Remembering Andreas Michli & Son

I was out and about wandering* along and through the back streets of Harringay/Haringey recently. After delivering a framed print to an address in the Hornsey Vale area (which, incidentally, offers amazing views of Ally Pally) I was intending to head straight back home to Holloway but on venturing slightly off-piste I rediscovered the lovely old library near the junction of Quernmore Rd which beckoned me inside and, after half an hour of book browsing, I then got distracted and delighted by the shops that form the old station parade there and, oh gawd, here we go again... I was out for hours. I'm not complaining though. 

Emerging into Wightman Road, I first investigated some of the streets that form the lower rungs of 'the ladder' including the parallel worlds of the New River and the Harringay Passage, a footpath that links Turnpike Lane to Umfreville Rd but stops short of the railway land, today converted into a marvellous bug-tastic and diverse eco-park. 

I wandered up and down Green Lane's Grand Parade looking at the adapted facades on the buildings (ooh, I feel a montage coming on soon) and after a yummy lunch in a Turkish restaurant I made my way into the streets on the eastern side of the road, with the idea to follow the railway line as best as as possible, eastward to South Tottenham station. I found some more little green spaces abutting the line and made my way into and around the old St Ann's Hospital site, coming out almost opposite the recreation ground and Black Boy Lane renamed La Rose Lane earlier this year.

I then recalled that I had recently noticed from the top of a passing bus that the grocery shop at the corner of St Ann's Road (where it meets Salisbury Rd a sharp point) hadn't yet re-opened. I had assumed it had closed due to coronavirus but that did seem odd. And, even if that was the case, why would it still be closed now? So I instead of heading towards Seven Sisters I made my way back towards Green Lanes to investigate.

I had often thought that if I lived in the vicinity I would definitely frequent Michli's with its marvellous selection of fruit and veg and so much more – see this retrospective streetview for how the shop looked twelve years ago. But I've missed out. Because now it's closed for ever. It's empty. And there's a very sad reason for this. 

A type-written sheet on the glass door near the corner tells the story. It seems the shop has been closed for over four and a half years now. Andreas passed away in August 2018.

I peered inside and saw the remains of a once-thriving business. Wood-panelled walls, a delivery tricycle, empty shelves, pots and pans and pictures, racks and rubbish and, bizarrely/ironically, one of those Oriental perpetually waving cats, still waving. Other windows contain healthy houseplants. 

I can't really do this justice being as I never went inside and I never met the evidently much-missed Andreas Michli. But I've read some marvellous reviews of the shop like this one from 2011 explaining Andreas's ethics and how he was proactive in offering locally-grown produce. After his death many heartfelt remembrances have been posted online – I particularly like this one by Shilpah Shah. 

So what's going to happen to the shop? There is an estate agent's board on the building that seems to intimate that the property is already let. However, they have an active listing here (approx £4K a month available for a 15 year lease) which also includes some excellent photos of the interior spaces. 

I really hope whoever takes on the site respects it and doesn't lose all the layers of architectural history here. I'd be more than saddened to see this all replaced wit UPVC. And I am sure Andreas would be saddened too. Fingers crossed. 

How sad on so many levels. My best to the Michli family.

*wandering. I do a lot of wandering. I set out to go somewhere and, once I have been to the shop or delivered the package, I get easily distracted by backstreets, old signage, intriguing alleyways etc. I follow my nose wherever it takes me until my feet ache or my belly gurgles. I will write about being a Nosey Parker soon.

Goodbye independent shops – hello brand name mediocracy

On 10th March 2017 a small version of B&Q opened up in Holloway Road within the old Post Office building. I was immediately concerned about the local independent hardware and DIY shops in the vicinity, especially one a few hundred yards up the road that has always been my go-to place for fixings, screws, glue, tools and other useful stuff, plus friendly advice too.
Local shops like this have a wider range of products, and are not pushing their in-house labels which, let's face it, are mostly copied from ideas created by other independent innovators.
Well, look, it's happened. They're closing down:

To those of you who have been shopping in B&Q rather than supporting this local independent shop – shame on you – you did this!!!!!

Soon all high streets will all be almost identical with the same shops in a different configuration.
And don't get me started on the lazy people who live in this area and are surrounded by a diverse range of shopping opportunities less than ten mins' walk away, yet they order online and have their shopping delivered by gas guzzling noisy vehicles to their homes, thus killing the very environment they chose to live in.
GRRRRR!

Update:
I was called by the local press about this. Read the piece here.

Last orders at The Water Poet, Spitalfields – 8 drinking days left!!!

I am saddened that The Water Poet, that marvellous drinking establishment in Folgate Street, Spitalfields, is due to close.  The immediate area is to be redeveloped, no doubt with more glassified blandification and Dubaiification.

Picture c/o TimeOut – more info on this closure here

They say here that the pub will be opening up again nearby with the same name.
But it won't be the same pub will it?
You have until March 29th to pay your last regards – I will be in there this evening enjoying a pint or two with friends, probably in the garden if I can find a space... so do come and join me.
I am not sure what is actually planned for this corner site once the pub closes. But check out what happened at The Gun on the opposite side of the market – The Gun was built in the late 1920s on a corner of on Brushfield Street but was closed when the Fruit & Wool Exchange was demolished all bar the façade. A new pub has since opened up on the same site and I can't be the only one to be aghast to see that it has been given the same name yet bears no resemblance at all to the old one. If I was the previous landlord or one of his regulars I would be disgusted and insulted by because it is now nothing like the proper old boozer it used to be – it now resembles a horrid chain hotel/cocktail bar. Hmmm.

May 2008

Check out also The Three Crowns just north of Old Street roundabout which a few years back was given a wash and brush up that holds the building there like some kind of historical little gem within a huge block of modern glass and metal. The pub has been 'renovated' involving the removal and/or replacement of anything that made it worth saving in the first instance. And they have painted the tiles!  Yes; painted!  if you paint tiles you then have to paint them again years later when the paint peels off. Tiles can be wiped clean.  Muppets.
Oh what do I know?!

Two closed pubs in Smithfield

Walking around Smithfield last month I was saddened to see that two of the characterful pubs I used to sometimes drink in are closed and awaiting development.

I hope there is hope for The Hope on the corner of Cowcross Street

The Smithfield Tavern in Charterhouse Street

In the last decade many of the pubs in this once vibrant meat market district have either been closed completely or have been gutted and remodelled resulting in the loss of all the old fittings including etched glass and carved wood. Let's hope these two establishments will be revived with their historical details intact.

Kiosks and shops on London Underground platforms

Updated – see italics and pic below it

St James's Park station sits directly underneath 55 Broadway (see last post below).
Coming home on Monday evening at about 7.30pm I noticed the old newspaper and confectionery kiosk the westbound platform was padlocked shut.
I don't use this station often – is it permanently closed? Are these kiosks a thing of the past?

I remember with fondness the one on Liverpool Street clockwise/eastbound platform and another on the westbound platform of Sloane Square both of which were still open and trading in the 1980s. But I never thought to photograph them then and I can't find any pics on the internet now.
Does anyone know of other kiosks still open and trading on the underground network, specifically under the ground on platforms, rather than in the open air? Pics please!
Here is High Street Kensington circa 1898 and in 1936 – there are many more lovely pics on The LT museum site, but their search engine is painful to say the least because it won't let you put multiple words in the box. Grrr!

Aha!  Look what I noticed last month – there is still a functioning kiosk at Sloane Square!!!

Black Cap Yard, Camden

The Black Cap public house in Camden High Street now stands empty awaiting a new future since it closed in April 2015.
The pub opened in the mid-18th century as The Mother Black Cap; a reference to a local witch. A bust of her still sits at the top of the building overlooking the street.

Pre-closure, the bust on near the roof and how the pub looks like right now

In the late 1960s the pub began to put on drags acts and so it became probably the most popular gay pub in this area.
I never went inside. I always meant to. Too late now.

Remnants of the old painted sign in the alley pointing to the yard at the rear, the No.171 doorway mosaic and the handwritten note pasted in the window

twitter: WeAreTheBlackCap

Jane's Advent Calendar – 11th December

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

October 2015

It's closing time

Today is the last day of the London 2012 Olympics and tonight we get to watch the Closing Ceremony.
I'll leave it at that and just show a collection of images of places in London that have closed without any ceremonies at all. Some have since been demolished, and some have completely changed their identity, whilst others are still waiting to hear about their future.
You may well recognise some of them: