Arrival, Business, Alfredo’s and Paradise: More colour pictures from my walk in Islington which although are in my January 1993 folder I now find were actually taken in mid-December 1992, but were only processed in the following month. The previous post which was from the beginning of my walk was wrongly titled Islington in Colour – January 1993.
It seemed more about departure than arrival for this closed shop, which was at 130 New North Road on the corner with Poole St. At left you can see the fairly distinctive bridge over the Regent’s Canal still there though this shop and the other buildings between it and the canal was replaced not long after with a large block whose ground floor is occupied by a Co-op food store.
My guess was that Arrival had been a café. I liked the faded canopies with a sun motive and the columns supported on square blocks, I think painted on or tiled over the brickwork as well as the graffiti tags and fly posting for the Dalston Lane Car Boot and Brixton Academy. The disused shop had been firmly sealed against squatters.
The Business Design Centre opened in October 1986, built in the Grade II listed Royal Agricultural Hall built in 1861-2 to the design by Frederick Peck for agricultural shows and continued in use for these until 1938, also hosting other events such as the he Royal Tournament and the first Crufts dog show.
During the Second World War it was taken over by the military and after the Mount Pleasant sorting office was devastated by bombing became a Royal Mail parcels depot. After they moved out the large site remained empty until bought and converted by Sam Morris to an exhibition venue, conference centre, showrooms and offices as the Business Design Centre which opened in October 1986.
I imagine that this sculpture showing two Sumo wrestlers holding up a shipping container was there in conjunction with an event taking place in the Business Design Centre and I have no idea how long it remained in place. Unfortunately none of the handful of frames I made in black and white and colour include enough of the board with text about the event.
The shipping container appears to be an actual used container, with clear signs of wear – and if it was a standard 20ft container will have weighed around 2,300kg – quite a weight for two wrestlers.
Alfredo’s is still there, though no longer a snack bar but a café and restaurant renamed Alfredo’s 1920. I photographed it again in 1986 and here is what I wrote when I posted this on Facebook:
“Established 1920 and with a fine frontage. Details of this still remain in its current use by bistro Meat People, although the central Alfredo’s Snack Bar is long gone and the panel it was on is now plain and rectangular and there is no drop shadow on the plain name MEAT PEOPLE. But at the top of the white vertical panel it now states ‘FORMERLY ALFREDO’S’ and at it’s base ‘ESTABLISHED 1920’ and has some of the same text as before, with the rest altered to reflect the current usage.”
I’m unsure as to how I would categorise the shop with this window display, but I think it was probably run by an ex-boxer. I can’t read the small print under the photograph at top left but I think it is the American boxer Jack Dempsey, (1895 – 1983), “nicknamed Kid Blackie and The Manassa Mauler, was an American boxer who competed from 1914 to 1927, and was world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926.” He was best known for the two controversial fights he had with Gene Turney in 1926 and 1927, both of which he lost.
In the window along with the boxing pictures are WD-40, furniture and leather creams, brushes, a hammer, jugs, superglue, a rabbit and more.
I now have no idea where this angry looking snake with the white strip with the messages ‘Harley Davidson’ and ‘Power’ was, or why, though perhaps it was a motorcycle dealer.
For something very different I photographed this painted sunflower next to a door on the wall, presumable leading to two flats, though the number on it, ‘1 B C’ is rather odd. From the parking notice it would seem to be on a fairly busy road. There are two blind windows, probably from when the building was converted to flats.
The picture is very noisy, and although the plant has a shadow, this is painted and the plant pot floats oddly in space. I think the noise is because I under-exposed the negative, though it may also reflect a processing fault. It was taken on a dull December day and perhaps this particular corner was duller than most.
This building is still there but now residential and the metal shutter had been replaced by what looks like wood. The building is in the gap between two semi-detached houses on the street.
The rather strange colours in this picture are perhaps appropriate, though I think due to a processing fault. There was a legendary night club on Parkfield Street which was demolished in the late 1990s for the Angel Central shopping complex, but I’m unsure whether this was that venue or another perhaps earlier location – or a completely different Paradise. I’ve been unable to find other pictures which clearly show the Paradise club.
Here is my quick attempt to improve the colour – after having cropped the image to remove a damaged area at left.
More from December 1992 in Islington to come.
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