flats | >Re-PHOTO

Sex Workers, Gurkhas, Cannabis & Shaker

Wednesday 9th October 2013 was another day of varied protests in London.

Police & Developers Evict Soho Working Girls – Greek St, Soho

Although the immediate cause of this protest was the eviction of sex workers from flats in Romilly Street where they were operating within our laws restricting prostitution, the evictions were not at base about the activities of the women concerned but a result of property developers seeing enormous profits to be made by emptying properties in the area and redeveloping them.

Soho is particularly at risk from hugely profitable development as hotels and luxury flats because of its reputation and unique ambiance, which has largely derived in the past from its association with such risqué activities as strip clubs and models offering personal services as well as its restaurants and shops offering foreign delicacies unknown in the UK outside its boundaries.

Of course times have changed, and much of Soho is now Chinatown, but still its old reputation and some of those old activities remain, though many are fast disappearing. And while the tourists flock in, much of what attracts them is no longer there.

Sex remains a powerful attraction, and it was noticeable that there was far more media attention to this protest than most. Most of the masked women taking part in the protest were supporters of the ‘working girls’ from groups including the organisers of the event, Women Against Rape and the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) who I knew from other protests.

The police who issued notices to the property owners alleging that the properties were brothels are widely seen as working on behalf of the prospective developers, and owners Soho Estates whose managing director came out to speak at the event also have a financial interest. They could have stood up to the police intimidation and investigated the situation so they could assure the police that the activities in the flats were within the law, but failed to do so.

A speaker from the Soho Society told the protest that the activities of the women were one of the oldest traditions of the area, and were causing no problems with their neighbours and the many other trades of the area. Previous similar evictions have attracted local petitions signed by thousands and the ECP press release stated “Many express fears that gentrification is behind attempts to close these flats and that if sex workers are forced out it will lead the way for other small and unique businesses and bars to be drowned out by major construction, chain stores and corporations.”

More at Police & Developers Evict Soho Working Girls.

Gurkha Veterans Demand Justice – Old Palace Yard, Westminster

Elderly Gurkha veterans living in the UK did not benefit from earlier campaigns for fair treatment and most living here are in extreme poverty.

This was one of a number of protests every Wednesday and Thursday opposite the Houses of Parliament inviting the government to hold talks with them and if there was no progress by later in October they said they would begin a programme of nonviolent resistance (Satyagraha) with hunger strikes, beginning with a “13 days relay hunger strike in the name of the 13 Ghurka VCs which would then be followed by a fast-unto-death” if there was no progress.

Gurkha Veterans Demand Justice

Vigil for Shaker Aamer – Parliament Square

I paid a short visit to the campaigners from the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign who earlier in the year been holding a lunchtime protest on the pavement in Parliament Square facing the Houses of Parliament, standing out in their orange jumpsuits and black hoods on every day parliament was in session.

Shaker Aamer, a British resident still then held at Guantánamo was one of the first to be sent there after having been handed over the the US authorities for a cash reward. Although there was no evidence against him he had suffered years of torture in which the UK intelligence services had been implicated. Despite being cleared for release in 2007 and again in 2010 he was still being held, probably because his testimony when released would cause severe embarrassment to both US and UK intelligence agencies.

This protest was the start of a new series of regular weekly vigils seeking to draw attention to the failures of both President Obama and David Cameron, as well as demanding a full Parliamentary debate about Shaker’s case.

Vigil for Shaker Aamer

Cannabis Hypocrisy Protest – Westminster

Campaigners had come to College Green, close to the Houses of Parliament to call for reform of the laws about cannabis, in particular to allow its medical use for MS sufferers. Legal medical cannabis is mainly available here to MS sufferers who can afford to pay its very high price.

Unsurprisingly it was a rather laid back protest, beginning rather late and not really getting started the whole 90 minutes I was there before giving up and going home as they were still waiting for the megaphone or PA system to arrive.

By the time I left there were quite a few people sitting around on the grass smoking. As I commented in a caption, the photographs don’t show what they were smoking, but the smell was unmistakable, and after I while I began to feel just a little unusual. Perhaps the two police officers who strolled over to take a look had no sense of smell or perhaps they simply felt that there was little point in taking any action.

Years ago I had to give lessons against drug use to 16-18 year olds as a part of a ‘personal and social education’ programme, and was aware that many of them had rather more experience in the area than me. But the materials from the Home Office that I relied on made clear that cannabis was considerably less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. Addiction to anything is a bad thing, but so too is the criminalisation that results from our current drug laws, which also fuel an illegal and highly profitable drug business. Appropriate reform, which would certainly include easier access for medicinal use, is long overdue.

Cannabis Hypocrisy Protest

Walworth Road, Harker’s Studios & John Ruskin

This continues my posts on my walk in Walworth on 8th January 1989. The previous post was
Liverpool Grove & Octavia Hill.

*Wooler St, Wendover, Aylesbury Estate, Walworth, Southwark, 1979 89-1c-44*

The domestic scale of the long terrace built around 1900 contrasts with the huge slab block of Wendover on the Aylesbury Esate, built between 1963 and 1977 to provided good quality social housing. Poor maintenance by the council allowed the estate to deteriorate and it became demonised as a problem estate.

Although a majority of residents wanted to remain and voted for refurbishment, Southwark Council decided to demolish the estate. They were met with considerable local resistance with some blocks being occupied by activists. Although parts of the estate have been demolished the fight to retain the rest continues.

The council’s policy seems driven by the hope of large profits for themselves as well as the developers from replacing much of the estate by properties which can be sold at market prices. Similar hopes led to the demolition of the Heygate estate but this resulted in a massive loss for the council, details of which were accidentally disclosed, although some of those from the council involved in the scheme moved to highly lucrative jobs as a result of it.

Heygate’s demolition also resulted in a huge loss of social housing in the area, and the displacement of former residents to outlying areas of London and beyond. Many of the relatively low quality high price flats on the site were sold overseas as investment properties, their value increasing as London house prices soar.

Wooler Street was on the edge of the Octavia Hill planned estate and contains a number of terraced maisonettes and houses of a more conventional late Victorian/Edwardian design. The Octavia Hill (Liverpool Grove) Conservation Area appraisal suggests they “are most likely part of the same development“. Possibly they come from a development by the Church Commissioners before Hill became involved.

*Merrow St, Walworth Rd, Walworth, Southwark, 1989 89-1c-35*

Merrow Street is one of the older streets in the area and this picture shows its junction with Walworth Road. The buildings here are still much the same but their uses have changed. Panache Exclusive Footwear is now a pawnbrokers and The Rock pub which was at 374 Walworth Rd since at least the 1860s became an Irish pub, Liam Og’s around 2005. Liam Og’s apparently featured male strippers at Sunday Lunchtimes, though this perhaps put customers off and in 2009 it became Banana’s Bar which closed a few years later.

There were plans to demolish this building approved in 2018 but then further plans to reopen it as a Beer and Burger Bar with Dance Hall’ in 2020 which failed. In 2021 it became Homeland Furniture.

*Fielding St, Walworth, Southwark, 1989 89-1c-36*

Fielding Street is on the west side of Walworth Road and according to the Walworth Road Historic Area Assessment was laid out (then as Olney St) “after the sale of Montpelier Tea Gardens and Walworth Gardens, post 1844“. These terraced houses with basements have rather impressive doorways are shown on the earliest large-scale maps of the area I can find surveyed around 1870. The skip shows that extensive work was being undertaken on at least one of them.

*Cafe, Arnside St, Walworth, Southwark, 1989 89-1c-22*

There is still a café here, though it had become the Continental Cafe rather than remaining Irish until 2012. It then became the ‘University of Suya’ which I think was a Nigerian restaurant, and later the frontage added the words ‘African Bar & Grill’ to make its offerings clearer.

The doorway at left was the entrance to flats above the shops at 403 Walworth Road.

Works, Horsley St, Walworth, Southwark, 1989 89-1c-23 — *Harkers Studios, Horsley St, Walworth, Southwark, 1989 89-1c-23*

Horsley Street is a short street running from Arnside Street south to Westmoreland Road.

Harkers Studios was purpose built for Joseph Harker’s theatrical scenery painting business in 1904 and was grade II listed in 1989. The large doors at left have the number 43 and ‘MOSS EMPIRES LTD’, the owners of many UK theatres named on them.

More recently the works became ‘The Furniture Union’ or TFU, an upmarket supplier of furniture, bathroom ware, kitchens, lighting, furnishings and accessories. It has recently been converted into “stunning apartments, which manage to preserve the special architectural and historic interest of the building.“

Flats, Arnside St, Walworth, Southwark, 1989 89-1c-24 — *Flats, Arnside St, Walworth, Southwark, 1989*

Wellington House is part of a small estate with four blocks including the rather similar Arnside House now managed by the Keniston Housing Association, “providing low cost rented accommodation to people who find it difficult to compete in the private rented sector. We charge rents at below market rates. Most people who live in our properties have been referred to us through choice based lettings schemes run by local councils.”

Venus Fish Bar, shop John Ruskin St, Walworth, Southwark, 1989 89-1c-25 — *Venus Fish Bar, John Ruskin St, Walworth, Southwark, 1989 89-1c-25*

Until 1937 this street was called Beresford Street and like many other streets was renamed when the LCC finally decided to rid London of duplicated street names. They had begun the job when they were formed in 1889, but only really got down to it seriously in the mid 1930s. The name John Ruskin Street was chosen to remember the prominent Victorian writer, philosopher and art critic who died in 1900.

Ruskin grew up in nearby Herne Hill and was mainly educated at home (as were many children of wealthy families.) But at the age of 15 he spent a year attending the school in Camberwell run by Thomas Dale, who earlier had been the first professor of English at any English university. But Dale left London University after only a couple of years, finding it too “godless” and set up his own school.

Probably what most people now remember about Ruskin was his failure to consummate his marriage with Effie Gray, allegedly because of his discovery on his wedding night that unlike the classical statues with which he was familiar, real women had pubic hair. Their marriage was eventually annulled 6 years later. Perhaps the name of the Venus Fish Bar had some connection with this story.

BRAC is something of a mystery, but I think it may simply be from bric-à-brac as I think this was a business selling secondhand furniture and small objects such as we might now find at car boot sales. But there could be a quite different explanation, and suggestions for what BRAC here could stand for as an acronym are welcome. The BRAC building has been demolished and replaced by a block of flats but the building on the left remains, now residential.

*West End Hair Styling, John Ruskin St, Walworth, Southwark, 1989 89-1c-26*

West End Hair Styling at 13 John Ruskin St where pensioners could get a trim for £1.50 is now I think a travel agent, having been for some years a bar and restaurant.

The first post on this walk on January 8th 1989 was Elephant, Faraday, Spurgeon & Walworth Road.

Kew, Brentford, Syon & Isleworth Walk

Part 1 – Kew Bridge and Brentford

My walk a few days ago in September 2022 began at Kew Bridge Station. I’d come half an hour before I was due to meet my two companions to take a short walk around one of the newer parts of the area before meeting them for a longer walk to Isleworth.

Lionel Road runs north of the railway up to meet the Great West Road. It used to be a rather run down area with railway sidings on one side and a few old commercial buildings and works to the north. The last time I’d walked down here on my way to Gunnersbury Park in 2018 the whole area had been a building site, but now is home to Brentford FC, currently doing pretty well in the Premier League.

Brentford was my local team when I was a kid, and several members of the award-winning under-11 team I played for at left back on went on to play for them at their old ground (and at Chelsea.) One of the other patrol leaders from my scout group stayed there until he retired, though I never met him after I hung up my woggle, but read his obit in the local rag.

Past there I came to the Great West Road, a 1930s dual carriageway with cycle tracks I sometimes used further west on my way home from school. In the 1980s or 90s I photographed most of the remaining Art Deco factories along it, though the bulldozers got to some first. Now it reminds me of J G Ballard’s novels, particularly ‘Crash’, set around the area we both lived in, with the elevated M4 above the older modern road.

A new Brentford of tall blocks has sprouted here, though more land remains to be built on. A little-used rail line goes through it, the Kew Curve, with Brentford’s stadium replacing the sidings and cattle pens to its west, with new building on the east in what was Brentford Market. It moved to this site in 1893 after the Brentford Local Board had bought the 2 acre site from the Rothschild estate because market trading in the area around the Express Tavern immediately south of the station which had developed informally away from Brentford’s traditional market in Market Place had become a public nuisance. The site was extended in 1905 and then covered land now part of the Chiswick Roundabout. The market moved to the edge of Southall in 1974 as the new Western International Market and the Fountains Leisure Centre was built on part of the site, with the rest staying derelict for years.

My maternal grandfather, then a market gardener in Feltham, would drive his cart with produce to Brentford Market in the early years of the last century, past the house in Hounslow where my father, then a young boy, used to see him driving past. Around twenty years later when he became engaged to my mother he found out who he was.

I met my two colleagues and we walked together down by the west side of Kew Bridge to the Thames. To our right was where the Kew Bridge Ecovillage had squatted from June 2009 until May 2010, now occupied by 164 flats, a business centre, gym and pub.

The Hollows runs west between riverside moorings and recent blocks of luxury flats, eventually returning us to Brentford High St, and a park beside the river now called Watermans Park. This was the site of Brentford Gas Works which straddled the High Street here and was a great attraction when we took the bus through it in my childhood, usually on our way to Kew Gardens. Entrance then was only an old penny, and it was a cheap outing for families in the area. My father would have his scissors in his pocket and perhaps take the odd small cutting to grow in our garden. Rather cheaper than garden centres.

But if you were lucky as the bus drove slowly down the usually congested street, one of its Intermittent Vertical Retort would open sending a wall of red hot coke to the ground, quite an amazing site as we peered from the top deck. It almost made up for the smell.

A gas works had been set up here and began production in 1821, first supplying has for lighting the turnpike to Kensington, but later serving large areas around. Later other gas works were set up in Southall and then elsewhere as demand continued to rise. in 1926 the Brentford gas company became a part of the Gas Light and Coke Co which later became British Gas plc. Brentford Gas Woks closed in 1963 and the riverside buildings were demolished in 1965 though the large gasholder remained until 1988.

All than now remains of the gas works are some of the substantial posts of the gas works jetty, where colliers once brought in coal. There has been a long battle over the rights to moorings here between boat owners and Hounslow Council with boat owners claiming that the foreshore here belongs neither to the council nor to the PLA but to the Bishop of London, and refusing to abide by various eviction notices. Most have now moved but some derelict boats remain.

Brentford Ait runs along the centre of the river here. It was bought in the late 19th century by the Crown who planted trees on it to hide the gas works from visitors to Kew Gardens on the opposite bank. A few yard upstream is Lot’s Ait, where the Thames Steam Tug and Lighterage Company Ltd set up a boatyard in 1920 – most of the Thames lighters were built there. The boatyard closed in the 1970s, but was reopened in 2012 when a new footbridge was constructed to it.

As well as the park, the Watermans Arts Centre was also built on the gasworks site. We walked between it and the river, and continued on the riverside path, past the bridge to Lots Ait and recent blocks of flats. There are new moorings around here too.

A small spit of land leads from the bottom of Ferry Lane (more new flats) to an artwork by the riverside. I’m not quite sure what to make either of Liquidity or another similarly decorated column not far away, but it could provide a useful windbreak in bad weather. This was where once a ferry ran across to Kew Gardens.

We followed the Thames Path around a small dock, on what was the site of the Thames Soap Works and then continued along the side of the River Brent which flows into the Thames here, continuing along this beside the winding river past another boatyard to Brentford High Street.

A few yards along we turned left down Dock Road to Thames Lock, past a huge mural and the other end of the boatyard, to Thames Lock, the southern end of the Grand Union Canal. Here we took the path beside the north side of the canal, leading across a bridge over the Brent to Johnson’s Island and Catherine Wheel Road.

The mural, on the side of a multi-story car park had included a giant kingfisher, and I’d joked saying this was the only kingfisher we’d see in Brentford. But as we walked across the bridge over the River Brent and stopped to take pictures, perched on the top of a post there was one, still only for a second before flying out of sight. By the time I’d raised my camera to my eye it was gone, though since I had and extreme wideangle lens it would hardly have been visible, just a few more colourful pixels.

I’d planned to walk along Brent Way and rejoin the canal towpath, but the whole of this area is now a huge building site, and instead we walk along the High Street to the canal bridge. I couldn’t bring myself to walk down to the Gauging Lock preserved there, though I’ve done so several times before, but the changes to the area, now with a marina, flats and hotel made me feel too sad; we simply stood on the bridge and looked for a while before moving on.

Part 2 will continue the walk from here to its end in Isleworth. You can see more pictures from the walk in a Facebook album.

Veils, Ahava, Justice, Rentokill & A Walk

On Saturday 25th September 2010 I made a few pictures while travelling around London to photograph some rather varied protests and then took a walk mainly beside the Regent’s Canal in Shoreditch and Haggerston before going home.

Veils, Ahava, Justice, Rentokill & A Walk

My day in London began with a bus ride from Clapham Junction to Knightsbridge, where around 80 Muslim women from Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain had come with a letter to the French Ambassador protesting the French parliament decision to ban face veils.

Although the ban prohibits all face coverings, it is mainly aimed at Muslim women who wear the niqab or burkha. Both were then uncommon in France outside of Paris and some Mediterranean coast cities and some estimate they were only worn by around 2000 of France’s 2-3 million Muslim women, most of whom, like the great majority of women at the protest wear headscarves rather than face coverings.

Judging from the slogans, placards and speeches this was more a protest against ‘liberal values’ and “the objectification and sexualisation of women’s bodies in pornography, lap-dancing clubs, advertising, and the entertainment industry, all permitted under the premise of freedom of expression and driven by the pursuit of profit in Western societies.”

The French ban seems an unfortunate restriction of the rights of women to decide how they wish to dress, but is also a measure to oppose the power of clerics and others to limit the freedom of women by forcing them to wear face coverings, which seems to to be fully in line with the French tradition of liberty. And being a liberal and secular society doesn’t necessarily mean giving free rein to the exploitation of women or others for profit. We can oppose these without wanting to impose the kind of restrictions on others that groups such as Hizb Ut Tahrir advocate.

From Kensington I went on to Covent Garden where Pro-Palestinian demonstrators were holding another of their fortnightly demonstrations outside the Covent Garden Ahava shop which sells products manufactured in an illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

As on previous occasions their protest was met by a smaller counter-demonstration by supporters of the right-wing English Defence League (EDL) and Zionists. At previous protests there had been some attacks by the EDL on the protesters, but while I was present they were content with shouting.

The Ahava protests are part of an international ‘Stolen Beauty’ campaign organised by ‘Code Pink’, a women-initiated grass-roots peace and social justice movement which began when American women came together to oppose the invasion of Iraq. They say that Ahava “has openly flouted tax requirements by exploiting the EU-Israel trade agreement and violates UK DEFRA guidelines in respect of proper labelling.”

I walked down to the Embankment, pausing to photograph a rather fine Routemaster bus with vintage advertising, and a few boats taking part in the ‘Great River Race’. In Temple Place I met protesters from ‘Families Fighting For Justice’, members of families of murder victims, who were calling for tougher sentences for murder – with life sentences meaning life imprisonment.

Some of the stories I heard from them were truly heartbreaking and showed why many ordinary people have lost faith in our justice system. Although I don’t feel that their ‘Life 4 A Life’ campaign would actually do much if anything to solve the problem, clearly some action is called for, both in improving child protection by our social services and also in how we regulate behaviour on our streets. Part of this is better policing, but increased spending on youth services and community support is vital. Instead we got years of austerity cutting these and other essential services.

I left the march as it headed off towards a rally in Waterloo Place; it was smaller than expected and police insisted they march on the pavement rather than taking to the road, which reduced its impact.

I was on my way to Old Street where the RMT and other unions were holding a short demonstration outside the Initial Rentokil Offices in Brunwick Place as the start of a campaign against the company’s union-busting activities towards its cleaning staff.

The RMT say Initial Rentokil intimidates and bullies its members and deliberately employs workers whose immigration status is doubtful so that they can pay minimum wages and provide sub-standard working conditions, often requiring them to work without proper safety equipment or precautions. They allege that workers who question their rights or attempt to organise have been reported to the immigration authorities who have then raided the workplace. The protest was also supported by members of Unite and Unison.

It was still before 3pm when the rally ended and I decided to take a walk before going home. I walked roughly north to the Regent’s Canal.

On the Haggerston Estate I found flats bricked up as people have been moved out to redevelop the estate. They are said to be moving back when new social housing is built – along with some at market prices.

Shoreditch and Haggerston were both very much up and coming areas, with some expensive flats beside the canal.

One of the reasons to walk this way was to see a large art work on the long block of flats by the canal, ‘I am Here’, one of London’s largest art installations., with giant portraits of the residents.

But I was also keen to photograph other buildings in the area, including the Bridge Academy.

And, on Kinsgsland Road, the Suleymaniye Mosque.

Even when finally I got on the 243 bus I was still taking pictures, including a rather sad view of the former Foundry, a lively venue where I had been to a great photo show not long before, now boarded up and covered with a giant advertising hoarding,

More pictures from my walk and the protests on My London Diary:

Hizb ut-Tahrir Protest French Veil Ban
Protest Against Illegal Israeli Goods
Families of Murder Victims Call For Justice
Protest over Initial Rentokil Union Busting
Walking Around London

Wansey St, Larcom St, Peabody & Heygate

My second post on my walk in Walworth on 8th January 1989. The start of this walk is
Elephant, Faraday, Spurgeon & Walworth Road

*Wansey St, Walworth, Southwark, 1989 89-1a-14*

Post-war Pritchard House (left) has been demolished but the house at 66 Wansey St in the right half of the picture is still there. Everything to its left has now gone with only the steps of No 68 remaining for a small new block of two social housing flats.

The street now continues through where Pritchard House was to Brandon Street and it is now part of the Larcom Street Conservation Area. No 66 probably dates from around 1860 and it and other houses on the street are probably part of the earliest development of the area.

66 Wansey St comes at the end of a long terrace – longer when built as there is a gap between 46 and 54 with a post-war infill block almost certainly following war damage. The house is the grandest of those surviving and the only one with a carriage entrance. The street then ended here, with Gurney St at right angles.

The area suffered heavily in the Blitz, with houses in the area being damaged or destroyed, including one of the greatest disasters of the bombing. Bombs hit nearby 6 Gurney St, close to the New Kent Road, damaging it and other houses on the last night of the Blitz, 10/11 May 1941, but it was only over a year later than a huge unexploded bomb that had been buried deep under the rubble, totally destroying 6 Gurney St and the two houses on each side and severely damaging many others in the surrounding area. 18 people were killed and 62 severely injures. This house on Wansey St was at the limit of broken glazing, over 200 yards away.

Kingshill, Heygate Estate, Brandon St, Southwark, 1989 89-1a-16 — *Kingshill, Brandon St, Southwark, 1989 89-1a-16*

This block was a part of the Heygate Estate, neglected and demonised by Southwark Council and eventually demolished to allow for development of the area largely as private housing mainly sold to overseas investors.

*St Johns Institute, Larcom St, Walworth, Southwark, 1989*

Built around 1900 thanks to the efforts of the then vicar of nearby St John’s Church, the Rev. A W Jephson, this remains in use as a community centre. There is now a block of flats to its left.

*Surgery, Heygate Estate, Rodney Rd, Southwark, 1989 89-1b-63*

The Heygate Estate, one of the better planned council estates of its era was by designed by Tim Tinker and completed in 1974. Southwark Council saw an opportunity to profit from redeveloping the area and began a process of demonising the estate, which had been allowed to deteriorate. What had been social housing for around 3000 people provided only 82 socially rented homes in the new development, much of which was sold to overseas investors.

They ended up making a loss as having spent around £65 million on emptying it and scheming for its redevelopment against a strong campaign by residents they sold it to Lendlease for £50 million. However some councillors and officers are said to have done rather well out of it personally.

*Chimney, Flats, Heygate Estate, Southwark, 1989 89-1b-64*

Another view of the Heygate from the outside. Like many developments of its time a central boiler provided heating efficiently to all or many of the properties, though often inadequate maintenance meant such systems broke down.

I’m unsure of the purpose of this large open area or of the strange markings on it.

*Peabody Flats, Rodney Rd, Larcom St, Southwark, 1989 89-1b-65*

The overhead walkway from which I took this picture was a part of the Heygate Estate and demolished with it. Morris Court, the Peabody flats it shows are still there on the corner with Larcom St. The Peabody Walworth Estate was built around 1915 replacing slum housing and modernised in the 1980s. There are a number of blocks around a large central courtyard along Rodney Road, Content St and Wadding St.

*Walkway, Heygate Estate, Rodney Rd, Southwark, 1989 89-1b-66*

This is taken from another walkway on the estate. As a non-resident I found these rather easy to get lost on as they were not shown on my mpas, but although the estate had a bad reputation I never experienced any problems, and it was certainly pleasant to be away from cars which were often a hazard when taking pictures. But it would have possibly seemed more threatening late at night rather than on a Sunday morning.

*Walkway, Playground, Heygate Estate, Southwark, 1989 89-1b-51*

Another picture from one of the walkways around this corner of the Heygate Estate, which perhaps shows some of my confusion. It also shows a few of the many trees which had been planted in the area, which had just about come to maturity when the estate was demolished.

More from this walk through Walworth shortly.

Thames, Rotherhithe & Wapping 1988

From Southwark Park Schools which ended the previous post on this walk, Rotherhithe New Road & Southwark Park Schools, I walked a few yards up Southwark Park Road to the corner with Banyard Road, where I photographed the taxi office (still there but changed from A-Z Star Cars to 5 Star Cars) with the pub on the opposite corner, the Southwark Park Tavern, now closed and converted to residential around 2003.

There was a pub around here, the Green Man, possibly on this site before Southwark Park opened in 1869 but I think this building probably came shortly after the park was opened, and is opposite the Carriage Drive leading into the park.

Unfortunately I haven’t yet digitised this picture, nor one of rather plain two-storey terrace on Banyard Rd or an image showing a play area in the park. I hurried through the park to the Jamaica Road gate at its north, crossing to make my way to Kings Stairs Gardens and the River Thames.

River Thames, Downstream, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 1988 88-10l-63-Edit_2400 — *River Thames, Downstream, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 1988 88-10l-63*

The two jetties visible here I think have now gone and there is certainly no line of lighters as in this picture, and there is one striking new building on the riverfront.

River Thames, Downstream, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 1988 88-10l-65-Edit_2400 — *River Thames, Downstream, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 1988 88-10l-65*

A second picture taken with a short telephoto lens from almost exactly the same place shows the central area more clearly, with new flats being built on Rotherhithe St.

Wapping, River Thames, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 198888-10l-51-Edit_2400 — *Wapping, River Thames, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 198888-10l-51*

Looking across the Thames downstream, with Free Trade Wharf at the extreme right and just to the left the cylinder ventilation shaft of the Rotherhithe tunnel in the King Edward Memorial Park. Both Metropolitan Wharf and New Crane Wharf are covered iwth scaffolding.

Wapping, River Thames, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 1988 88-10l-52-Edit_2400 — *Wapping, River Thames, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 1988 88-10l-52*

Part of St John’s Wharf and King Henry’s Wharves seen across the River Thames.

Wapping, River Thames, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 198888-10l-53-Edit_2400 — *Wapping, River Thames, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 1988 88-10l-53*

More of St John’s Wharf, including one of the earlier warehouse conversions and the Grade II listed Wapping Police Station, built 1907-10, Metropolitan Police architect John Dixon Butler. At extreme left is a part of Aberdeen Wharf built in 1843–4 by the Aberdeen Steam Navigation Company.

Wapping, River Thames, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 1988 88-10l-54-Edit_2400 — *Wapping, River Thames, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 1988 88-10l-54*

The end of Aberdeen Wharf is at the right edge of this picture, and at its left the Wapping Police Boatyard, an unnecessarily ugly building opened in 1973. The new building in the centre of the picture also seems something of an eyesore, at least at its ends.

Wapping, River Thames, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 1988 88-10l-55-Edit_2400 — *Wapping, River Thames, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 1988 88-10l-55*

Continuing up-river from the Police Boatyard are St Thomas Wharf, Pierhead Wharf, Oliver’s Wharf – the first warehouse in Wapping to be converted into luxury flats in 1972 – and Wapping Pierhead, with houses designed by Daniel Alexander in 1811 and the main entrance to London Docks.

Bermondsey, River Thames, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 1988 88-10l-41-Edit_2400 — *Bermondsey, River Thames, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 1988 88-10l-41*

Looking upriver on the south bank with Tower Bridge at the extreme right and Guy’s Hospital tower just left of centre. Cherry Garden Pier is at left.

Silver Jubilee, marker, EIIR, River Thames, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 1988 88-10l-43-Edit_2400 — *Silver Jubilee, marker, EIIR, River Thames, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 1988 88-10l-43*

There is still a marker for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee here but it looks far less impressive than this rugged stonework I photographed in 1988. London has also gained quite a few tall buildings, but the view along the river remains clear and you can still see the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral.

Braithwaite & Dean, Rotherhithe St, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 1988 88-10l-44-Edit_2400 — *Braithwaite & Dean, Rotherhithe St, Rotherhithe, Southwark, 1988 88-10l-44*

41 Rotherhithe St, now apparently 1 Fulford St at least according to Google Maps, was the offices of lighterage company Braitwaite & Dean, where their lightermen would come to collect their weekly wage. Apparently it was known locally as the Leaning Tower of Rotherhithe, though the building’s lean is more apparent from across the river than in my picture.

It was left more or less alone on this stretch of the river with just the Angel pub equally isolated a few yards upriver after Bermondsey council bought many of the buildings in 1939 to create a park, with wartime bombing continuing the demolition job. There was some temporary housing by the river when I first walked along here in the early 1980s, but that soon disappeared.

My walk in Bermondsey continued – more about it in a later post.

Belsize Park Hampstead 1988

Belsize Park, Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-7m-02-positive_2400 — *Belsize Park, Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-7m-02*

Belsize Park Hampstead 1988
Belsize is a confusing area for the casual wanderer and many of the streets have ‘Belsize’ in their name, including Belsize Avenue, Belsize Court, Belsize Crescent, Belsize Gardens, Belsize Grove, Belsize Lane, Belsize Mews, Belsize Park, Belsize Park Gardens, Belsize Place, Belsize Square, and Belsize Terrace.

Belsize Park, Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-7m-04-positive_2400 — *Belsize Park, Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-7m-04*

I’m not entirely sure whether my captions place all of the houses that are featured in exactly the correct Belsize street, though I’ve tried hard to get them correct. But many of these streets are lined with very similar houses by the same developer – or rather they fall into two groups, the stucco and the later red-brick.

Belsize Park, Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-7m-61-positive_2400 — *Belsize Park, Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-7m-61*

As my previous post Hampstead & Belsize 1988 stated, the older houses in the area from the 1860s which feature in this post were stucco, built by Daniel Tidey who went bust in 1870, when development in the 1870s was largely in red brick by William Willett.

Belsize Square, Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-7m-63-positive_2400 — *Belsize Square, Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-7m-63*

I liked the Ladies bicycle parked at the bottom of the stairs, its wheels contrasting with the rectangular columns at the gate and base of the steps. It seemed a suitably old-fashioned steed, with caliper brakes and a wicked basket, held by a rather flimsy looking lock to the rail at the bottom of the steps. It was also a tonal contrast, although actually a rather rusty red colour. I also took a colour picture from an almost identical viewpoint which works well, with the green of the vegetation and some attractive muted colours on some of the doors.

Belsize Square, Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-7m-65-positive_2400 — *Belsize Square, Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-7m-65*

The backs of these houses have an unusual rounded bay extending from basement to roof.

Belsize Park, Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-7m-53-positive_2400 — *Belsize Park, Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-7m-53*

A grand set of steps up to the front door, now with three bells – most of these large properties have now been converted to flats. The tiles here are breaking up and a small area at right is now filled with flowers. There are bootscrapers at both side, probably rather more necessary in the days of horse-drawn traffic than now.

*Belsize Park Gdns, Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-7m-56*

Two different framings of the same profusely growing plant – I think a false castor oil plant – and I can’t decide which I prefer. The leaves were beautifully lustrous dark green.

Belsize Park Gdns, Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-7m-32-positive_2400 — *Belsize Park Gdns, Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-7m-32*

It is a beautiful plant, and has flowers and produces black seeds, but unlike the true castor oil plant it vaguely resembles, the seeds of Fatsia japonica are I think not particularly toxic.

Belsize Grove, Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-7m-33-positive_2400 — *Belsize Grove, Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-7m-33*

The iron-work on this house is perhaps a little too much for my taste, both over-intricate and somehow too fat looking. I think it may now be rather more hidden by vegetation than when I made this picture around 33 years ago.

This was the last picture I made on this walk, probably as I made my way to Belsize Park Underground station on my way home.

After Christmas – Brentford to Hammersmith

After Christmas – Brentford to Hammersmith was one of our more interesting walks in London to walk off our Christmas excesses in recent years. For once I’m not sticking religiously to my usual practice and this was three years AND one day ago, and the four of us set out on 27th December 2018.

Often in recent years we’ve gone away in the period after Christmas to visit one of our sons and his family in Derbyshire, with some great walks in the areas around where they have lived, and there are pictures from these on My London Diary, but in 2018 my other son and his wife were staying with us and came for this walk.

Public transport in the period between Christmas and New Year is at best restricted and rather unreliable, and 2018 was no exception and this always limits our starting point. Even for this relatively local walk what would have been just a short direct train meant taking the train to Twickenham and then catching a local bus to Brentford. And on our return trip again a bus took us back to Twickenham for the train home. It meant less time for walking and we had to abandon the idea of actually going inside Chiswick House in order to complete the relatively short walk of 5-6 miles before it got dark.

Brentford, and particularly the Grand Union Canal where we began our walk is now very different from how I remember it – and indeed since I first went back to photograph it in the 1970s. Commercial traffic on the Grand Union came more or less to an end in the early 1970s. What was once canal docks and wharves by the lock where boats were gauged and tolls charged the sheds have been replaced by rather uglier flats and a small marina.

Walking by the canal towards its junction with the River Thames there are areas which still look much as they did years ago, and some rather more derelict than they were then. This is a side of Brentford invisible from the High Street but with much of interest. Probably in the next few years this too will disappear as gentrification advances.

Shortly before the lock leading to the Thames, the River Brent which is here combined with the canal runs over a weir to make its own way to the main river. There are still working boatyards in the area around here, though a little downstream more new flats and a part of the Thames Path here was closed and a short diversion was necessary.

We continued along past new riverside flats and a new private footbridge to the recently revivied boatyard on Lot’s Ait to an area of open space which was a part of the old gas works site, then along the riverside path past more new flats to Kew Bridge and Strand on the Green. Here it was warm enough to sit in the sun and eat our sandwiches before leaving the river to walk to Chiswick House Gardens.

I’d planned to get here for lunch, perhaps spending an hour or so going around the house and then perhaps a drink in the cafe, but there was no time thanks to the rail problems, so we briefly visited the toilets before heading on to St Nicholas’s Church and Chiswick riverside.

From there it was a straight walk by the river to Hammersmith Bridge, arriving around sunset with some fine views along the river – and then the short walk to the bus station for the bus back to Twickenham and the train home. The two bus journeys made our travel take much longer, but you do get some interesting views from the top deck of a double-decker and the journey was intereresting at least until it got too dark to see much.

More on the walk and many more pictures at Brentford to Hammersmith.

St John’s Wood

Long ago St John’s Wood was a real wood, part of the Forest of Middlesex, and was the property of the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem who were based in Clerkenwell. Pregiously it had belonged to the Catholic Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (better know as the Templars) who were suppressed in 1312. Henry VIII grabbed the land in 1539 when he dissolved the monasteries during the Reformation, but Charles II gave it to one of his mates in settlement of a debt of £1300, and eventually most of it was sold to a city wine merchant, Henry Samuel Eyre in 1733, and much of the area remains the Eyre Estate. Other parts belong to Harrow School.

Development on the Eyre estate began in 1809 The area was developed as an area for the growing upper middle class, with many detached and semi-detached villas with large gardens, the first garden suburb anywhere in the world. Some later were replaced by blocks of flats and terraces of housing, but the area remains one of the most expensive around London. It’s not an area where I often felt at home.

In 2011 I was able to go behind some of the high walls and photograph the ‘Secret Gardens of St John’s Wood‘ in a project initiated by Mireille Galinou of the Queens Terrace Café and shown there in November 2011, but there were still many impenetrable behind high walls, some protected by security guards with suspicious bulges in their clothing. But in 1988 I kept to the streets.

These flats are at the west end of Abercorn Place at its corner with Maida Vale at the rear of Wellesley Court, architect Frank Scarlett, built in 1938. Perhaps surprisingly the St John’s Wood Conservation Area is carefully drawn to exclude this set of expensive private flats.

Nugent Terrace, St John's Wood, Westminster, 1988 88-7e-43-positive_2400 — *Nugent Terrace, St John’s Wood, Westminster, 1988 88-7e-43*

There are still shops in Nugent Terrace, but I think this rather high-class cobblers is long gone. I was amused at how the figurines chosen matched the area.

Hill Rd, St John's Wood, Westminster, 1988 88-7e-46-positive_2400 — *Hill Rd, St John’s Wood, Westminster, 1988 88-7e-46*

This remarkable mansion block, Mortimer Court, on the corner of Hill Road and Abbey Road is certainly not typical of the area, and I have to apologise that my picture fails to record the full horror of its architecture, best appreciated from the opposite side of Abbey Road. It can be seen on the web sites of many of London’s estate agents.

Onslow Ford, memorial, sculpture, Andrea Carlo Lucchesi, Abbey Rd, Grove End Rd, St John's Wood, Westminster, 1988 88-7e-35-positive_2400 — *Onslow Ford, memorial, sculpture, Andrea Carlo Lucchesi, Abbey Rd, Grove End Rd, St John’s Wood, Westminster, 1988 88-7e-35*

English sculptor Edward Onslow Ford RA (1852—1901) was one of the leaders of the British New Sculpture movement of the 1880s, becoming famous for portrait busts and roundels of many leading figures including Ruskin, Millais, Thomas Huxley and Herbert Spencer. A number of his statues including that of Rowland Hill remain on public display.

He produced a long series of “bronze statuettes of adolescent girls in poses loosely derived from mythology or allegorical themes” some of which were also sold widely in smaller scale copies for Victorian homes, though they might not be appreciated now. The monument in St John’s Wood, close to his home was sculpted by his former studio assistant Andrea Carlo Lucchesi and based on one of Ford’s sculptures.

Abbey Rd Studios, Abbey Rd, St John's Wood, Westminster, 1988 88-7e-21-positive_2400 — *Abbey Rd Studios, Abbey Rd, St John’s Wood, Westminster, 1988 88-7e-21*

It is probably a punishable offence to go to Abbey Road and not take a photo of the now famous studios, though I resisted any urge to photograph the famous pedestrian crossing nearby.

Abbey Road Baptist Church,Abbey Rd, St John's Wood, Westminster, 1988 88-7e-24-positive_2400 — *Abbey Road Baptist Church,Abbey Rd, St John’s Wood, Westminster, 1988 88-7e-24*

The Baptist Church on Abbey Road was founded in 1863 by a Mr Stott, a preacher from Hyde Park, who engaged leading church architects Habershon & Pite to build this Grade II listed structure in a ‘Free Byzantine’ style.

In 1874 the Abbey Road and St John’s Wood Mutual Benefit Building Society was formed in what was then the Free Church. This later became Abbey Road and St John’s Wood Permanent Building Society and in 1944 joined with The National Building Society to beceome the Abbey National Building Society, which sadly demutualised in 1989 and in 2004 become wholly owned by the Spanish Santander Group.

Abbey Rd, St John's Wood, Westminster, 1988 88-7e-25-positive_2400 — *Abbey Rd, St John’s Wood, Westminster, 1988 88-7e-25*

This adjoining pair of gate-posts is no longer on Abbey Road, and the block of flats at No 20 have had something of a face lift since 1988. But to me they looked so much like an adult and child – and were perhaps a deliberate attempt to outdo the Joneses.

Abercorn Place, St John's Wood, Westminster, 1988 88-7e-11-positive_2400 — *Abercorn Place, St John’s Wood, Westminster, 1988 88-7e-11*

This small group of three houses on Abercorn Place at the corner of Violet Hill stood out among the fairly varied architecture of the street for the flower motifs above their first floor windows – a reminder, like the name Violet Hill, that this was the first garden suburb.

The gateposts, one of which is at right of the picture I think used to have a more obvious pattern on them, unfortunately out of focus in my image, which made them appear less crude.

My wanderings around St John’s Wood on a Saturday in July 1988 will continue in a later post. You can click on any of the pictures here to go to a larger version in my album 1988 London Photos, from where you can browse the album.

South Hampstead & Kilburn

Hilgrove Rd, South Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-6d-12-positive_2400 — *Hilgrove Rd, South Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-6d-12*

This semi-detached pair of Gothic revival red brick house date from around 1870 and are locally listed. They have a very ecclesiastical look. Hilgrove Road was laid out as Adelaide Road North in the 1830s or 40s and named in honour of Queen Adelaide, born as Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen in 1792 who in 1818 was married to William, Duke of Clarence and became Queen who in 1830 became queen consort of Great Britain when her husband was crowned as William IV.

The road was renamed Hilgrove road in 1875 by developers who wanted to attract house buyers with a name that suggested it was a semi-rural location – something that is very common in this area. You can read more about Camden street names in a listing by David A. Hayes and Camden History Society.

Fairhazel Gardens, South Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-6d-13-positive_2400 — *Fairhazel Gardens, South Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-6d-13*

Fairhazel Gardens sounds like another of these ‘semi-rural’ estate agents names, but apparently was taken from a truly rural local property on the Sussex estate of the Maryon Wilson family. Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson (1800 – 1869) was the 8th Baronet of Eastbourne and Charlton. He was also lord of the manor of Hampstead and according to Wikipedia tried hard to cover the area with housing despite problems with the terms of his fathers will and the protests of local residents. You can read more in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Fairhazel Gardens (originally called North End Road) began to be developed in 1879 but the flats probably date from between 1886 and 1896. The area was developed by Sir Spencer Maryon Wilson, the tenth baronet (1829–1897).

Greencroft Gardens, South Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-6d-14-positive_2400 — *Greencroft Gardens, South Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-6d-14*

Greencroft was another genuinely rural name, coming from a farm near near Great Canfield on the Essex estate of the Maryon Wilsons (again according to the Camden History Society listing.) The houses here were built by Ernest Estcourt and James Dixon in the late 1880s.

Greencroft Gardens, Fairhazel Gardens, South Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-6d-15-positive_2400 — *Queen’s Court, Greencroft Gardens, Fairhazel Gardens, South Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-6d-15*

Canfield Gardens, South Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-6e-62-positive_2400 — *Canfield Gardens, South Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-6e-62*

Great Canfield on the Maryon Wilson Essex estate gave its name to Canfield Gardens – the estate there also contained a 16th century mansion Fitzjohns whose name also appears in the Hampstead area.

South Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-6e-63-positive_2400 — *Cleve Rd, South Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-6e-63*

Woodcote at 16 Cleve Rd, the road named after a property near Quex Park in Birchington-on-Sea, Kent, the home of the Powell Cotton family who developed their estate around Quex Rd from 1868 on, with Cleve Road coming in 1882-6. Woodcote is a village on the Chilterns in South Oxfordshire, not far from Goring. Woodcote House there was the home of the Cotton family from around the 1790s until some time in the following century.

Kingsgate Rd, Kilburn, Camden, 1988 88-6e-51-positive_2400 — *Kingsgate Rd, Kilburn, Camden, 1988 88-6e-51*

Walking back towards Kilburn Park station my usual wandering fashion I came across this food stall being prepared in Kingsgate Road, though I can no longer remember what was the occasion for it. It looks like some church group, perhaps from the church close to the Quex Road end of Kingsgate Rd.

Belsize Rd, South Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-6e-52-positive_2400 — *Belsize Rd, South Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-6e-52*

This long parade of shops is still there to the west of the junction with Kilburn Priory at 199-219 Belsize Rd. Belsize Rd was developed from 1851.

221 Belsize Rd, South Hampstead, Camden, Camden, 1988 88-6e-53-positive_2400 — *221 Belsize Rd, South Hampstead, Camden, 1988 88-6e-53*

Kilburn High Rd, Kilburn, Camden, 1988 88-6e-54-positive_2400 — *Kilburn High Rd, Kilburn, Camden, 1988 88-6e-54*

The Red Lion at 34 Kilburn High Rd claims to have been established in 1444 and rebuilt in 1890, then replacing a rather charming two storey building possibly a hundred years old. At some time after my photograph it became called The Westbury, then in 2012 a bar called Love and Liquor, and finally in 2017 Soul Store West, a dinner, cocktail bar and hotel, which closed after four months. You can read more on its history in ‘Professor Morris’ and the Red Lion, Kilburn. The authors of this say the earliest date they can trace for the pub is an alcohol licence for 1721.

Tin Tabernacle, Cambridge Ave, Kilburn, Brent, 1988 88-6e-55-positive_2400 — *Tin Tabernacle, Cambridge Ave, Kilburn, Brent, 1988 88-6e-55*

Finally as I walked towards Kilburn Park Station I couldn’t resist taking another picture of TS Leicester, Kiburn’s ‘Tin Tabernacle’.

This was my final picture in London for around a month, though I made more pictures of Hull and also on an industrial architecture visit to Sharpness and the Forest of Dean.