Posts Tagged ‘Caledonian Park’

Wine, Bingo, Market Tower and Houses

Friday, October 25th, 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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