The Good, The Bad and The Unfriendly – Van Gogh Portraits at The Courtauld Gallery

The Courthauld Gallery closed its doors in Autumn 2018 for a refit and rehang that took three years , reopening in November 202. As one of my favourite London galleries I was keen to return as it's an absolute delight, both for its interiors and the marvellous pieces that hang on its walls. Thereare so many very important works of art at the Courtauld. I used to love the quirky hanging, the feel that these rooms were old and special, the mix of different centuries in each room which contrasted the ever-changing styles throughout time. I later read that this was because the artworks had barely been moved since the gallery opened in the 1930s. How cool, I liked that.

Last week I went with my friend to see the collection of Van Gogh portraits – excellent – do go and see them as this now only has a fortnight left to run, ending 8th May. But note that this exhibition is on the top/3rd floor, accessed through the upper gallery of Impressionists art. On the day we visited we had to climb lot of stairs because the lift wasn't working. I was fine, but my friend was in the wars having recently twisted his back. When we finally reached the upper galleries and entered the Van Gogh rooms we saw an exhausted elderly tall man looking around for somewhere to sit and then asking a member of staff for a stool or something. She came back with one of those lightweight fold-up chairs on which he sat looking like a very uncomfortable fisherman, his knees almost reaching up to his ears. 

After enjoying Vincent's exuberant works, and spending quite a while debating whether he was left or right handed* we went for a wander around the adjacent main gallery rooms and immediately we both bemoaned the colour of the walls, especially in these rooms containing the Impressionsts' paintings, which are painted an insipid, almost nicotine-tinged, pale grey that does little to enhance the  paintings which were achieved in the glorious sunshine of the South of France, Paris and Tahiti. Surely here a deep dark blue 'feature wall' could have been implemented to lift and contrast the works within the space? Had it not been for the for the vaulted ceilings and glass above us, we would have assumed we were in any modern gallery anywhere in the world. There was no sense of personality, history or place.  Oh, and the flooring, replaced years ago with light colour solid wood, at first glance resembles cheap clip-together laminate flooring. Surely the enormous budget spent on this renovation could have stretched to a few tins of wood stain in a warmer teak/oak colour...? It just looks unfinished, complete with visible nails. The ramps installed at doorways using the same material seem to be makeshift, but they're not.

And so we made our way down to the ground floor, peeking in at each floor. The pale bland walls persist on all levels. I really did prefer the warmer earthy tones of the gallery pre-2018. Today, the much older works and religious pieces are crying out for at least a stone or terracotta ground to better enhance them. There is only one room that gives a sense of time and place and it's devoted to Vanessa Bell and her tiresome Bloomsbury cronies. 

Back in the foyer, we looked for the gift shop. But where was it? You will recall that the gift shop used to be immediately to the left as you entered the Somerset House complex off The Strand – this space is now a café. We asked the young female greeter with a touch screen where the shop was. She pointed to a long thin sign on the wall that tells us what's on each level and right at the bottom it says 'shop' with an arrow pointing down to the left/right. Er, yes, "but where?" we asked. Without an attempt at a smile she gesticulated us to the Information/Tickets vestibule (which has a big sign above it!) and from there we descended another flight of stairs which took us into a thin underground corridor. I almost walked past the door to the shop which is in a recess on the left. Turns out the shop is vast, much bigger than before and bpacked full of lovely things. Yet we were only two of five people in there, one of whom was a member of staff. We walked all the way to the other end of the shop only to find that there was no other way out and we had to go all the way back again to that narrow door. 

Back in the foyer the joyless female took it very personally when I quereied the location the hidden shop and how they thought they were going to sell anything from that space when it couldn't be seen/found. She evidently took it personally and suggested we could buy online! Eh?! Amused by this response, and also confused how a person who is acting as a customer-facing infomation point couldn't mamanage to communicate in a civil manner, I decided to put my overly jolly hat on and also tell her how disappointed I was, as a visitor for decades, that walls of the galleries had been painted such bland colours. She as good as shrugged. I doubt my feedback wehent any further.

Later, I googled reviews of the gallery's renovation and reconfiguration and found that nearly all the critics seem to have rewritten almost the same thing– how it's now chronological as you go make your way up the building, is a marvellous improvement, that the new cloor and use of light illumates the classical architecture, that the paintings 'sing' against the bright walls. Eh? Really? To my mind, slapping the same colour all over everything enhances nothing in particular.

It's clear to me, having received pre-press packs by galleries prior to preview days myself, that most of these critics had simply just re-hashed the promo information sent to them in much the same way as we were encourged to do in English classes back when I was 12 years old. you know, re-write this in your ownn words, etc. I noticed that only a couple of those reviews made any specific references that lead me to believe that they had indeed been to the gallery themselves and scrutinised it in any way personally. 

No pics – go and check it out yourself, but note that it used to look like this.

Further feedback... 

The café restaurant to the left as you enter the couryard serves bland overpriced food on unstable tables and has a stupid ordering and payment process. I had a sort of warm chicken, bacon and salad sandwich. It was toasted only on one side, barely any chicken, soggy bacon (eurgh), half a small lettuse leafand perhaps two slices of tomato. My friends halloumi and avocado wrap was as bland as the gallery wlls. Luckily, there is a Gregg's a few doors along(!) plus the usual big names and a couple of curry houses. Actually, I'd recommend the LSE canteen on the other side of Alwych, which is excellent value.

There are three large sculptures at the rear of the courtyard that look a bit War Of the Worlds. I could see that they were something to do with the recycled plastics, akin to monsters of the future. I went to find out more about them but couldn't find any info panels so I went inside the northern reception space and asked the chattering ladies at the desk. "Hello!' I said, all jolly, "I wonder if you could tell me about those large sculptures outside, only I can't find anything out there". The silver-haired woman with an accent from across the pond looked at me blankly as if I was speaking another language and informed me in a matter-of-fact manner that there were people out there with clipboards who could explain. As per the young girl in the foyer, she also didn't crack a smile, and I wondered if this was part of the training. Or, perhaps they are automotons. I said it was strange that I hadn't seen anybody out there especially as I had been wandering about for about 5mins quite plainly on the hunt for something. This provoked no response – even those self-service tills at Tescos issue pleasantries!  I moved to the sofas to readjust my clothing and a man who was passing through and had heard the exchange told me there was indeed an info panel out there on the eastern side. So I returns to the silver-haired desk robot and endeavoured to pass this news back her/it should the info be of use going forward. Again the blank stare, as if I was the mad one. Oh well. 

And so I went outside and read the A-board. I finally noticed a young woman with a clip board hovering around at the north side. I stood and waited, thinking she would wander over. Nope. So I stood or paced in an inquistive manner, adopting a series of poses that screamed 'confused' involving scratching my head or chin whilst furrowing my brow and looking from the boar to the sculptures a lot. But, although I was the only person looking at these things, she didn't see me for a full 7 minutes. Yes, I timed it. She then wandered round to the west side, seemed to stare at the paving a lot, and then disppeared into a doorway on that side. 

Basically, it's easier to find the info on their website. And perhaps the woman at the desk can't use the internet. Also, I don't think the plastic elements used in those sculptures are recycled... they all look freshly-manufactured to me.

*some of his paintings are most surely mirror images but others contradict that. I deduce that he was right-handed.

Hornsey Road – more ghostsigns, observations and recollections

When I first moved to the Holloway area back in 1988 I lived at the eastern end of Marborough Road, near its junction with Hornsey and Hanley Roads. My bus stop back from work in the West End was the one just south of Bavaria Road at a time when the bus was a 14A and went all the way to Chelsea (what a fab, long route!). I used to like looking at the hints of history in the area but didn't look into it until many years later.  I subsequently moved to another address near to Holloway's Nags Head shopping area but I still have cause to walk the same roads, often when I am headed up to or back from Crouch End, which used to be part of Hornsey, hence the road name. 

Last month I was coming back down the hill and I noticed that the Hanley Arms, which is now an Islamic place of worship, has been given a much-needed lick of paint. It had for years been looking rather sad and I had always worried that the lovely black metalwork over the doors showing the pub name and the saloon bar would get further damaged over time or, worse, be removed comletely. As these pics show, the owners have seen fit to enhance in gold paint that the building was once a pub, which seems at odds with its purpose these days.

Pics all 2020 exc bottom right showing when it was still a pub

I think the Hanley Arms entrance on the corner was for the more basic area of the pub to the Private or Public bar. The Saloon Bar at centre-front would have led to the swankiest part of the pub and there might have been a third entrance down the side that led to a smaller room at the rear. These defined bar areas for different kinds of people would have been sectioned off with wood and glass panels from a main bar area at the centre. I am vaguely aware of going in there once for a nose about when I moved to the area, or am I imagining this or getting my wires crossed with another similar pub?  Most of the interior fittings have since been removed to convert it into a prayer room but the Anaglypta ceiling and other hints of the bulding's previous life are still visible as shown here in The Hornsey Road blog.

The road has changed a lot since I arrived here. Today the eastern side is mainly fast food outlets, but I recall many more and varied shops in the late 80s. But it certainly wasn't as vibrant a street as it was 100 years before that, with shops all the way up to Hornsey Rise and down to Holloway and beyond, with pubs at almost every junction. For instance, on the opposite side of the road to the Hanley Arms was The Alexandra on the corner of Bavaria Road, then called Blenheim Road, as shown by the old painted road sign.

Bottom left 2020, bottom centre and right 2008

A panel on the side of the old pub building shows The Alexandra advertised itself as a 'COFFEE TAVERN'. I assume from this that this was a more genteel kind of place with tablecolths and attracted ladies. The pub was converted to commercial use. By the late 1980s, it was a locksmith's shop which continued to trade into the early 2000s, complete with a large advertisement for key cutting and 5-lever locks and whatnot on the north-facing side of the premises at ground level. By the time I photographed the sign in 2008 it was extremely faded. It's now completely gone having been over-painted, probably at the same time as another storey was added to the top of the building.

The coffee tavern sign reminded me that on a rainy day in 2011 I'd spotted a faded sign on at high level on No.418 that showed the feint letters LADIES SALOON. I could make out a name above ending "...ETTS" – I stupidly never returned to take better pics and it's now been over-painted. Damn.

Hornsey Road ghostsigns – NatWest Bank, Ladies Saloon, The Plough. All 2020 exc middle top.

This looks to be a late-Victorian-Edwardian establishment – a quick bit of delving shows me that Walter Betts had a coffee shop at No. 422 until 1905. By 1906 the same establishement is owned by Charles Watson. Note that the sign is not above the coffee shop but instead above what was then Emil Kober's hairdresser shop at No.418. It looks like a clever bit of inter-business was happeninging here – ladies could get their hair done and then retire to rooms on the upper floors for drinks, provided and served by the esatablishment two doors up the road. How lovely.

As you walk along the road today, you can clearly make out how this was once a busy high street with shops of every kind. As shown above, there's even the hint of a branch of NatWest and further along at the junction of Tollington Park there's what's left of The Plough public house. The entrance to the stables at the rear has been filled in for decades now and it's again one of those places I wish I'd photographed back in 1988 when the cobbled access was still viable leading to the rear of the pub.

I'll leave it there. Any extra info and memories most welcome.

 

Holloway memories – shopping in the 1990s

In January 1988 I moved from Romford/HaroldWood into a flat in Marlborough Rd, N19, keen to be living in area that ticked all my boxes – easy transport connections for work and socialising, lots of local shops and within a £5 cab ride home from Central London (really!).
Sometimes I'd do my food shopping up at Archway as I exited the tube but mostly I'd take the bus to  the Nags Head area as the options were better. I have always said "if you can't find it in Holloway, then you don't need it". So often have I trawled the West End shops only to find a better, cheaper product just around the corner in N7. This same idea popped into my head recently and it got me thinking about all the shops I used to use in the 1990s that are now gone.

Gibbers greengrocer – next door to The Eaglet pub at 116-120 Seven Sisters Rd (at the time of writing = a Post Office and Mr Panini's** cafe).
Gibbers was a proper old-style fruit and veg greengrocers with boxes of produce all over the show. You queued to be served with a pound of this, two pounds of that, eight of those and six of them. It was a delight. Wholesale deliveries large and small coming and going constantly. John the manager was such a lovely man. I recall one Saturday when he asked where I'd been recently and I told him I had hurt my back and then as one of the others was serving me John nipped into the chemist next door and bought me some pain relief tablets that he said had worked for him. How nice.
Gibbers suffered tremendously when the parking restrictions came into force meaning companies couldn't even park outside their own premises. I had many chats with John about this as it was really affecting trade. What happened to John? I am not sure he was a Holloway local. Tho I did find this written by someone who used to work there.
The Gibbers site became an EDA food centre – see here

Green's home furnishings – a few doors up from Gibbers covering three, possibly four shops. Green's walk-through windows contained blinds, curtains, cushions and all sorts for the home. I bought lots of bits from there in the late '80s and early '90s when I was setting up home.

Shelley's shoes – 89 Seven Sisters Rd, opposite Gibbers. 
I loved Shelly's shoes. The company had been going since the 1940s and was the go-to shop for big fashion trends such as crepe soles, winkle-pickers, Chelsea boots, platforms and DMs. They always had a really good alternative selection and really well-made. They had a few shops across London including Carnaby Street, Deptford, Chelsea and Kilburn High Rd with larger stores at Oxford Circus and Neal Street.

I still have a carrier bag!

As regards the Holloway shop, I remember being so pleased that I had a local branch. I recall the marvellous Victorian walk-in windows full of their fabulous footwear. But I now cannot place when the shop closed. Today, all the shops along that stretch are flat-fronted UPVC blandness and I am now annoyed with myself that I never thought back then to take a photo. Tho I wasn't running around snapping the details on our streets until well into 2006.
A bit of sleuthing shows me that Shelly's 'died' in 2003. I can find no ref of the Holloway shop online. But I do have a couple of Shelley's carrier bags. The bag shown here shows the shop's address with an 071 telephone code. I also have another duffle-bag one with 0171/0181 codes on it but the Holloway shop is not listed. Hence this branch must've closed pre-1999.

Safeway's – opposite Gibber's and Green's at the eastern corner of what was once a huge Victorian store created by Fred Crisp* who had become so successful that he had manged to purchase not only all the shops in that terrace but also houses in Devonshire Rd (now Axminster Rd) and Sussex Rd (now Sussex Way). This later became The North London Drapery Store and then B.B.Evans before being split again into the various units we see today.

67-83 Seven Sisters Rd, 2005

I have memories of carrying heavy bags shopping from Safeway up to Marlborough Rd past the house I live in today. Argos was also in this stretch before they moved to the site on Holloway Rd which back in 1988 was Sainsbury's (or was it KwikSave by then?). 

Holloway Arcade – junction of Holloway Road and Parkhurst Avenue on the site of the old Parkhurst Theatre. Today it's CarpetRight. This had seen better days by the time I got here. Most of the units within were already boarded up and only a few businesses remained. One, I think was a shoe mender or similar(?).

Manolis' Cafe, Hercules Street – the best breakfasts in Holloway, if not North London. 
The absolute best bubble and squeak ever. It was my go-to cafe. I'd take all my visiting friends there. I always enjoyed listening in on Manolis and his Greek friends as they philosophised and assessed world politics.

Manolis' goodbye

By September 2006 the cafe had closed. A typed letter was attached to the boarded up windows. It was so sad. He'd been feeding me for 15 years.
I hope he kept the huge marvellous potted money trees that used to be in the windows. For a short time Manolis worked at a cafe near Finsbury Park station but soon after due to ill health he retired to this home in Southgate. I bumped into him a few times. We kept in touch for a while. I went to have dinner with him and his wife at a restaurant in Southgate one evening in 2008. I should have kept in touch.

Next, Clarks, Ravel – all in the stretch of Holloway between Nags Head pub and M&S (now also closed down, and relocated to new premises behind Archway station). Woolworths were also here in Holloway (an L-shape shop at the site of Iceland with another entrance opposite the Halifax) but I am not sure I recall the shop personally. They had other branches at Angel and Archway so possibly this one had already closed by 1988...?

Selby's – in 1988 it was dreadful and really out of date. Certainly not keeping up with the times. Or even attempting to rival nearby Jones Bros. I remember wondering how they were even managing to stay open. It was a complete mish-mash and looked to be on the brink of closure. But when Jones Bros closed two years later Selby's pulled up their socks and now I think the store rivals John Lewis.

I think that'll do for now... I'll save the rest for another day

*I am compiling a history of Mr Crisp and his store – all additional info welcome.
**A sign within the window reads "Panini's" - ah but Panini is already plural. The inclusion of an apostrophe intimates that either a letter is missing or ownership – the place must therefore be owned by someone called Panini, tho I have yet to meet him. (Paninis with an s added would make it doubly plural and that would be daft)

Whittington Park Cafe – colourful, tasty and great value for money

Wandering through Whittington Park yesterday morning on my way home from my osteopath I popped into the Whittington Community Centre on Yerbury Road to drop off some leaflets about my walks but with a rumbly in my tumbly I decided to stop for sustenance in the cafe.
And I am so glad I did – I am quite fussy about my coffee – I like it strong and black and usually ask for a double espresso with hot water on the side so I can top it up to just the right mount. The lovely lady behind the counter did that for me and it was perfect. Add a slice of the most delicious bread pudding ever and the bill was a measley £3.00.  Why do people frequent chain cafés when fab places like this are so much nicer, so much friendlier and so much better value for money?

My pics here do not do the place justice – lots to do, lots to see and all in the lovely setting of Whittington Park.
Click here to find out more info about the community centre.

Time for tea at Russell Square Cabmen's Cafe

The cab shelter at the north west corner of Russell Square always brings a smile to my face. I have stopped there a few times and partaken of the tea and snacks and I would recommend you to do the same.

Sixty-one little green huts were constructed in the late 19th century as places where Hamsom cab drivers could take a break and shelter from the elements whilst swapping stories with other cabbies. These mini-community centres also dissuaded the drivers from dispersing into nearby drinking establishments.
All you need to know about these marvellous little green tardises can be found here.
Of the 61 original huts there are now only 13 left and some are shown here:

It's not often possible to go inside the huts unless you are a cab driver but when they are open most will serve a cup of tea through the hatch and it's a great way to hang out with the people in the know.

Eversholt Street

This is a mixed bag abou the northern end of Eversholt Street, NW1, near Mornington Crescent Station.

Working along and down row by row of the pics:
A Google street view of the top section of the road shows Leverton & Sons sign on the right. A few years back it was re-painted. It's an appalling renovation. enough said.
Until approx 15 years ago the opposite side of the road was, just like Parkway a little further north, a parade of useful, independent shops which included a great tapas bar and the cafe shown here with the red sign.
Sandwiches etc belied its basic name and plastic sign because inside was marvellous. A friendly and hardworking Italian family ran this place for decades. It had fixed high back wood and padded seating which fitted in four groups of six people and they served up the most delicious fare including the best toasted ciabattas and focaccia I have ever tasted. Everyone I took inside loved it and requested to make a return visit. And the coffee was excellent, being as it was made my the grandfather who had been a barista for decades. They probably weren't even called baristas when he started out.
Sandwiches etc started to lose trade when Costas and Starbucks etc opened outlets along nearby Camden High Street. This was the same period as when the big supermarket chains began opening up mini/local versions everywhere which also helped  to change the face of this lower end of Camden Town completely. At that time I was an occasional freelance at a publishing company just around the corner within Greater London House/Carreras Building and rather than just nip around the corner to Sandwiches etc where a cappuccino was a mere 90p and would still be frothy after running back with it across the road and up two flights of stairs, work colleagues would instead march up the high street to one of the new places where they paid twice the price for lukewarm milky water. When I tried to tell them about the café they looked at me like I was the mad one.
The shop has since stood empty all this time. So sad on many levels.
The last pic on the middle row shows a faded old advertisement for George Clarke & Sons breakfast food above MC station which I expect many people have never noticed. It is, as they say, hiding in plain sight, though would have been very bright and visible to people on buses and trams heading southwards back in the day. Traffic today now flows only on the opposite direction.
The bottom pic shows a long tiled step in front of a shop near the café. I am wondering if this was the tapas bar, though in my mind that was further south. Any feedback welcome.
And finally the magnificent old post office at the junction opposite the station. No longer in use as such.
That'll do!

More Camden ghostsigns here including the Leverton one.

Oops – What the Dairy is Going on Here?

After visiting the National Gallery (see my last post) I walked up Whitcomb Street to the library on Orange street where I was verbally abused by a mentally challenged man of the street. But that's another story.
The two-sided Dairy sign is still there...
But, er...

Top row 2009, bottom row Feb 2017

Perhaps the D fell off and had to be reattached...?
But it's upside-down!
Was it some kind of bright idea to get the verticals aligned at the front edge?
Why not go the whole hog and spin the R too?

Signs of the times

Today I bring you some lovely old shop signs, most of which have since been removed.

Row by row: Soho, Holloway, Barnsbury, Clapton, Smithfield, Deptford, Lambeth, Piccadilly and Muswell Hill

And here are some others that please me:

New Oxford St, Belgravia, Fleet St, Gospel Oak, Fleet St and Finsbury Park

Shopicide – memories of W. Burrows & Sons, a charming old fish shop in Acton

What is the word for destroying and 'modernising' something and replacing all that was historical, handmade and interesting with nothing of any style or class? I've decided on 'shopicide'.

In January 2009 I took these pics of the old fish & chip restaurant and fishmongers at the northern end of East Acton Lane near Savoy Circus (named after a cinema and a roundabout, both long gone).

As you can see, the shop frontage was lovely with a hand-painted sign by Brilliant Signs Ltd of W12 (Permenart) and the little panels in the windows had decorative glass panels and ventilation inserts. Along the bottom there were lovely hand-fired green tiles with five fish motifs at regular intervals. For some reason I only took photos of three of them:

The shop was clearly closed for business. Peering in through the window I could see the lovely old wooden seating was still intact. However, some kind of renovation was underway – there were paint pots on the counter which was covered in a cloth. I assumed they were merely doing a bit of decorating. 

I haven't visited the area since ten and so, last weekend when I was in the vicinity, I took a short detour to go and check out what has become of the place.
But, oh dear, what a disaster – everything shown above has gone. And I mean everything. I didn't get out of the car to take photos because it was just too much to take in. Instead, I googled it when I got home and these streetview screengrabs show that absolutely nothing is left of the old shop:

How is this allowed to happen? I have tried searching for other images of the old shop but the only pics I can find are my own – there must be some in an archive somewhere...?

Sad face.

The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2016

Last Monday, prior to the RA Summer Show, I spent a lovely birthday day in glorious sunshine Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park and got to see Bjarke Ingels' marvellous pavilion outside the Serpentine Gallery.

This one is particularly good I think. It's a beautiful, yet simple, structure and has a function – there is a cafe within it.
A short stroll away there are some other smaller pavilions worth checking out:

Until 9th October.
More info here.

Jane's Advent Calendar – 11th December

Hand-painted tea rooms sign at 11 Museum Street, St Giles, Bloomsbury, March 2008 

October 2015

Stoke Newington ghostsign palimpsest recalled

I was walking down Canonbury Road last week and I spotted this food trailer parked up on the pavement:

It reminded me of this lovely ghostsign palimpsest on Stoke Newington High Street advertising the things that used to be available at N. Robey & Co.:

That's it!
Have a nice day,
Jane

Some Battersea Village observations

After our foreshore forage we stood a while in the garden of St Mary's Church. We admired the building and I noticed and liked how the moss on a gravestone hadn't taken hold in in the name. Spooky.
We turned left into Battersea Church Road commenting how the village and its river industries seemed to have been swallowed up into modern developments as per the revamped Old Swan Wharf and Valiant House.
Back in the late 1990s I had a freelance job nearby, next to the now demolished Price's Candles* warehouse, and I'd drive to and from there via the village so I wanted to show my friends all the little gems that could be found in the vicinity – the Victorian Penfold acanthus pillar pox, the entrance way to Bennett's drapery with it's bold signage, a couple of nice weather vanes and a wall painting of Django Reinhart. So far so good.
We continued our walk past the lovely green tiles on the Katherine Low Settlement, walked under the railway and headed into Battersea High Street as I had promised to show them some lovely old shops.
But I was sad to find that most of them are now either gone/changed or not visible.
When I was last there in Feb 2009 I took these shots:

The Dining Rooms sign is still there but it has been temporarily covered up. I couldn't see Costa's at all. As regards, Raynsford's, it was a Sunday and the shutters were down so it was hard to tell if was the same shop (I hope so). However, the tiles shown bottom left remain.

* By the end of the 19th century Price's was the largest candle manufacturer in the world. In 1877 Price's made 147million candles, 32 million night lights and made approx one million gallons of lamp oil ...!!
When I worked in the area I loved the smells that came from Price's factory and I used to shop there, especially at Christmas time for presents, though I did notice back then that they appeared to be struggling as there was hardly ever any other customers except me. The company moved to Bedford in the late 2003 after getting into financial difficulty, probably due to heavy competition – candles had become rather popular and everyone and his mother were by this time making them inc Ikea. The Battersea/Wandsworth site is now a sea of modern glass-fronted apartments.  
Read Price's detailed history here.

Update:
I have recently discovered that there is a lovely independent flower and garden centre just around the corner. I plan to visit it next time I am in the area and will write about it here.

Mount London – Ascents in the Vertical City

There are some great views across this fair city from high points such as Crystal Palace, Ally Pally and Richmond Park. Plus some fantastic vantage points from man-made constructions which include Hornsey Road's 'Suicide Bridge', BT Tower, The Wheel and the The Pointy Thing.
But on a smaller scale, London exists on a series of hills and mounds and this can be seen in the names of the streets, such as Saffron Hill, which to us today seems like a little blip and not worth mentioning.
Mount London is a collection of thoughts and observations by twenty-five different writers about these geographical ups and downs.
Published this Wednesday 28th May – more info here.
Below are some of my own observations on London's hills.

Corn, Denmark, Lavender, Rosslyn.

Stamford, Notting, Highgate, Crouch End.

Muswell, Haverstock, Primrose, Tower.

How to make a cup of tea

We are awash with branded coffee shops offering all sorts of different types from skinny latte decaf to double espresso. Yet the staff in these shops, who have managed to master the complexity of the barista machine, seem to lack simple tea-making know-how.
Often I have have purchased a much-needed cuppa only to lift the lid and discover a pale milky concoction with a teabag festering at the bottom; the tea having been made by adding the milk (often way too much of it for my liking) almost immediately after the hot water, therefore making the tea-brewing process redundant. It's barely possible to get more tea flavour out of a bag once the milk has been added. You wouldn't add milk into a teapot, so why put it in the cup?
And for this service they charge at least £1.50. It's so disappointing. And a rip off to boot!
To make tea – add boiling water to tea bag, let it rest/brew or squish the bag a bit, and then add milk if so desired. Satisfyingly simple!

Tea-related things in London

Lower Marsh, Waterloo – a market street

Earlier this year I heard that there a new Saturday market was planned for Lower Marsh. I was under the impression that there was a market there already so I checked on Google Streetview and as you can see from the snaps below, the market pitches were clearly visible with a few of the old-style barrows in position.

On Saturday 1st February, a beautiful clear and bright, yet very cold day, I went down to have a look for myself and discovered that the road has been re-laid and the outlines for the stalls were no longer in existence. The 'market' consisted of three brave traders at the eastern end.
Perhaps the street renovation is a work in progress and the pitch markings will be reinstated in due course? Watch this space.
Adjacent to the pedestrian underpass that leads to Leake Street I found five of the old wooden barrers [sic] and I am sad to report that they have been splattered with day-glo graffiti as per Leake Street itself. I will write about both of these things separately in subsequent posts.

Lower Marsh is still a lovely street and it's hard to believe when you are there that you are actually so close to a big bustling train station. It's dotted with specialist shops selling gifts, vintage clothes etc, plus some great cafés that are perfect places to grab a snack before getting on your train – much better than the mass-produced gunk offered by the corporate chains in Waterloo station's concourse.
Some lovely old architectural features still remain on Lower Marsh...
There's a large faded ghost sign at the western end advertising a catering company then, as you walk east you pass the Scooter Cafe's typographically elegant bar sign on your left, followed by some old lamp oil urns on a building that has seen quite a few changes over the decades and is now a thai restaurant.
On the other (south) side is Trussons (which sounds to me like a made up name for a Carry On film!). Close to and above is a sign for a long-gone optician and further along is Lounge 34 (originally The Spanish Patriot) – note the wonky spike on the very top.
I crossed over the junction into The Cut. Back in the early 1980s I used to work with a girl from Bermondsey who would go to The Cut's market every weekend because, she told me, it was so good and you could buy anything and everything there.
Sadly there is no sign of a market there now. The street is wide and it's possible to imagine a row of traders on each side with plenty of room for vehicles to pass through between them such as in this image.
See here for more history on the area.

Lies, lies, damned lies

For those of you who like a guided walking tour with a twist, I'd recommend Liars' Tours.
Actual facts and are mixed up with total fabrications and it's up to the crowd to work out which ones to believe* – with so many barely conceivable stories about London it's often really hard to decide – truth is often stranger than fiction.
I am booked up for the Vauxhall tour, so perhaps I will see you there.
There are lies to be found all over London, as shown below, so keep your wits about you.

 * 'believe' contains a lie too. Is that ironic?

We Make London's Christmas Fair at Chelsea Old Town Hall

The King's Road is so named because it was Charles II's private road between his palaces in London and Kew. Subsequently large expensive houses sprang up either side and the whole area around became a magnet for the wealthy and upper classes.
In the 1960s the road had a revival and was really the place to be seen. Rock stars, models, actors and actresses lived and socialised there. It became a hothouse for new design talent, with one-off boutiques selling all kinds of trendy and avant garde creations – Mary Quant and Dame Vivienne Westwood both opened their first shops there. River Island started out in King's Road as the Chelsea Girl brand.
In addition to this there were plenty of antique dealers, most of them renting space in the wonderful Art Nouveau Grade II Antiquarious building. It was the oldest antiques emporium in London. But two years ago the antique dealers were 'evicted' in favour of an American clothing chain.
So, sadly, these days the King's Road is just like any other homogenous high street or retail park selling over-priced mass-produced fashion. I have written about this kind of thing before. And it saddens me.
But all is not lost. One just has to look harder....
There are still plenty of designer-makers out there creating wonderfully individual and handmade things, and on this Sunday 4th November you will be able to find many of them at the first of We Make London's Christmas Fairs at Chelsea Old Town Hall from 11am until 5pm. £2 entrance fee, but well worth it, if only to be inspired into making something for yourself.
Also available on the day will be Inspired:London, WML's lovely book showcasing 162 London-based designer makers. The book will not be available on general sale until mid-November but pre-launch copies will be available on the day at a reduced price of £10.99. (Be sure to check out page 33!)
Hope to see you there.
Here are some images from in and around the Town Hall and Kings Road:

The Princess and the Spacehopper

I was recently asked by an online shopping site about my worst ever Christmas present. 

Nothing immediately came to mind until I remembered one year when we set spending limits and so we gave a lot useful, silly or edible things from the pound stores. 

One of my presents from that source was a framed picture of Prince Charles's first wife. Aaaargh! Cries of 'hang it on the wall Jane; it will look lovely here... or here..." were met with "get that woman out of my house!".

I don't think I even kept the frame!

My best present? Has to be when my sister and I each got a Spacehopper. I have fond memories of us bounding up and down the garden.    

'Williams Homemade Pie & Eel Shop' sign is finally revealed again on Holloway Road

I have had my eye on this particular shop sign for years...
Though it's not Edwardian, gold leaf or 3D it's still hand-painted and well worth preserving as a reminder of a more recent age when pie and eel shops could be found all over London. Only a few of these establishments are still open these days.
A while back I reported that many old shop signs along the Holloway Road are being preserved as shopkeepers/owners are being encouraged to keep hold of any signage they might find when renovating. Sadly a couple of signs in the area that did make brief appearances (see here and here) did not stay visible for long and I hope they not have just been painted over, or filled in as happened to a relief sign in Finsbury Park.

A few years ago a clever protective etched perspex/glass sign (above left) was put across the 'Williams Homemade Pie & Eel Shop' sign such that during the day the modern sign was visible with lights and in the evening the old lettering could still be seen when the shop was closed. Very clever and similar to the sign at No. 109.
Last year all of this was covered up completely when two subsequent companies moved in and just pasted their company names straight over the top.
Then some of it became visible (above middle), and finally, last week (above right) I noticed that Miss Desire had finally peeled off her layers and revealed the red underneath. As you can see the clear protective plate has now also been removed.
I will keep an eye on it and see what transpires.

This parade in which Williams sits has always been of interest to me. It's one of the oldest stretches in Holloway Road and I used to be fascinated and amused how it colourful and multi-cultural these buildings had become over time.

Then in 2009 (middle pic above) the scaffolding went up and some idiot saw fit to sand blast the No.211-3. As you can see from the right hand image the bricks are now looking way too new, having had their outer coatings removed by heavy-handed cleaning, and dodgy patches of un-matched pointing can be seen between the courses. I think the faded colours looked OK as they were. This clean up job makes it look like a pastiche of buildings further up the street where the unpainted bricks on other buildings of this kind have taken on a nice dirty grey/brown over the years.
No.215 has also been tarted up and given a coat of magnolia paint. It looks marginally better than next door but I do miss that crazy Columbian blue and red, though for some reason the yellow at the top has been retained.
See here for comparisons of the old and new: