became a Unisex hairdressing salon who added an awning which rather spoils the frontage and more recently a property management company.

The modern offices at right were for Phillips Medical Systems and have since been replaced.

*Ashcroft Square, Leamore St, Hammersmith, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1990, 90-1e-42*

Finally in Hammersmith I made this picture of Ashcroft Square in Leamore St, a 1973 housing estate on top of a shopping centre designed by Richard Seifert. The shops were only officially opened in 1979. The Kings Mall Shopping Centre is now owned by IKEA.

But this was not the end of my walk. I jumped on a bus to take me a mile or so to the west before the pictures in another post.

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Limehouse Workshop – 2005

Limehouse Workshop: Twenty years ago today I led a small workshop of photographers around parts of Limehouse, stopping at a number of key places where I gave a short introduction and some suggestions then set them free for a quarter of an hour or so to take their pictures. And while I then gave those who seem to need it some support I also found time to make some pictures myself.

This was an area I’d photographed on a number of occasions over the years – and of course had revisited shortly before the workshop to check and plan our route. And on the day I made sure to be there well in advance in case there were any problems with transport across London. For once there weren’t and I arrived in time for an hour or so wandering and making pictures before we met up.

Because of the preparation the workshop went smoothly and I also had a lot of material to write a post on My London Diary – though a lot less than I told people on the workshop about the area. Here it is below with the usual corrections.

Limehouse is an area of London, with a varied population and an interesting history. it grew up around the river and seafaring trades, including ship-building, and had many warehouses and similar buildings. as well as the river Thames with its national and international connections (the first voluntary passengers to Australia are said to have left from Dunbar Wharf, close to Limekiln Dock.) It gained more traffic through its two canals, the Regent’s Canal linking the Thames to inland England, including Birmingham and the midlands via the Grand Union Canal, and the Limehouse Cut, taking traffic from the Lea Navigation to the Thames by a safer route avoiding Bow Creek.

Much of the centre of Limehouse is occupied by the Regents Canal Dock. In the 1960s a new short length of canal joined the Limehouse Cut to this, enabling the separate lock from this to the Thames to be closed. A year or two later all commercial traffic on the canals ceased, leaving them for pleasure cruising.

A hundred years ago, docklands in general and Limehouse in particular was a closed world to those who lived outside the area. Lurid and racist stories, particularly those of Sax Rohmer, painted the area as a den of vice, run by the infamous (and totally fictional) Dr Fu Manchu. The area had become home to a number of Chinese and Asian sailors and their families, becoming London’s first Chinatown. Even thirty years ago there were still some signs of this, but [by 2005] most of the Chinese businesses and people have moved away to other areas, including Soho.

*St Anne’s, Limehouse flying its naval White Ensign*

Thomas Burke’s tales of Limehouse [Limehouse Nights: Tales of Chinatown] from the same era as Rohmer paint a more accurate and sympathetic view of the area and its English and Chinese population, although his language is fully of its time, with many terms that would now be considered derogatory. But Burke had been raised as an orphan in neighbouring Poplar and his Limehouse stories reflect a close knowledge of the people and the place. The figure who dominates his stories is not a sinister criminal warlord, but the old Chinese sage, Quong Lee.

More recently, Limehouse came under the diggers and cranes of the London Docklands Development Corporation. Canary Wharf was raised on its eastern edge, and the Limehouse Link tunnel excavated through the heart of the area. The need to build this route to join docklands with inner London meant that the LDDC had to get round a table with the local authority, leading to the first real attempt by them to take social considerations into account in their development plans.

More pictures and some captions begin here on My London Diary.

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Rainham, Purfleet, Thurrock & Ponders End – 1993

Rainham, Purfleet, Thurrock & Ponders End: On Saturday 11th December 1993 I took a train from Fenchurch Street to Rainham and then walked along by the river to Coldharbour Point. There the path stopped and I returned to Rainham and took the train to Purfleet where I could pick up the riverside path again and walk on to Grays. Probably I walked about 9 miles in all and by the time I finished it I think the light would have been fading, with sunset at around 4pm.

Tilda Rice, Purfleet, Thurrock, 1993, 94-01-1-64 — *Tilda Rice, Rainham, Thurrock, 1993, 94-01-1-64*

On this walk I made a little over 200 black and white images, a selection of which you can find on Flickr in my 1993 London album beginning here.

*Waste Paper, Purfleet, Thurrock, 1993, 94-01-1-51*

There are more colour images from this walk, including a number of panoramas, mixed with pictures from other occasions starting here on the final two pages of my Flickr album of colour pictures from 1993.

*Notices on Fence, Purfleet, Thurrock, 1993, 94-01-1-53*

But today I found some more pictures from that walk at the start of my album 1994 London Colour and I’ll share these in this post. They will have come from a cassette of film which I took in 1993 but only developed a month or so later in 1994.

*Waste Paper, Purfleet, Thurrock, 1993, 94-01-1-56*

Works, Purfleet, Thurrock, 1993, 94-01-1-46

*QEII Bridge, Dartford Bridge, Pipeline, River Thames, West Thurrock, Thurrock, 1993, 94-01-1-11*

The final image in today’s post is something completely different on the same film, a shop window in Ponders End which I found it strangely weird. As it is on the same film as the others I think it was probably also taken in December 1993 although my caption stated 1994.

*Shop Window, Ponders End, Enfield, 1994, 94-01-1-14*

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Pride in 2002

Pride in 2002: Back in 2002 Pride was still in black and white, or at least the pictures I posted on My London Diary were, as were those I took to the picture library I was then working with. They still only worked with black and white prints and colour transparencies and I was working with colour negative.

It would have been possible for me to convert those colour negatives into transparencies, but it wasn’t worth the time and expense in the hope of possible sales to do so.

For my personal use and to exhibit work I could make colour prints – and I had crammed a colour processor into my darkroom so could feed the exposed Fuji paper in at one end, shut the lid and let the machine do the rest before I took the print to the print washer.

I had a smart colour enlarger with a linked probe that at least almost got the necessary filtration somewhere close, though I always ran at least one test strip – and often 2 or 3 – before making the final print. Making prints was a rather tedious business working in near total darkness with just a very, very dim sodium light.

The way forward was obviously to scan negative film to provide digital files, but in 2002 the equipment I had was fairly primitive and the scans I produced in 2002 looked rather poor, which is probably why I only posted the black and white images on My London Diary at the time. Scanning the black and white 10×8″ press prints gave rather better results.

Back then I only wrote two short paragraphs about the event in My London Diary – and here they are in full (with the usual corrections):

July started for me with the annual Pride march. This year it was probably the smallest I’ve attended, and was a rather sad event compared to previous years.

It was enlivened a little by some visitors from Brazil, but the whole thing seems to be more of a commercial event now. Much less fun and joy.

For this post I’ve revisited some of those 2002 scans and improved them significantly with the aid of some smart sharpening and other minor adjustments to post here. You can click on these colour images to see them larger.

Most of the colour images are of the same subjects as I took in black and white, and at least for some I still prefer them in black and white. But generally I think the event is best seen in colour.

More black and white pictures start here on My London Diary.

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NHS at 65, Lewisham & the DLR – 2013

NHS at 65, Lewisham & the DLR: Friday 5th July 2013 was the 65th anniversary of the founding of our National Health Service and I photographed three events connected with this, two in Westminster and one opposite Lewisham Hospital where campaigners were fighting to keep services. And on the way back from Lewisham I took some pictures though the window of the DLR train, mainly as we went past Deptford Creek.

The National Health Action Party was a publicity stunt and single issue parties such as this are never likely to make much widespread impact on British politics. But given the strength of the recent Labour rebellion over Starmer’s attack on the disabled I wonder if a new left of centre political party might result in a radical change in our political system, with possibly a significant number of Labour MPs deserting the sinking ship in favour of a party which represents traditional Labour values. We could then have two different parties fighting out the next election.

NHS 65: GMB – Westminster

The GMB trade union came with three vintage ambulances to protest outside Parliament where trade unionists in vintage ambulance uniforms posed with MPs including Dennis Skinner and Sadiq Khan warning that the NHS is at risk.

I’m afraid I’ve forgotten who the other MPs were, but you can see a couple more in the pictures on My London Diary I took as the photographer for the GMB posed and photographed them. I have a personal antipathy to posing people, though I might occasionally deliberately attract their attention and even very occasionally ask them to keep still or look at me. But generally I see my role as recording what is happening rather than directing it. And here what was happening was that people were being photographed.

Later I went with them (and the ambulances) as they took 65th Birthday cards for the NHS, with the message inside “Do Not Pension Off Our NHS’ to the Ministry of Health, then still in Richmond House on Whitehall.

More at NHS 65: GMB.

NHS 65: Lewisham Hospital

In the memorial garden opposite the Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign were holding a lunchtime party to celebrate the 65th Birthday of the NHS, and as a part of their campaign to keep this busy, successful and much needed hospital open.

The plans for its closure were not related to the hospital’s performance in any way but because the health authority needed to make drastic cuts to meet the disastrous PFI debts of a neighbouring hospital.

There had been a massive community campaign to save vital NHS services at the hospital, backed by “Patients, NHS staff, Lewisham Council, MPs, schools, pensioners, families, businesses, faith groups, charities, unions, students and health campaigners” – the whole community including the Millwall Football Club.

Later at the end of July 2013 the High Court ruled in favour of the Judicial Reviews by the Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign and Lewisham Council and quashed the Government’s closure plans. And ten years later in July 2023 on the 75th anniversary of the founding of the NHS a newly engraved community bench was unveiled to celebrate the victory. I’m sorry I wasn’t present to record that occasion.

More at NHS 65: Lewisham Hospital.

DLR Views – Deptford-Canary Wharf

I decided to travel back from Lewisham into central London by taking the DLR to Canary Wharf where I could change to the Jubilee Line because I could try to take some pictures from the train, particularly on the section where the viaduct goes alongside and over Deptford Creek.

There are many problems in taking pictures from trains. Finding a reasonably clean window is the first, and avoiding reflections another. It was easier back in the 1970s when there were windows you could pull down and lean out! And now apparently AI can remove reflections, though I’ve yet to try it.

DLR Views

NHS 65: Rally & Camarathon – Westminster

On the 65th Birthday of the NHS, Dr Clive Peedell began a 65 mile ultramarathon to David Cameron’s Witney constituency to bury the NHS coffin and launch the National Health Action Party plan by doctors and health professionals to revive the NHS.

Dr Clive Peedell posed in a Cameron mask with the coffin and wreath and had come with a small group of supporters, including one wearing a mask of his coalition partner Nick Clegg. Campaigners accuse both of deliberately running down our NHS, with more and more NHS services being delivered by private healthcare companies.

After posing in front of the Ministry of Health, the campaigners crossed Whitehall to stand in front of the gates of Downing St before processing behind the coffin to Parliament for more pictures, ending with some street theatre involving severed hands and speeches by several distnguished health professions including the Chair of the Royal College of GPs in Old Palace Yard.

I left before Dr Peedell and two others set off on his long run – though I’m sure others would be carrying the wreath and coffin. The event had clearly been set up to attract the media, but received little publicity.

On My London Diary you can read a long statement by Dr Peedell about how the “2012 Health and Social Care Act, will result in the NHS being increasingly dismantled and privatised” with the Labour Party whose “previous pro-market, pro-privatisation reforms, actually set the platform for the current changes” had failed to sufficiently oppose. Health professionals had “formed the National Health Action Party to raise awareness and inform the public about what is happening to their NHS” and had today “set out our own 10 point plan to reinstate, protect and improve the NHS“.

Much more on My London Diary at NHS 65: Rally & Camarathon.

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Darent Valley Path & Thames – 2015

Darent Valley Path & Thames: The route we took on Saturday 4th July 2015 was new to my wife and son, but one I’d taken quite a few times before, both on foot and on my Brompton, but this time I left the bike behind and walked with them.

Or rather more or less with them, as I often stopped or walked a few yards to one side or other to take pictures, and then had to scurry after them to catch up. Walking with a camera is very different from walking. My son does have a camera (one of the Fuji fixed lens X100 series) but takes far fewer pictures than me – and did much less running about.) But his captions are often rather more droll than mine, and seldom constrained by the 5W’s – Who What Where When Why.

It was a bad day for this walk, hot and sunny with virtually no shelter between Dartford and Greenhithe along the banks of the Darent and Thames. But I’d heard that there would be a boat sailing up Dartford Creek, a rare occasion at the time and decided it would be good to photograph it.

This route is now one end of the Darent Valley Path, a 19 mile path which ends at Sevenoaks, most of which I’ve walked or cycled on other occasions, and the part beside the Thames is on the England Coast Path.

The Darent used to be navigable at least up as far as Dartford, where barges brought in and took out cargoes. Close to Dartford is a half-lock which holds back water above it when the tide goes out, long out of use but now slowly being restored to bring the waterway back into regular use.

*A fixed low bridge impedes navigation. This bypass was built as University Way, but the University never came so they renamed it Bob Dunn Way*

There used to be a lock which craft could go through when then the tide was high enough downstream, but that was replaced by a fixed barrier. Boats can still go through in either direction close to high tide when their is enough water for them to clear the sill.

*The yacht arrived later than expected and I had to run back to photograph*

*it coming under the flood barrier. It was too late to get under the bridge on the same tide.*

As well as the Darent, barges also went up the River Cray which joins the Darent downstream from the half-lock. This too is being brought back into leisure use.

By the river in the centre of Dartford was the industrial estate dominated by the pharmaceutical manufacturing plant of Burroughs Wellcome who took over a former paper works here in 1889. In 1995 this became Glaxo Wellcome, the largest pharmaceutical company in the world. The works was wound down from 2008 by the then owners GlaxoSmithKline with manufacturing ending in 2013. Much of the site was empty by 2015 and now has large blocks of flats.

On the west side of Dartford Creek had been paper mills, but the last of these, owned by Wiggins Teape closed in 2009 and there was by 2015 housing on the site.

*QEII bridge and Littlebrook Power station, River Thames, Dartford*

When the third Dartford Bypass was built around 1988 barges were no longer bringing esparto grass and other raw materials for the paper works up the river and no thought was given to navigation. Boats that can lower masts or without them can creep under the road for a short time on a rising or falling tide when there is enough water to allow them to float but not high enough for the bridge to block their transit.

Much of the land to the east of the creek was marshes, which made it a suitable location for the Wells fireworks factory, long closed. But I think it or an adjoining site was now in use for clay-pigeon shooting, and for much of this section of the walk we sounded under gunfire.

There had once been a pub, Longreach Terrace, and a ferry to Purfleet on the Thames close to the the mouth of Dartford creek, but both were long gone. It was here too that smallpox victims were brough ashore to the islolation wards of Orchard Hospital, demolished around 1975, part of the Joyce Green Hospital which was demolished around 2000.

*The Purfleet to Zeebruge ferry goes under the QEII bridge*

Further downstream on the banks of the Thames we passed Littlebrook power station – the final plant there, Littlebrook D, had ceased operation only four months earlier – before going under the Dartford QEII bridge and past Crossways Business Park. I had meant to climb up the hill to Stone Church, but missed the footpath and ended our walk in Greenhithe. But I was too tired anyway – and had stopped taking pictures on this last part of our walk.

More at Darent Valley Path & Thames.

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Latymer, Cromwell, Britannia, Chapels, Shops & Bevan – 1990

Latymer, Cromwell, Britannia, Chapels, Shops & Bevan: The first post from my walk on Sunday 7th January was Stamford Brook, Ravenscourt Park and a Bull – 1990 and it ended on King Street Hammersmith where this post begins. As usual you can click on any of the pictures in these walk posts to go to a larger version in one of my Flickr albums.

*Latymer Upper School, King St, Ravenscourt Park, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1990, 90-1d-36*

Like many other well-known schools Latymer School began with a bequest for the education of poor boys. Edward Latymer in 1624 left money to provide 8 poor boys with clothing and education to the age of 13. Later bequests added to the foundation and in 1811, Ann Wyatt left £500 to build a new school together with £100 for its maintenance. Schools were set up in both Edmonton and Fulham.

The Fulham school moved to Hammersmith in 1648 and since then has had various buildings in the area. This building, Latymer Upper School was opened in 1895 and taught boys up to the age of 16. Following the 1945 Education Act it became a Direct Grant Grammar School, taking both state and fee-paying pupils.

When I took my 11-plus I could have applied to go here, but my parents were worried both by the cost of uniforms etc they couldn’t afford and also the long journey times I would have had to make and sent me to a more local Grammar.

The Direct Grant scheme was abolished in 1976, with Latymer becoming a fee-paying “Public School“, though still retaining some means-tested grant assisted places. When I made this picture it was still a boy’s school, but girls were admitted into the sixth form in 1996 and beginning in 2004 the whole school slowly became co-educational.

*Trees, Flats, Cromwell Ave, Hammersmith, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1990, 90-1d-24*

Cromwell Avenue is a street off King Street to the south, and these flats cover its whole east side. I think the street runs along what was the west side of Hammersmith Brewery, set up in 1780 by Joseph Cromwell on Hammersmith Creek, then navigable as far as King Street. The brewery was later run by his brother James Cromwell but seems to have stopped brewing in the 1840s.

Hammersmith Creek was the mouth of Stamford Brook, a small stream running from Gunnersbury. As well as the brewery on its west bank it also had wharves on its east side and in the early 19th century still had a flourishing industry. It was filled in in the early 20th century and Stamford Brook now reaches the Thames in a culvert under Furnivall Gardens.

*Salvation Army, Dalling Rd, Ravenscourt Park, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1990, 90-1d-12*

Formerly known as the Ebenezer Chapel and Albion Congregational Church, was said to have built in the 1780s when recently offered for sale, although Pevsner dates it to 1891-2 by F W Stocking.

The congregation of the Ebenezer Chapel moved to a church on this site from King St in 1855. The church closed in 1938 and became a Salvation Army chapel which has now recently closed.

*Britannia Builders, Studland St, Glenthorne Rd, Hammersmith, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1990, 90-1d-15*

The buildings are still here at 108-116 Glenthorne Rd but there is no trace of Britannia. During the corona virus pandemic they were used by the volunteer community aid network launched by Hammersmith & Fulham Council, H&F CAN to give support to residents. Before that the windows were full of fireplaces, wood-burning stoves and mirrors

*Gospel Hall, King St, Hammersmith, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1990, 90-1e-03*

The Gospel Hall of the Kelly Mission was at 170 King Street and the site has now been redeveloped. Until 1919 this was the site of the Cock and Magpie pub and the Gospel Hall was built soon after

Shelly's Shoes, Holcome St, King St, Hammersmith, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1990, 90-1e-61 — *Shelly’s Shoes, Holcome St, King St, Hammersmith, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1990, 90-1e-61*

These buildings are still there at 157-163 King Street though Maplin, Shelly’s Shores and Pizza Inn have all been replaced by different businesses. Even the more modern building beyond has survived.

I couldn’t make out much of the remains of an advertisement on the Holcome Street wall though it seems to have a very large ‘UNN’ in it. No traces of it remain but there are now some wall bracing plates on the wall.

*Aspen Gardens, Hammersmith, Hammersmith & Fulham, 1990, 90-1e-63*

These blocks of flats in Aspen Gardens have a 1930s look to them but were built shortly after the end of the war clearing a large slum area and were opened in 1948 by Aneurin Bevan.

Best known for the NHS, Bevan was also responsible for housing and advocated for a national housing scheme to ensure everyone had decent and affordable homes. He wanted social housing for all, creating “create new homes and communities with a place for all sections of society” like that in English and Welsh villages “where the doctor, the grocer, the butcher and the farm labourer all lived in the same street.”

Despite incredible post-was shortages of materials and skilled labour, in 1948 there were 227,600 new homes built.

More from my walk here on >Re:PHOTO later.

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Disabled Lose Independence & Robin Hood Gardens Doomed – 2015

Disabled Lose Independence & Robin Hood Gardens Doomed: The Independent Living fund which enabled many disabled people to live useful and fulfilling lives ended on Tuesday 30th June 2015. After photographing the delivery of petitions ouside Downing St against its ending I went to Poplar for another visit to Robin Hood Gardens where a second attempt to get these important buildings listed had recently been rejected.

DPAC’s ILF Closing Ceremony – Downing St to Old Palace Yard

Disabled Lose Independence & Robin Hood Gardens Doomed - 2015 — *John Kelly as Schimmel, the equine star and proud battle horse of the Threepenny Opera*

On the day the Independent Living Fund closed, campaigners for independent living for disabled people led by DPAC, Disabled People Against Cuts, presented petitions to the Prime Minister before marching behind the Threepenny Opera horse to Parliament to continue their fight for dignity and equality.

At the gates of Downing Street protesters wrote slogans on incontinence pads which losing the support means some will be forced to use. Paula Peters had this message for Iain Duncan Smith: ‘I want dignity – I want to be treated as a human – You wear one of these I. D. S. They are awful‘.’

As Secretary of State for Work and Pensions IDS was responsible for the decision to end this support, which had been introduced in 1988 to enable disabled people to live in their own homes and to pay for care, and in particular to employ personal assistants.

They had brought a petition with over 25,000 signatures to hand in and after this they marched to a rally at Old Palace Yard at the end of which a wreath with the message’s ‘RIP ILF’ was laid.

The government lost a legal challenge over ending the ILF but still closed it for new claimants on 1st July 2015. The responsibility for existing claimants in England was passed from the Independent Living Fund to local authorities who became responsible for care provision and all assessments. Support which had been well-administered became a post-code lottery.

DPAC’s ILF Closing Ceremony.

Robin Hood Gardens – Poplar

*The end of the street in the sky – and it looks like the end for Robin Hood Gardens*

Robin Hood Gardens, designed by Alison and Peter Smithson and completed in 1972 was a nationally important and internationally recognised work of Brutalist architecture. Built for the London County Council with 213 flats, it was designed as two slab blocks, the east 10 storeys and the west 7 storeys on a difficult site next to one of London’s busiest roads – the Blackwall Tunnel Approach – but with a large and peaceful green inside.

*There appears to be a forest between the two slabs of Robin Hood Gardens*

It was very solidly built and the flats were generous, with wide ‘streets in the sky’ outside. Inside the flats next to the roadway you could hardly hear the traffic.

*The East block seen from the decorated wall above the Blackwall Tunnel entrance*

In 1965 ownership passed to Tower Hamlets Council who neglected the site, allowed the green to become overgrown and later actively demonised the estate and housed many problem families there.

*Two tall walls of flats protecting a large open garden area*

Following a visit there in 2009 on an Open House Day tour led by Bridget Cherry I commented it was “in many respects a fine solution to a difficult site with some superb landscaping in the large interior space. Deliberately encouraged to ruin by overcrowding and use as a sink estate by Tower Hamlets, it is now in a sorry state, but the decision not to list it is unfathomable (or perhaps simply political.) I hope the campaign to save it from demolition succeeds. “

Most of the flats in the East block were then still occupied. They are large and desirable properties, but often have been used to house difficult residents.

During the New Labour government the listing advisory committee of English Heritage wanted to list it, but were overruled by the politicians, with then Minister of Culture Andy Burnham issuing a certificate of immunity in 2009 and allowing the local Labour Tower Hamlets council to proceed with plans for demolition and redevelopment of the area. But for the moment it was saved by the financial difficulties.

*A tall concrete wall protected the flats from the traffic on Cotton St*

The immunity expired in 2014 and a further attempt, backed by almost every well-known British architect, was then made to get it listed, but was rejected by Historic England, the body that now control listings.

Parking areas on the outside of each of the two blocks

An open letter signed by Richard Rogers and others stated:

"The buildings, which offer generously sized flats that could be refurbished, are of outstanding architectural quality and significant historic interest, and public appreciation and understanding of the value of Modernist architecture has grown over the past five years, making the case for listing stronger than ever."

Historic England went along with the local council’s views and judged that it “fails as a place for human beings to live“. This wasn’t the impression I got from talking to residents on my visits.

*The top street on the east block* – *the curve is from my fisheye lens*

The defects of this and other soundly built modern estates that have been demolished – such as the Heygate at Elephant & Castle in Southwark can generally be easily and relatively cheaply overcome by refurbishment – improved door security, lift maintenance, window replacement, non-combustible cladding etc. The true reasons for demolition are financial, driven by the profits of the developers and also the financial problems of local authorities.

*A large enclosed playground at the south end of the site*

Demolition of sound buildings like this with the expectation of many years of useful service should be criminal. It represents a huge wastage of resources and an incredible carbon footprint both in the actual demolition and also for the rebuilding. The west block was demolished in 2017-8. The east block took around nine months to demolish and this was only completed in March 2025.

More at Robin Hood Gardens.

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EDL No Show & Pride Celebrates Love and Marriage – 2013

EDL No Show & Pride Celebrates Love and Marriage: I began my day with Unite Against Fascism activists who met at Speakers Corner to opposed a march by the EDL, but they didn’t turn up. After taking a few pictures as the UAF celebrated news of the arrests of the EDL leaders as they defied the Tower Hamlets ban I walked to where Pride was gathering in Baker Street.

UAF Oppose, EDL Don’t Come

EDL No Show & Pride Celebrates Love and Marriage - 2013 — *The only EDL present were English Disco Lovers*

On Saturday 29th June 2013 the English Defence League had been banned by police from entering Tower Hamlets and protesting by walking past the East London Mosque as well as from any assembly or procession in Woolwich. Instead they were allowed to march from Hyde Park to Parliament and UAF had been given permission to march in protest in the same area against them.

There were only 50 to 100 UAF supporters at Speakers Corner when I arrived, perhaps because it had become clear that the EDL seemed unlikely to accept the police compromise. While I was there the news came through that the EDL leaders Stephen Lennon (‘Tommy Robinson’) and Kevin Carroll had been arrested in Whitechapel as they tried to ignore the ban and was greeted with loud cheering.

I left shortly after to go to Pride.

More at UAF Oppose, EDL Don’t Come.

Pride Celebrates Love and Marriage – Baker St – Trafalgar Square

Pride 2013 celebrated the passage of the 2013 Marriage bill then going through the UK parliament – it became law as the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 the following month, though only came into force in March 2014. A similar Act in Scotland came into force later in 2014, but couples in Northern Ireland had to wait another six years.

As I commented, “Pride has for years become a celebration of gay lifestyle, with a large participation by corporates who profit from this, but at least this year the overall theme was related to a political event.”

I tried in my coverage of the parade to cover as many as I could of those taking part who were clearly celebrating that theme, as well as many of the other individuals and groups who provide the incredible diversity and colour of the event.

*‘The Queen’ put in her usual appearance*

The parade was forming up on Baker Street and I arrived there a couple of hours before they all moved off, and most of my pictures were taken there, but I later went on to Trafalgar Sqaure, leaving when the end of the parade reached there. Here are just a few of the pictures I made – you can see many more on My London Diary.

*‘Trans* people are being Criminalised while you Party’*

*Stonewall: ‘Some Girls Marry Girls. Get Over It.*

There are many, many more pictures of people in the parade on My London Diary at Pride Celebrates Love and Marriage.

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Chariot Festival, Plumstead & Woolwich – 2009

Chariot Festival, Plumstead & Woolwich: Sunday 28th June 2009 I photographed the Hare Krishna Chariot Festival from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square then travelled to Plumstead Common for short visit to the annual Mela there. But I didn’t find much to interest me and instead took a walk down to the Thames at Thamesmead West and then back alongside the river to Woolwich. On My London Diary I wrote at some length about the walk, which turned out to be surprisingly interesting and about how I thought the area could be improved.

Sri Jagannatha Rathayatra Festival – Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square

Chariot Festival, Plumstead & Woolwich - 2009 — *Musicians in the procession as it leaves Hyde Park*

I didn’t write much about the chariot festival on My London Diary in 2009 as I had written at some length about it the previous year – and I won’t say much here either as I posted about the 2012 Rathayatra festival a few days ago.

In 2009 I concentrated mainly on the people rather than the chariots.

More pictures at Sri Jagannatha Rathayatra.

Plumstead & Woolwich – Plumstead, Thamesmead West, River Thames

It was a long walk up the hill from Plumstead station to the common where the Mela is held and I arrived rather tired and was disappointed to find the the event seemed to be only just starting. But I’d stopped to take a few pictures on the way, and found several things of interest on the walk.

So after a short time at the Mela I decided it was too hot to wait around longer and to take a walk instead.

I walked down to Camelot Castle, home of self-proclaimed “celebrity gangster Dave Courtney“, who was made bankrupt in May 2009, owing £400,000 including an estimated £250,000 to HM Revenue & Customs.

Shouldn’t, I mused looking at the St Georges flags, patriots be pleased to pay taxes? I photographed the house and then onto the gates with a giant knuckleduster at their centre. Courtney also awarded himself a blue plaque with the text ‘Dave Courtney OBE lived here’ where the OBE stands for “One Big Ego”.

Soon after I came across Merlin Tyres. Is it coincidence that Merlin was one of the six main characters of Camelot?

The Plumstead Radical Club is a working mens club formed by local Liberals who later became members of the Labour party, but most working mens clubs lost any real political connection, though they still sell cheap beer to members. From Plumstead I walked into Thamesmead.

This part of Thamesmead West had failed to make good use of its location and what should have become a vibrant area at Broadwater was derelict and depressing.

But soon I reached the Thames path and photographed this woman cycling along it with the recent flats of North Woolwich around a third of a mile away on the opposite bank of the wide river.

And there are plenty of new riverside flats on the south bank too, with residents enjoying riverside views. These flats are perhaps less of an eyesore than some.

Woolwich Arsenal had three piers – this was the one in the middle, known as the Iron Pier, and you can see why from my picture. To the east was the Coal Pier, the lower parts of which still remain – built in 1917-20 it was used to bring in around 1500 tons of coal a week and is fenced off as a dangerous structure, The largest of the three piers, the T Pier has I think gone completely though there is now a Uber Boat pier.

In the Woolwich Arsenal site I came across a group of aliens, ‘Assembly’ by Peter Burke (b1944) placed here in 2004. I stopped to photograph them before heading to Woolwich Arsenal station for a train.

More on My London Diary at Plumstead & Woolwich.

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