Some lovely tiled panels in Hornsey High Street have been lost to us

Here we go again. As I am often to be heard saying, nobody demolishes or changes something with the intent to upset us – they really do believe they are improving things. Bless em. 

But once it's gone, it's gone. I'm not asking that we keep everything, that would be daft, but when lovely hints of history that have hung on for over 100 years are suddenly removed and replaced with unsympathetic and often cheap products that surely themselves will not last 100 years, I get a little despondent.

In the last few months I have seen the demise of many lovely old shops fronts that have been stripped of their heritage and replaced with modern flat glass or plastic panels. I hate to point fingers, but I am going to, and not in an accusatory way. Having spoken to many of the owners of these buildings whether during or post-renovation I have often discovered that these people are in the most part from other countries, mainly Turkish, and they truly think that they are doing us a favour by removing what they consider to be dirty, old or as one man said "too much historical". They are not trying to upset us. They want spaces that are clean, modern, boxy and shiny, preferably in white, grey or black, perhaps with a bit of gold lettering added.

Last week I delivered one of my Janes London prints to a house in Hornsey, London N8, and I used the opportunity to investigate the local high street, remembering that when I'd gone through there on a bus one late dark evening earlier this year, I was convinced that I'd noticed some changes to an old shop front.

Yep. Sad to report that the only shop that retained its original floor-to-ceiling tiled walls has had a make-over – the two facing panels, either side of what was a recessed window, have been obliterated. On the day I visited there were too many parked cars in the way to take decent photos so these next pics are screengrabs from Google streetview – top 2022, middle 2023 and bottom 2024 (how it appears today):

Boo hoo. I loved those tiles. They were wonderfully mad, evoking OTT Victorian gin palaces and luxurious hotel lobbies. Much of 1890's North London is beautifully littered with entranceways that resemble tile shop catalogues, showing a variety of patterns that to the modern eye look like they don't belong in the same space – but the chaos works. 

Here's a selection of my own pics to show how the shop in question used to look:

Back in 2012 I wrote a specific blog post about the lovely tiles in this part London. Let's hope that they managed to chip off and sell the tiles and they weren't simply smashed and skipped.

When this terrace was constructed there were tiled pilasters between each shop at street shop – more of my own pics: 

Today, of the few tiled pilasters that remain, they covered in stickers or filth, obliterated by downpipes, or overpainted, whether fully or in half vertically – this is my side! 

The green plaque on the wall above the hairdressers is for David Grieg (1865-1952), grocer and local benefactor. I stood and wondered what he'd make of how this terrace looks today, indeed the whole street. 

Let's look at some other things... I backtracked to No.20 to take pics of the lower half of the gate which bears the name VIVA. I have no idea what sort of company this was, but I always like a bit of bespoke metalwork.

It seems to me that the high street here has changed very quickly in the past decade or so. There's been a change in the type of shops. I used to love going in the auction rooms (they were between the Tesco and the Three Compasses pub, ditto a couple of little antiques and bric-a-brac stores on the opposite side of the street. Many of the shops are today either empty or being revamped, complete with UPVC plate glass fronts. 

However, it's ice to see that, the ghostsign for J.Salmon the grocer is still clinging on, as is the little upholstery shop in the terrace adjacent to The Great Northern Railway Hotel 

An old sign for the Smithfield Refrigerator Works still hangs above the lane at the side of the pub, giving a glimpse towards The New River and a bygone world. Nice to end on an evocative image.

More on lost shop fronts here.

Where is London's longest road with the biggest numbers...?

Watching the world go by from the top deck of a No.263 to High Barnet, I happened to notice that the street numbers along the High Road, A1000, are in the high 800s. Hmm, I thought, how intriguing. That's a bigger number than Holloway Road which, at two miles long, goes up to 695 on the West side and 804 the East side and used to extend to 820 before the last block was demolished north of Giesbach Rd. And it also beats Fulham Road, which goes up to 802 on one side and 969 on the other. 

I wondered how high this ancient route through Finchley and Whetstone goes up to and sat amazed, watching as numbers went ever higher, through the 900s, then past 1200... (and I wondered if the word ‘high’ is correct in this instance. Big? Large? any ideas?)

Well, it turns out that Finchley High Road goes up to 1541 on the West side and 1536 on the East side. As shown in the Google Streetview above, showing the junction of Walfield Avenue, N20, here the High Road name ends and the ancient title of The Great North Road is seen, as seen on the street sign above the pavement. 

Then, as the Gt North Rd continues northwards it become Pricklers Hill, then Gt North Rd again, then Barnet Hill and High Street before reverting to the Gt North Rd again as it passes Monken Hadley on its way to Scotland. Soon after it's called Barnet Road hinting at it being the road to Barnet from the North. Road names of this kind always amuse me, after all, it depends which way you are travelling! 

Intrigued by these high numbers, I looked to find other long roads in the UK and discovered that the prize for four-figure door numbers goes to No.2679 Stratford Road which can be found on a stretch of the A3400 linking Bordesley to Hockley Heath, Solihull. It continues to, you've guessed it, Stratford-on-Avon. Oh my god! I thought door numbers as high as that were only to be found in other countries, such as the US! 

However, if we look at density, the houses along Stratford Road are quite spaced out along this 10 mile road. In comparison, the A1000 starts just south of East Finchley here and covers a distance of about 4 miles, comprising terraces of various kinds and paired villas, so I think the Barnet road wins on density.

When I have more time, I will look into other long roads in Greater London.

Camden Ghostsigns – a walking tour – Saturday 17th November

This Saturday I will be leading a walk around Camden Town, its High Street and the area around Hampstead Lock, following a trail of ghostsigns that are still visible on the walls above the streets.

The title of the walk references the different kind of factories, shops and businesses that used to be in the Camden are before the markets made use of the empty spaces and turned the area into one of London's top tourist attractions. The walk title is still relevant today, but in a different way.

Many years ago I wrote a piece on here about these faded tradesmen signs that can still be seen along the main road. These will feature on the tour, plus many others that not so difficult to decipher..
I hope you an join me.