Camden Passage – a filming location for The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp (1954)

Re-watching this delightful film recently on Talking Pictures, I was convinced that I recognised the location of the shop where she pawns her harp as being in Camden Passage, Islington.

Yep... here are a few snaps I took of how that junction looks these days:

The corner shop has gone, I know not why, perhaps someone can explain that.

I find it interesting that the pawn shop in the movie, selling all sorts of old bits of jewellery, miscellaneous tat and musical instruments, has been replaced with a flat covered area for stallholders on which to sell trinkets, bric-a-brac and rugs on Wednesdays and Saturdays, 9am-6pm. 

This section, plus a few outlets at the northern end of Camden Passage and the small shops and tables around Pierrepont Arcade are all that's left of Islington's once bustling antiques market that used to cover this narrow street and spread into adjacent buildings. 

I recall in the 1990s that Camden Passage was thronged with shoppers making their way past laden tables and into covered arcades on either side. It was marvellous.

An early pic of Camden Passage taken from outside the location of the pawnbroker's shop, looking southwards, can be found just inside the gates along Pierrepont Arcade. My pic here from July 2018 shows Frank, one of the traders there, standing in front of the image. I stopped to chat to him back in July 2018 when I was keen to see how the store holders were managing after the awful flood caused by a burst water main the previous year when many business were forced to close due to the damage.

The flood appeared to affect the Pierrepoint Arcade traders the hardest being as these little streets are geographically lower than Upper Street where the water flowed from. Businesses struggled to continue trading, with many losing unreplacable stock. It was so sad. 

But these little backstreets have bounced back although, these days, apart from the arcade and The Camden Head pub, complete with its gin palace interior, there's little to remind us of a bygone past – it's all lattes, brioche burgers, expensive pastries, and matcha this and that, appealing to a new generation of punters who, apparently never cook anything...! 

Back to the movie – it's delightful – if you like A Matter of Life and Death (or Heaven Can Wait) or The Bishop's Wife – this one's for you. Enjoy!

Observations in Leadhall Market – Harry Potter, an optician, the 2i's cafe and a tobacco shop

Last Sunday 28th July I went to Leadenhall Market to have a mooch and around Judy's Vintage Fair, a which occasionally uses this marvellous space as a selling space for bric-a-brac, furniture, clothes and more.  

Usually, on a weekend, the only people you see here are large groups Harry Potter fans on a guided tour hearing how a shop here is the inspiration for, or a location used in one of the movies (hands up that I haven't a clue about all this, having never read any of the books and I fell asleep during the first movie). As I headed out of the market via Bull's Head Passage I noticed that the name on that shop has changed. It most definitely was not called 2i's the last time I was there. 

Some girls were taking snaps and I asked if this was the name used in the book/film. They said yes. I suggested that this shop has recently been renamed to echo the book, which is interesting because 2i's was the name of a popular café in Old Compton Street, Soho, back in the 1950s through to the 70s. See here. 

I went on to enlighten them that Platform 9 and 3/4 at Kings Cross Station as a portal in the HP book(s) also has connections with London's history – it was there that Boudicca was said to have died after fighting her last battle. I don't think they really understood what I was on about.

Ah but no. I think they misunderstood me, as it turns out that 2i's is an opticians. I dunno, perhaps it's also a Harry Potter reference. I am losing the will to live here!

Further along this narrow street, at No.4, is one of my favourite little details in the market and it's this mosaic doorway threshold which is reflected in the mirror to the side and the glass within the door:

This was Baylin's Tobacco Stores, here from the 1920s. The shop is listed in the 1939 directly but I am unaware if the business continued after WW2. Do let me know if you have any further info.

I crossed over Gracechurch Street and went for a wander around the streets around Cornhill. I'll leave it there for now.