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Cluster Bombs, Acton, Spain & Kilburn – 2004

Cluster Bombs, Acton, Spain & Kilburn: On Saturday 17th July 2004 I did rather a lot of travelling around London, beginning in Trafalgar Square with a shoe pyramid against cluster bombs, then going to Acton to look at a project London Arts Café had helped with (I think I was its treasurer at the time) which took me rather longer than expected so I didn’t stay long to make sure I was back on the South Bank for the Spanish Civil War commemoration. Then out to Kilburn for a festival in Grange Park.

But I took few photographs except at the Spanish Civil War event, which was attended by at least nine of those who had gone to Spain as well as many from the families of those no longer living.

The rich and wealthy elites outside Spain feared the rebellion against the church, landowners and bosses by the peasants and working classes supporting the elected Spanish government against the fascist armies might give their those they were exploiting ideas,, Workers and intellectuals here and elsewhere saw clearly what was happening and many “went because their open eyes could see no other way.” Over 30,000 volunteers went to fight in the International Brigades, including more than 2,500 from Britain, although our government tried to prevent them. Probably around five thousand of the volunteers died in Spain and many, many more were injured.

Here is what I wrote on My London Diary back then, with the usual corrections and a few pictures, with links to rather more still on My London Diary.

Handicap International

Pyramid of Shoes, Trafalgar Square

Cluster Bombs, Acton, Spain & Kilburn - 2004

Saturday saw a repeat of last year’s shoe pyramid in Trafalgar Square, Handicap International campaigning against the use of cluster bombs, weapons that largely maim innocent women and children, which governments, including our own, are continuing to insist to use. So our taxes are now still killing and disabling innocent kids in Iraq from the invasion last year.

A few more pictures

Public Art in Acton

In Acton it was carnival day, but I didn’t have time to watch. I did manage to go and see the screen which Mohamed (Mamily) Sheibani has designed to screen off the waste area at the rear of the Oaks Shopping Centre in Churchfield Road. This was a project carried out by Acton Action with the help of Acton Arts And Media, the London Arts Café, the Churchfield Road Community Association and the shopping centre. Not a big thing, but the kind of small local project that makes an impact – we just need a few thousand more like it in London.

A few more pictures

Spanish Civil War International Brigades Memorial Event

Jubilee Gardens, Waterloo,

The Spanish Civil War started in 1936, and while governments including ours made the wrong decisions [in part] based on incorrect intelligence, as over Iraq. The rights and wrongs of the matter were clear to most of those who took an interest, especially on the left.

2,600 British men had the courage to go and join the International Brigade in the fight against fascism, and today we were again paying tribute to them. There are still a few living, and those who turned up were remarkably fit and alert considering their age.

Veteran Jack Jones chaired the event, and Ana Perez from the Madrid Amigos spoke movingly.

*Moe Fishman in front of the memorial text*
YET FREEDOM! YET THY BANNER
TORN, BUT FLYING, STREAMS
LIKE THE THUNDER-STORM
AGAINST THE WIND

Veteran Moe Fishman from Manhattan, still a peace activist, brought greetings from the peace movement in America and praise for the strength of the British people in demonstrating against the invasion of Iraq – a movement now carried from the streets to the ballot box.

*Jack Jones and the memorial: “TTHEY WENT BECAUSE THEIR OPEN EYES COULD SEE NO OTHER WAY”*

More pictures

Kilburn Festival

Grange Park, Kilburn

*Kilburn State – now a bingo hall. Kilburn High Rd*

Kilburn High Road is one of the more interesting high streets of London. Too poor to have been swamped by the chains, it retains its own character and wide range of shops of various types. Perhaps more a place to look and stroll (as I did) rather than photograph.

*The Kilburn Mural project is to provide a mural at the tube station*

They were having a festival in grange park, which included some of the artists who are to create a mural by the tube station demonstrating their skills and giving the local people a chance to influence the mural design.

A few more pictures.

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Woolwich Riverside and Royal Artillery

Woolwich Riverside and Royal Artillery: More pictures from my walk around Woolwich in August 1994

*Waste Land, Woolwich Church St, Woolwich Ferry, River Thames, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-807-42*

This area, previously occupied by engineering works, has now been redeveloped with a luxury development of tall housing blocks on Mast Quay, “A magnificent crafted living space with panoramic views of the River Thames.”

*Entrance, Woolwich Foot Tunnel, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-809-13*

As well as getting a free ferry, Woolwich also got a foot tunnel under the River Thames, opened by the London County Council in 1912. The tunnel is just over 500 meters long and remains delightfully cool on hot summer days.

Many cyclists also use the tunnel despite bylwws prohibiting cyclists. Electronic signs were installed in 2016 which used a computerised system to measure traffic and messaged ‘No cycling allowed‘ in red at busy times but ‘Please consider pedestrians‘ in green when the tunnel was fairly empty. Greenwich council was in favour of changing the bylaws to legalise this, but Tower Hamlets refused and the system was discontinued. Many cyclists still ride.

The tunnel provides a useful route across the river, particularly when the ferry is out of action, but most times I’ve used it one of both of the lifts at each end have not been working. I’ve never counted the steps but there are rather a lot of them, particularly when going up.

*River Thames, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-809-21*

Downstream from the ferry in what in 1994 was I think an open area, once the site of Woolwich Power Station, demolished in 1978-9 though the coaling jetty in this picture is still there. There is still a riverside walk but most of the site is now occupied by tall blocks of flats.

*River Thames, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-809-22*

A bridge here links the former coaling jetty with the riverside path.

From Riverside Path, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-809-33 — *Steps from Riverside Path, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-809-33*

This area is now covered by tall flats, though there is a small segment of parkland with fountains.

*Mural, Thames Barrier, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-812-65*

I cannot remember exactly where I found this mural of the Thames Barrier in Woolwich and I think it was soon demolished.

Royal Artillery Memorial, St George's Garrison Church, Grand Depot Road, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-812-52 — *Royal Artillery Memorial, St George’s Garrison Church, Grand Depot Road, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-812-52*

Built for the garrison in 1862-3 it was hit by a V1 flying bomb in 1944 and the church was largely destroyed by fire. In 1970 more of the building was demolished but a canopy roof added to protect the apse and its polychromatic Victorian brick and decorations, with a memorial garden added in the former nave. It was listed in 1973. In 2011 it was transferred out of military ownership and since then there has been some restoration work, partly lottery funded.

*Cannon, Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-808-32*

The barracks was the home of the Royal Artillery from 1776 until 2007. Its 1,000 foot long Georgian frontage is said to be the longest in Europe if not the world. Since 2007 most of it has been rebuilt behind this, and in 2016 the Ministry of Defence announced plans for all army units to move out by 2028.

The cannon is the “17.75-ton Bhurtpore gun, captured by Field Marshall the Viscount Combermere after the 1826 siege of Bhurtpore” and brought here in 1828. When the Royal Artillery moved out they took this and four other cannons with them, doubtless a vital part of our country’s defence.

An Academy, Shops, a House & Pubs – 1990

An Academy, Shops, a House & Pubs: The final post from my walk which ended in Kentish Town on Sunday February 25th 1990. The first post was Around Finsbury Park – 1990 and the previous post is Factories, Flats, Wesley & The Kinks.

*Doorway, Southampton House Academy, Highgate Rd, Gospel Oak, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-46*

Grade II listed Southampton House at 137 Highgate Road was built in the early 19th century and housed the Southampton House Academy run by Captain John Bickerstaffe. The pub adjoining Southampton House is The Southampton Arms, but was built in 1874, and I think took its name from the house, which is now flats. The pub is legendary among beer (and cider) drinkers and apparently only serves beers from wholly independent breweries. I have no idea why Capt Bickerstaffe called his Academy Southampton House, perhaps he was a native of Southampton.

*The Orientalist, 78, Highgate Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-31*

The Orientalist was a residue from the International Oriental Carpet Centre which I mentioned in my previous post on this walk, where in 1973 Oriental rug dealers moved to Kentish Town from the PLA Cutler Street warehouses. Most moved out of the area in 1994, but some stayed in premises in Kentish Town. The Orientalist rebuilt this building with a more conventional shop front soon after I made this picture and had a closing down sale in 2025.

*Shops, Kentish Town Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-26*

WE STOCK SUPLUS GOVERNMENT CLOTHING NEW & PART·WORN
COMBAT TROUSERS FOR ALL OCCASIONS SHIRTS JACKETS·ETC
ACHOICE OF JEANSFOR ALL·THE.FAMILY STONEWASH·SHRUNK
FOOTWEAR FOR ALL PURPOSES ALSOFULL RANGE DR.MARTENS
INDUSTRIAL CLOTHINGBOILER SUITS BIB-BRACE TEE SHIRTS
SUPPLIERS OF ALL·TYPES OF RAINWEARJACKETSCOATS ETC.
SPECIALISTS IN CAMPATINGEQUIPMENT.THENTSSLEEPBAGGAZ

Who could ask for anything more?

*Shops, Kentish Town Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-11*

‘LOOK IN AT FERME SALES’ states the painting of a man being lifted up by another and pointing with his umbrella on the side of THE BEECH Restaurant – (though why does this have ‘ML’ on its canopy?) This painted has long been painted over and the restaurant is now an estate agents.

*The Assembly House, Leighton Rd, Kentish Town Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-12*

Another large late Victorian pub built in 1896 to designs by Thorpe and Furniss in a style resembling a French Château and Grade II listed. It replaced an earlier pub on the site which in 1788 had as landlord Thomas Wood.

The Assembly House was where people gathered to go together across the dangerous hills to Highgate in groups because of the frequent attacks on travellers on the route. Wood possibly moonlighted as a highway robber – apparently he was tried but acquitted for the offence – but he died insane in Newgate Prison.

*House, Bush, 27, Leighton Rd, Kentish Town,Camden, 1990, 90-2i-15*

Leighton Road was built at the back of the Assembly House pub garden and this Grade II listed house was built around 1828 when the street was called Gloucester Place. The listing text gives more detail than most, including about the street; “In 1804 it was but a pathway leading from Kentish Town to Islington, with a stile at the eastern end and a bowling green on its north side near where No. 27 Leighton Road now stands; this was probably for patrons of the Assembly House inn located at the corner of Kentish Town Road.” and its early residents; “a Mr Crowe (the original freeholder and builder), and then an architect with family and servants. By 1861, the owner was a Mr Pike, with his family but no servants. Pike made various changes to the house in 1870 … and his story is vividly told in Gillian Tindall’s book, “The Fields Beneath: the History of One London Village“, published in 1977.”

*Shops, Torriano Avenue, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2j-61*

Also the listing text for 27 Leighton Road tells us that “At this time the land was owned by one Joshua Prole Torriano” which explains this street name. In 1990 it was a rather run-down area as this picture suggests. The view here is looking towards from the south towards Leighton Road and the pub on the corner at 140 Leighton Road was the Torriano Arms, closed and sold in 1994 and now residential.

Unusually the pub’s name lived on, being taken over by the Rose and Crown, a few doors down Torriano Aveven. A long fight saved this from being converted in turn into flats. In 2014 the Camden New Journal published “Torriano pub closes but will reopen with its original name as The Rose and Crown”.

I made four more pictures on my way back to Kentish Town station, on Leighton Rd and Montpelier Grove but haven’t digitised these. The pictures in these posts are generally around a quarter or so of those I took on my walks.

My next walk was in South London – coming shortly.

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Dancers, Shops, Gym, Laundry, a Lab and Cobblers – 1990

Dancers, Shops, Gym, Laundry, a Lab and Cobblers: The next set of pictures from my walk on February 18th 1990 around Kings Cross & St Pancras. The previous post on this was St Pancras Old Church & More – 1990.

*Dancers, Mural, Stanley Buildings, Stanley Passage, Pancras Rd, Kings Cross, Camden, 1990, 90-2f-64*

This was my favourite mural in London on the side of Stanley buildings and one I’d photographed several times since 1985. Unusually it was painted in black and white and it extended across the whole side of the flats from first floor level to the chimneys. You can see an image in colour I made a few months earlier from a similar viewpoint on Flickr.

*Pancras Rd, Kings Cross, Camden, 1990, 90-2f-65*

Nearby on Pancras Road I photographed this rather finely proportioned frontage with some interesting brickwork and decoration at its top. I wish I had made another exposure to show more clearly the two busts at the left of the ground floor.

*Turnhalle, German Gymnasium, Pancras Rd, Kings Cross, Camden, 1990, 90-2f-66*

Another image of the Pancras Road frontage of the German Gymnasium in a row of shops including the St Pancras Cafe. All this was lost for the redevelopment of St Pancras International – with the Gymnasium being given a new modern frontage in a style matching the rest of the building.

*Kings Cross Laundry, Caledonia St, Pentonville, Islington, 1990, 90-2f-51*

To the east of Kings Cross the first turning to the right from York Way is Caledonia Street. I’d photographed the laundry with its large intertwined KCL insignia on a walk the previous year. Although there were more recent signs for occupiers including those for Lanitis Fabrics Ltd, and Stella Models and signs calling for Machinists, Overlockers, Pressers, Finishers and Cutters, the building appeared to be no longer in use.

The building is still there, though all of the sings apart from the ‘KCL’ have gone and it is now offices with a gateway leading into the ‘Regent Quarter’ redevelopment.

*New Wharf Rd, Pentonville, Islington, 1990, 90-2f-53*

A little further to the north is Wharfdale Road, another right turning from York Way and from that New Wharf Road goes to the north. These two roads are on the south and east of the ‘new wharf’, Battlebridge Basin on the Regent’s Canal, serving the wharves around its sides.

A large notice on the lefthand buildin, formerly MAMMA ROMA, advertises the development of Battlebridge Basin with 3 buildings with planning consent for offices.

*Ozonol Laboratories, New Wharf Rd, Pentonville, Islington, 1990, 90-2f-54*

The next building on the road was the then derelict Ozonol Laboratories, Manufacturing Chemists. In 1932 the company had patented a product for “disinfecting mouthpieces of telephones, speaking tubes and the like” and similar products mainly under the similar names: “Ozonol”, “Ozlab”, “Oztox” and others were marketed for use in air purifiers and as an ointment for treating sunburn and hemorrhoids and a wide range of other uses. Ozonol ointments are still sold in some countries though probably not containing some of the original components such as lead oxide.

*Shoe Repairs, Caledonian Rd, Pentonville, Islington, 1990, 90-2f-56*

I walked through to Caledonian Road where I photographed through the window of this cobblers shop with its phone, hand-made sign, electric fire and general clutter. It looked then like something out of an earlier age.

It was time to go home, and I walked back to the tube at Kings Cross.

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East Finchley & Mill Hill -1994

East Finchley & Mill Hill: Pictures I took in May 1994 on walks around these areas of North London. I made relatively few colour pictures but you can find many more black and white images in my Flickr album 1994 London Photos.

I was amused by the contrast between the large image on the wall and the view out of the window. Then the ashtray on every table was the norm. There is a second picture on Flickr with a foreground table and ashtray

*Mural, Mill Hill, Barnet, 1994, 94-54-41*

The mural on the shed in what I think was a school reflects the multi-ethnic nature of much of London, but not really of Mill Hill. According to the 1991 census only 18% of the population of the London Borough of Barnet belonged to non-white ethnic groups, with 12% Asian and only 6% black; and 2021, 57.7% of Barnet’s population still identified as White. The borough does have a large Chinese origin population and is home to London’s largest Jewish community.

*Shop Window, Travel Agent, Mill Hill, Barnet, 1994, 94-54-43*

What attracted me to this window was undoubtedly the three very different women it portrays (though the SALLY in large print was only a ferry firm operating out of Ramsgate.)

Perhaps deliberately, though I doubt it, the closest image of a woman is out of focus. I find her rather disturbing , partly because of her blue tint (cyan fades much slower than yellow or magenta inks) but also because of the rigid symmetry of her face and the ridiculous thing at the neck of her top.

*Mag-it, Fishing Bait Machine, Mill Hill, Barnet, 1994, 94-54-45*

Not only a machine selling maggots, but one which offers you a choice of Red, White and Bronze maggots, mixed maggots, giant maggots, red worms and casters. All apparently frozen and needing to be left in a normal bait box for 60 minutes to recover.

I don’t think there is anywhere in Mill Hill where it is worth fishing.

*University of London Observatory, Watford Way, Mill Hill, Barnet, 1994, 94-54-46*

Since 2015 this had been called the UCL Observatory as although built for the whole of London University UCL have managed it since 1951, using it as a hands-on teaching observatory. On their web site it states:

“The Observatory building was designed by Mr L. Rome Guthrie and constructed by Messrs Leslie and Co.; construction commenced in July 1928 and was completed in 1929. The Observatory was opened by the then Astronomer Royal, Sir Frank Dyson, on 1929 October 8.”

I’d often looked out of a train window going north from King’s Cross and been surprised as we flashed past this building in an Intercity 125, and wasn’t quite convinced it was real amd not a folly or some figment of my imagination. Who I thought would build an observatory here given London’s weather?

*Bunns Lane Car Cleaning Services, Bunns Lane, Mill Hill, Barnet, 1994, 94-54-35*

Rather to my surprise you can still get your car washed and valeted on Bunns Lane, though I suspect its days are numbered, along with the adjoining Mill Hill Industrial Estate. The bridge carries the M1 over Bunns Lane and beyond that is a bridge for the main East Coast rail line.

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More Ponders End, Enfield Wash, Palmers Green & Brimsdown 1994

More Ponders End, Enfield Wash, Palmers Green & Brimsdown: Back in 1994 my main focus was on black and white images, some of which I was selling or putting into libraries. I was taking colour on colour negative film and my work was all ‘personal’, with a few being printed for exhibitions.

*Hairdressers, Enfield Wash, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-1-52*

So while I kept fairly careful records of the black and white images, keeping a diary and annotating the contact prints I made far less documentation for the colour work. Images were filed in sheets which were numbered often for the month I developed them rather than when they were taken and there was no urgency to develop colour film, doing so in batches sometimes covering film from several months.

*Shop Window, Palmers Green, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-1-36*

Here I’ve tried to present the images in the order they were taken. They come from a whole set of walks around parts of Enfield in the early months of 1994, though I think the first may haven been taken in December 1993.

*Mural, Palmers Green, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-1-21*

The previous post, Ponders End, Brimsdown, Enfield Wash & Waltham Cross – 1994, included some pictures from the same months, including a panorama made at the same place as one of the images here. I think these pictures speak for themselves so I’ll write nothing more about them.

*Back to the Future, Bus, Brimsdown, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-1-23*

Cable Drums, Factory, Brimsdown, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-2-64 — *Fuel Pumps, Brimsdown, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-1-26*

*Builders Mate, Builders Merchants, The Arena, Mollison Avenue, Brimsdown, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-2-55*

Another post of pictures from the London Borough of Enfield later.

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New Charlton in Colour – 1995

New Charlton in Colour – 1995. New Charlton has now been given the new and more descriptive name of Charlton Riverside and is the area between the River Thames and the main road from Greenwich to Woolwich, Woolwich Road. The major feature of the area other than the river is the Thames Barrier, but although I photographed this in black and white it does not appear in my selection of colour pictures. I had photographed it in black and white and colour on several occasions since 1984 from both sides of the river and so felt no need to visit it again in 1995.

*Eastmoor St, New Charlton, Greenwich, 1995, 95c5-743*

I did find a very different barrier on Eastmoor Street, with this monumental slab apparently cut out to leave a gateway through this reflective red wall. Whatever its original purpose – I think perhaps an art work – it seemed to have served for target practice probably for bricks thrown by local youths.

*Classic Car Restorations, New Charlton, Greenwich, 1995, 95c5-733*

And I did photograph Thames Barrier Classic Car Restoration with its texts and pictures of cars on its wall.

*Carpet Kingdom, New Charlton, Greenwich, 1995, 95c5-732*

The redevelopment of the area had begun when the Thames Barrier was opened, but much was still industrial or derelict but large parts are now occupied by large retail units. Carpet Kingdom was one of the first to open, though I don’t remember exactly where. There is now a rather larger Carpet Giant in the area,

Mural, Floyd Rd, Charlton, Greenwich, 1995, 95c5-726 — *Mural, Floyd Road, Charlton, Greenwich, 1995, 95c5-726*

You can still see this giant mural, details from which are in my two pictures. It was painted on the wall of this house in 1976 by the Greenwich Mural Workshop in 1976 and has now faded considerably.

Mural, New Charlton, Greenwich, 1995, 95c5-725 — *Mural, Charlton, Greenwich, 1995, 95c5-725*

Just south of the railway line close to Charlton’s ground at The Valley and so in Charlton rather than New Chalton, I had glimpsed it in my journeys past on the train and so went to photograph it.

Annette, Hair Stylist, Valley Grove, Charlton, Greenwich, 1995, 95c5-724 — *Annette, Hair Stylist, Valley Grove,* *Charlton, Greenwich, 1995, 95c5-724*

Annette Hair Styling was just around the corner from the mural in Valley Grove, so also in Charlton rather than New Charlton.

More colour from Charlton in a later post

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Salvation, Statuettes, a Sexy Model, Spendel & More – 1989

Salvation, Statuettes, a Sexy Model, Spendel & More: Continuing my walk on Sunday 5th November 1989 from Green Lanes where the previous post, Stroud Green to Grand Parade had ended I walked some way down West Green Road before taking my next picture.

*Salvation Army, 2, Terront Rd, West Green, Haringey, 1989 89-11d-16*

The Salvation Army building is still there on Terront Road though I think no longer in use by them. I was clearly attracted both by this building and by the car on a trailer to its left, rather dramatically marked with large Xs.

I wondered if this car might be connected with the clearance of the Harringay stadium site, about a kilometre away. Stock car racing and Banger racing were among the events held at Harringay Stadium from the 1950s on. The stadium had opened as Britain’s third greyhound racing stadium in 1927, adding speedway the following year. The stadium finally closed in 1987 and was acquired by Haringey council and some years later demolished for housing and a Sainsbury’s superstore.

It was only the 5th November so the Salvation Army were perhaps getting in rather early with advertising a Christmas Bazaar to be held on 18th Novemeber.

*Shop window, West Green Rd, West Green, Haringey, 1989 89-11c-62*

And perhaps this pair of Greek statuettes were the ideal Christmas Gift for someone, though I think it would have to be someone you didn’t like. But as you can tell from the price label they were quite small, and at £2.49 definitely a gift.

I decided not to make a great effort to correct the overall flare which renders their upper regions rather diffuse when making this digital copy from the original negative.

*Shop window, Green Lanes, Haringey, 1989 89-11c-64*

My walk was coming to an end and I walked back towards Turnpike Lane station finding another shop window which caught my interest on Green Lanes. There was something unusually real about this heavily made-up mannequin, wig, pose, and clothing, a sexual energy whose spell was only really broken by the clearly visible joint on her lower left arm and a rather porcelain quality to the highlights. I think this was probably in the window of a shop selling wedding dresses.

*Spendel, Hairdresser, Langham Rd, Turnpike Lane, Haringey 1989 89-11c-66*

I took a number of pictures of this shopfront, which was I think part of the extensive station and bus station development. Most were in colour apart from this and a slightly tighter cropped black and white image. At least one of the colour images – also on Flickr – shows the the entire shopfront dominated at the top by the large word ‘HAIRDRESSER‘. In very small type at the top of the window it states ‘GENTS SALOON’ and scattered on the surface at the base of the windows in front of the shutters are boxes containing tubes of related products including Ingram shaving cream.

The window at left of the entrance contains two rather unhealthy looking pot plans and behind them is a poster for the pantomime Aladdin starring Michael Barrymore and Frank Bruno.

My walk on 5th November ended at Turnpike Lane, where I caught the Piccadilly Line to make my way towards home. But a week later I was back in the same area, returning first to Walthamstow – an easy journey on the Victoria Line before returning to Turnpike Road. I think I had gone back to Walthamstow to retake some colour images, hoping to find better light.

Cemetery, Queen's Rd, Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-11c-52 — *Cemetery, Queen’s Rd, Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-11c-52*

I’d photographed a large angel on my previous walk in the cemetery and this time I took a picture of a rather smaller one, but my main interest was in the shadows cast on a couple of the stones, one of my head and shoulders as I made the picture along with the fence and to the right a clear cross on a rather less clear fence shadow. I think I was probably standing outside the cemetery fence looking in.

Queen's Rd, Lansdowne Rd, Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-11c-53 — *Shandar, Queen’s Rd, Lansdowne Rd, Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-11c-53*

The Shandar Take Away Restaurant at 65 on the corner of Queen’s Road and Lansdowne Road had a colourful mural along its Lansdowne Road side, and most of the pictures I took of it were in colour, but I stood a little further away on Queen’s Road to make this picture including a van with an open rear door parked on the pavement in front of a shop on the opposite corner.

Shandar is a name used by a number of Indian restaurants, a Hindi word implying excellence or high quality, which could be translated as ‘Splendid’ or ‘Grand’.

More from my walk on 12th November in a later post.

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Riverside Brentford – 2016

Riverside Brentford – Saturday 26th March 2016

As a child I grew up in Middlesex, by then a rather truncated county on the north and west of London, though once it had included the cities of London and Westminster and many of London’s Metropolitan boroughs north of the Thames and west of the River Lea. Brentford, a couple of miles from where I was born, was the nearest thing the county had to a county town, though it had few if any of the normal attributes of one, with no town-hall or other public building.

Often on Bank Holidays our father would take us on a 237 bus from Hounslow to Kew Bridge Station, the route going through Brentford High Street where it was often held up as we gazed through the top deck windows at the sites. Under the railway bridge leading to Brentford Docks where we might see a steam hauled goods train, over the canal bridge where the locks and dock area were normally busy with barges,past the Beehive on the corner of Half Acre with its tower topped by a giant beehive and on through the noisy, smelly gas works to Kew Bridge.

We walked across Kew Bridge and then turned down the side of Kew Green to the gate of Kew Gardens, where a penny – an old penny, 240 to the pound led us into the extensive gardens where we could wander all day. This was before the days of garden centres and my father would always have a small pair of scissors in his pocket to take the odd cutting or pick up a seed or two on our walks.

Later, in the early and mid 1950’s I would ride my bicycle around much of Middlesex and Surrey – and that included Brentford, but I think it was only much later when I became a photographer that I really explored the area and found out what an important communication link it had been. Brentford is where the inland waterways system with the busy Grand Union Canal joined the River Thames, just a few miles upriver from the great Port of London.

In 1978 three of my photographs from Brentford were published in Creative Camera Collection: No. 5, a prestigious collection of contemporary photography published by Coo Press, the publishers of the monthly magazine Creative Camera and edited by Colin Osman and Peter Turner. It wasn’t the first time my work had been published but was great to be on the pages with some very well known photographers, including one who much later became a friend, John Benton-Harris.

Brentford has changed greatly since then, with much of the riverside now lined with expensive flats rather than commerce and industry. The gasworks site became a riverside park and an arts centre, where I took part in and helped organise a number of exhibitions. But there is still enough of the old Brentford untouched, though less each time I go there.

I first returned in the 1990s, when I was teaching a few miles down the road, bringing students to see shows there and to wander around the area taking pictures. Later I came back for walks on my own or with friends, such as this one on Saturday 26th March 2016 with my elder son. Brentford hadn’t been my first choice by railway engineering works that week end made travelling out further to the east of London impossible.

As well as making ‘normal’ pictures with lenses giving a horizontal angle of view of between 10 and 84 degrees (focal lengths 20 to 200mm) there were some pictures where I felt an even wider view was needed and I made some panoramss with a roughly 145 degree angle of view. The pictures above and below illustrate the difference.

We didn’t end our walk in Brentford, but continued on past Syon House to Isleworth where we ate our sandwiches in a relatively sheltered square before following the Duke of Northumberland’s River through Mogden Sewage Works to Kneller Park and then Whitton Station for the train home. You can see a much wider range of pictures online on My London Diary at these three links:
Syon, Isleworth & Mogden
Riverside Brentford Panoramas
Riverside Brentford

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

Loughborough Estate, Angell Town & a Garage – 1989

The fourth post on my walk in Kennington and Brixton on Sunday 6th May 1989. The posts began with Hanover, Belgrave, Chapel, Shops, Taxis. The previous post was Brixton Road and Angell Town -1989

*Loughborough Estate, Flats, Loughborough Rd, Brixton, Lambeth, 1989 89-5d-44*

I’m not sure which of the nine eleven-story slab blocks on the estate is shown in my picture; the estate was and remains a rather confusing area. Possibly this is Leicester House on Loughborough Road, or more likely Harpur House on Angell Road where I think I walked to next, but the lower buildings in front of the block appear to have gone.

The sign ‘NO HATS’ is not a reference to any headgear but to Housing Action Trusts, an important part of Margaret Thatcher’s marginalisation of local authorities. Having ochestrated the run-down of council estates by earlier restrictions on council spending and the right to buy schemes, the Housing Act 1988 aimed to transfer these estates to non-departmental public bodies which were to redevelop or renovate them so they could be transferred into private ownership.

Opposition to HATs was intense, with the Labour Part, local authorities and estate residents all fighting their imposition, and the first six areas intended to becom HATs managed to avoid implementation, though later six were formed, but none in south London.

*Lunch Club, Loughborough Estate, Angell Rd, Brixton, Lambeth, 1989 89-5d-45*

I think this rather temporary-looking building as on Angell Road close to Harpur House, but no sign of it remains. I photographed it largely for the posters showing opposition to Housing Action Trusts in Broxton.

As well as a Luncheon Club for pensioners it also has a sign for the Loughborough Sports & Social Club.

Fence, St John the Evangelist, Angell Park Gardens Angell Town, Lambeth, 1989 89-5d-32 — *Fence, St John the Evangelist, Angell Park Gardens, Angell Town, Lambeth, 1989 89-5d-32*

Further along Angell Road – named like the area after the Angell family who had owned large parts of the Lambeth and developed this area in the 1850s. In 1852 Benedict John Angell gave a site here for the building of St John the Evangelist Church which was consecrated in 1853. Unfortunately trees along the edge of the site along Angell Road and Angell Park Gardens had too many leaves in May to clearly see the church.

These paintings on the fence around the church are still visible but rather faded. I took a few pictures of them both in black and white and in colour before walking on past the church and across Wiltshire Road into Villa Road and back onto Brixton Road, where I photographed the rather austere Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church (not yet digitised.)

*Abeng Youth Community Centre, Gresham Rd, Brixton, Lambeth, 1989 89-5d-22*

I walked on down Brixton Road to the Police Station where I turned back east along Gresham Road, stopping to photograph what looked to me to be a former chapel. In 1877 this was the Angell Town Institution and later became Brixtons first telephone exchange.

In the 1970s the Rev Tony Ottey founded the Abeng Centre here to provide supplementary education and youth services to the local children. In 2003 it was relaunched with new management as the Karibu Centre, its Swahili name Karibu meaning welcome, with similar aims. It is also hired for weddings, funerals, birthdays and business meetings.

*Wyck Gardens, Loughborough Estate, Millbrook Rd, Brixton, Lambeth, 1989 89-5d-24*

Soon I was walking through the Loughborough Estate again, going along Millbrook Road and through Wyck Gardens, a public open space which is thought to be the remnant of a larger wood knwon as Wickwood in the Manor of Lambeth Wick which had been cleared by the end of the 17th century.

The land had belonged to the Archbishops of Canterbury and was bought by the London County Council from the Church Commissioners for a new public open space, opened in 1959 and since extended and improved. You can see more pictures from the park on Brixton Buzz.

I think the large block here is Barrington Court, the first of three I walked past on my way through the park towards Loughborough Junction.

*Garage, Railway Arch, Ridgway Rd, Loughborough Jct, Lambeth, 1989 89-5d-25*

I left the park and walked along Ridgeway Rd, beside the railway line from Brixton which curves around to a junction just north of Loughborough Junction Station. The next station on this line is at Elephant & Castle.

Some extensive work seems to be in progress on what I am reliably informed (thanks to comments on Flickr) is a Ford Escort, while inside the garage a Renault 4 and a Rover P5 await their turn.

Arch 500 was empty for some years but later became home to the very Brixton Buzwakk Records Recording Studio a few years ago. The arches on both sides are still garages.

More about this walk in May 1989 in a later post.