Finsbury Park elephants

Wandering from Highbury Fields to Crouch Hill last month I thought I'd take a couple of detours to check on the elephants.

Ambler/Romilly March 2020

In August last year, there was a piece in the Gazette about these elephants providing a hiding place for druggies. The following week it was reported that the hedge had been damaged – one elephant had lost its head in a car accident. Hmmm. Seems a bit odd to me how a driver managed to lose control in a backstreet within a borough that already had a 20mph speed limit.
It's worth noting that just up the road at the next junction there is another excellent example of hedgemanship where a swathe of dense foliage offers far better cover for illicit proceedings. A long row of castelltions curves around the corner:

Longer, deeper, wider, thicker

I continued my stroll past Finsbury Park station, up Stroud Green Road then right at The Dairy where the old Hovis ghostsign is now mostly scrubbed away due to graffiti removal, past the flippin' flipped letters on the gates into Mount Pleasant Crescent... and... damn, a van was in the way, but the elephant is intact.

Jumbotastic

See the street here.
And re the ther things mentioned above:

The Old Dairy – HOVIS ghostsign 2008 and 2020

Gates in the Japan Crescent area – letters attached incorrectly. I am flipped out!

Flippin letters!!

Across Islington, though I have seen it elsewhere too in the UK, there are metal signs created using single letters mostly arranged in an arch or spaced across a gate.
I would guesstimate that 10% of these signs have one or more of the letters within them flipped back to front.
Here are four prime examples:

As you can see, the confusion usually lies with the letters A, M, U, V, W and Y.
In my mind's eye I can see the person who was making this sitting there with a puzzled expression, holding up the letter, looking at it one way and then the other, rotating it, it flipping it, shrugging their shoulders and then... oops!
Most of these signs appear to use a similar serif font which means all the craftsman (if that's not too specific a word here) needs to do is consult that alphabet, or a similar cut, to double check before he/she starts welding.
Ah... but check out the image top right for Mayward House, Pentonville Rd – one maker just wasn't sure which way round to put the A on Mayward so gave us both options. Hey, I suppose it balances the flipped M and the flipped U in HOUSE (not shown). Note also the spectacular letter-spacing across MAYWARD – all-in-all this is a truly sublime example of this kind.
I also have some evidence of school gates with flipped letters. Yes, schools. I will dig those out and post them anothe rday.
In addition to flipped letters I have also spotted an error in a huge sign that runs across City and Islington College at the top end of Goswell Road near the Angel Islington road junction. As you can see the S is upsidedown – it's been rotated. Go check you Gill aphabet people the bowl at the top should be smaller than the bowl at the bottom. Stands to reason really. Otherwise, like here it becomes top heavy.

The London Apprentice / 333 Mother Bar, Old Street, Hoxton

I was just having a tidy up and found this pic I snapped a few months ago of the original tiled entrance of this Hoxton venue.

The sinuous organic feel of the letterform dates it to the Art Nouveau era (approx 1890-1910). A bit of sleuthing confirms that the building was completed in 1895, however, I am finding it hard to marry up any of the external architectural features within these images – perhaps at some point it was rebuilt and only the floor was retained...?!  Doubt it.

Lots more wordy doorway mosaics here. Or just click on the relevant tags below or to the left

A Walk Along Kings Road

The groovy shops and cafés of the King's Road in its 1960s heyday have all disappeared but there are a few interesting details along the street that hint at this might have once been a road fit for a king.

Starting at the corner of Sydney Street by Habitat and walking east towards Sloane Square... 

The Curzon Cinema and some of its Art Deco details 

Opposite Habitat and the cinema there's Chelsea Town Hall, the Scottish Methodist Church and a lovely Shoe Repairers' sign
And then there's 'Antiquarius' the lovely Grade II listed Arts and Crafts billiards hall constructed by The Temperance Movement*. By the second half of the twentieth century the balls had been packed away and the building had been converted into small retail spaces, home to many boutique shops and antique dealers. These days it houses some big name High Street brands.  

Actually, I think I'll save the rest of this walk for some future posts.

Meanwhile check out this link about Kings Road in the 1960s.

* Ha ha... hope you enjoyed that diversion.
Here's a link to the 'correct' Temperance Movement.

Junction Road ghostsign repainted. Grunt.

Every now and then some ill-advised or mis-guided muppet with a vague idea that he/she is preserving history sets to with brush and paint and has a half-arsed attempt at touching up an old ghostsign; a ghost of the past.

This sign in Junction Road, N19, has also been attacked, sorry... renovated. 

Before (top) and after (below)

The original wording for Auction Rooms & Depository sat within or on top of an old panel (see the top right corner where it doesn't quite fit). Another [later?] sign that ended with 'furniture' can be seen at the very bottom. Note how all the chunky black letters were outlined with white and had a 3D-effect drop shadow which, I think, being as it has faded faster, was probably in another colour.
Now compare that with the revised version which has all the words rendered in the same flat grey with no attempt at 3D, and the area in the middle has been scrubbed clean/ painted flat, thus losing any hint of what the rest of the lettering might have said. 'Furniture' on its own means nothing. What exactly has been achieved here?

Two prime examples of this kind of repainting abuse can be found in Covent Garden (left) and Stepney (right).

Advertising spaces have always been updated and repainted as new signs for new products or businesses have been over-painted onto them over the decades. And this is still happening today. For example, in Upper Street Islington, an old sign for the Hare and Hounds Garage was scrubbed back and overlaid with a modern pastiche to advertise the bar and restaurant below. I was initially sad to lose the old sign, but realised that it made sense for the new owners to utilise the advertising space. It has subsequently been altered again by the latest owners.
But, back to my main point; I just do not understand what is achieved by just tarting up and repainting an old sign when the business or product is no longer relevant. Leave it alone. Let it fade. Don't touch!
I'd rather see the whole wall painted over with block colour rather than this kind of considered damage.

Another example of poor workmanship can be found on this hand-painted wall sign above Leverton Ltd opposite Mornington Crescent tube station. It is, to my eye, truly awful. The sign was probably originally commissioned by the owners of the company over 100 years ago. Levertons is still trading today (people don't stop dying!) and has at some time in the last decade engaged a contractor to clean up the sign (google streetview shows it has looked like this since at least 2008). But oh dear, as with Flegg (above), this most surely is not the work of anyone who has an inkling about letterform – just look at the inconsistent letter shapes, specifically the bad centres on the Rs, the lumpy bits, the wobbly curves, the thicks and thins, the mis-aligments and the general slap-dash thic-is-best attack. Need I go on?

 

I'll stop now. I don't like criticising. I wish I didn't feel the need to. But sometimes it needs to be said.

Thanks for reading. See you soon.

An urban forest at the Seven Dials

Tomorrow, for one day only the junction of Earlham, Shelton, Monmouth roads, more commonly known as The Seven Dials, will be transformed into an urban forest.
As part of International Car Free Day the Seven Dials and immediate area will be closed to traffic and sixty 5 metre trees will be placed around the monument creating a leafy quiet area to sit and think about greener modes of transport such as walking and cycling.
In amongst the trees there will be lots to do and see including an Air Quality Bubble Map, an interactive cycling experience pod, and help with your bike and bike related injuries. Drinks will be available from the Orchard Juice Bar.
After the event Camden Council will be replanting all the trees at various permanent locations throughout Camden.

All a stone's through from the Seven Dials

Wood carving exhibition in Richmond

My very talented sister will be featured in an exhibition at The Riverside Gallery's Good Wood / Wood Works: Contemporary Wooden Art & Craft show at Richmond's Old Town Hall from 21st January to 7th April.
Go... and be inspired. It's free.

Below are some carved wooden pieces from the streets of London (clockwise from top left): Bishopsgate, Bayswater, Kennington, Bishopsgate, Clapham, Kings Cross.

Doorway mosaics with letters or words

All but one of the above are in central London.

Despite my comment in an earlier posting that contemporary companies are no good at this type of thing, Fopp seems to have proved me wrong!

Doorway mosaics of Upper Street, N1

Here are some close-up shots of three of my favourite shop doorways in Upper Street, Islington, London, N1. Full images of these can be found in my last posting on this subject.

More Islington ghost signs

More Streetname signs

Here are some more street name signs; all different.

Row 1: St John's Way, N19, used to be St John's Road (what was the point of THAT?!); the top end of St, Pancras Way, NW1, used to be known as Kings Road; a painted sign for Southampton Road, NW5, showing the use of red paint for the postcode; Aquinas Street, SE1, shows where the lettering was once painted in black and then over-painted in white.

Row 2: Both the Willoughby Road and Rosslyn Mews signs show how substitute tiles were used for various letters (Qs for Os and number tiles for word spaces). Perhaps they just ran out of the correct letter tiles? Intriguing. For more of these see http://rodcorp.typepad.com/rodcorp/2004/07/london_street_s.html; Moxon St, High Barnet, EN5, shows that years ago there were no postcodes being used at all and one can assume that at the time this was put up it was the only Moxon Street in the general area, indeed there are only five streets by that name in Great Britain even now; one of two signs here for Bloomsbury Square, WC1, this one has a partially rusty surround and fixings but I cannot decide whether it is an old sign (maybe 1920s or 30s) or a new sign has been put into an old mounting.

Row3: Wild Court, WC2, shows two different hand-painted signs, one with 'Borough of Holborn' in a sans typeface and the other with a serif face which makes it interesting for us now but I can never fathom why back then they didn't just accurately touch-up what was there rather than paint a new design almost over the top like a dodgy shadow; a hand-painted sign in Roupell St, SE1; a lovely metal sign in Hayles street, SE11, though I now wonder if it was blue enamel and has been painted over, so I must go and have a second look; a lovely cast metal sign for Bloomsbury Square, WC1.

Doorway mosaics

Here are some of the pictures I have taken of the wonderful mosaic floors that can still be found at the entrances to old pubs and shops. Modern efforts at this kind of thing aren't ever up to this standard.

More photos like these can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/janepbr

Pubs with Original Names

Some pubs still use the same name that was embedded in the fabric of the original building in the form of lettering or a motif. Some of these motifs, as in the cases of the Yorkshire Grey and The Bull and Gate, are lovely.

Below is a selection of my favourites, so far...

A larger collection of my photos can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/janepbr

Ghost pubs – residential

There are lots of lovely old pubs that have closed down and been converted living accommodation. Pubs and bars are in decline these days probably due to the price of alcohol and the smoking ban. It’s much cheaper to buy your booze and fags at the supermarket and enjoy them at home. All rather ironic if your home is part of an old drinking establishment. There are far too many of these to take a photo of every one I see, so below is a just small selection some of which even have the old pub’s name still visible.

Row 1: An old Truman pub in Clarence Road, E5; Barnsbury Street, N1; Market Road, N7, The Lion, North Road, N7; Roman Way, N7.

Row 2: Bromley Arms, Cleveland Street, W1; Market Tavern, York Way, N7; The Tollington, Tollington Way, N7; The Rainbow, Liverpool Road, N1.

Row 3: The Falkland Arms, Falkland Road, NW5; Richmond Avenue, N1; The Montague Arms, Benwell Road, N7; The Rising Sun, Barnsbury, N1; Roman Way, N7.

Row 5: Southgate Arms, Southgate road, N1; Caledonian Road, N7; The Turks Head, Wapping, E1; The Builders Arms, St Paul’s Road, N1.

A larger collection of my photos can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/janepbr

Ghost pubs

Many pubs have changed identity over the years but the ones I am particularly interested in are those that have the original name embedded in the fabric of the building, either as the name itself or a motif. Sometimes they are new pubs, but quite often another type of business has moved in downstairs, or the whole building has been converted into private homes. There are thousands of examples in London alone and shown below is just a selection.

Other pubs with historic value such as The Nag's Head, Holloway Road, N7 have no visual stamp on the pub to hint at their former identities, which is a shame. The Nag's Head was once the main pub of the area and lends its name to the local shopping centre. It is shown as a destination plate on LRT buses.

During the past 20 years the pub has changed owners and names a few times. In the 1990s for a short period it was The Mustang and then O’Neill’s took it over and gave it their nasty yellow and blue livery, complete with pretend post office. Then all the pub fittings were ripped out and for a while it become a shop selling household stuff like glass coffee tables and throws. These days, despite a campaign against the idea by local residents, it's an Agora gaming centre. But there's hardly ever anyone in there so I can only speculate that very soon a new name will appear over the door.

I find it all quite sad. But hey, perhaps it will return to being a pub one day...

Shown above is a selection of these 'ghost pubs'.

The current name or use in shown brackets.

Row 1: The Frying Pan, E1 (balti restaurant); The Queen’s Head, WC1 (empty); St Martin’s Tavern, NW1 (Kaz Kreol); The Nevill, N16 (residential); The Swan, E2 (grill); The Unicorn, N1 (Papa John’s pizzas).

Row 2: The Elephant (or Elephants’ Head?), E5 (Fitzgerald’s);

The Old Farm House, NW5 (O’Reilly’s); The Green Man, N1 (Nailworld); The Prince of Wales, NW1 (Positively 4th Street);

The Half Moon, N19 (The Quays).

Row 3: Princess Beatrice, NW1 (Tommy Flynn’s); The Anchor, N1 (Polsmak restaurant); The Hare and Hounds, N1 (Albert & Pearl); The Grafton Arms (The Swimmer); The Old Parrs Head, N1 (Jigsaw); The Wheatsheaf, W1 (Langoletto restaurant).

Row 4: Crown and Castle, E2 (noodle bar); The Three Wheatsheaves, N1 (The Outback); Hoxton Distillery, N1 (The Macbeth); The Robin Hood, W3 (Connolly’s); Cock Tavern, N19 (Nambucca);

Row 5: The Norfolk Arms, N19 (Chris Stevens DIY); The Spread Eagle, E9 (The Jackdaw & Stump); The Alexandra Coffee House, N19 (locksmiths); Royal George, N1 (The Bombay Bicycle Club); The Duke of Edinburgh, NW1 (Green Light pharmacy); The Griffin (?), E5 (Hackney Building & Plumbing Supplies).

Row 6: The Tam O’Shanter, WC2 (Scotch Steak House); The Duke of Sussex, N1 (Fredericks); The Weavers Arms, N16 (newsagent); The Huntingdon, N1 (empty); The Rainbow, N1 (private home); The Intrepid Fox, W1 (empty).

Row 7: An old Truman pub, E5 (residential); The Pembury Tavern E5 (residential); The Southgate Arms, N1 (residential) ; The Montague Arms, N7 (residential); The White Hart (empty).

A larger collection of my photos can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/janepbr

Streetnames – moulded

The one for Canterbury Road, N1, on the side of a pub in Balls Pond Road is particularly of interest because there is no road there at all these days.

Park Place on Liverpool Road and Clapton Pavement on Lower Clapton Road aren't relevant any more either.

A larger collection of my photos can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/janepbr

Streetnames – Re-named

For some reason street names get changed.
But sometimes the previous name is still visible on an old sign.

Shown here are a few examples.

Clockwise from top left:

New Cavendish Street, W1, was Upper Marylebone Street; Bavaria Road, N19, was Blenheim Road; Keystone Crescent, N1, was Caledonian Crescent; Eburne Road, N7, was Grafton Road; in 1880 a stretch of Lower Clapton Road, E5, was Clapton Pavement; College Cross, N1 was (something) Street. I will look into the last one and see if I can source the previous name in full.

A larger collection of my photos can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/janepbr

Streetnames – hand-painted

In some areas of London hand-painted street signs are regularly maintained but here’s a selection of some that have been neglected.

A larger collection of my photos can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/janepbr

Streetnames – metal

It’s amazing how many different types of street signage there are out there. Here is just a small selection of the ones made in metal/enamel. I am particularly interested in the really old ones that only use a London area code, such as N or E and I have been fortunate to stumble across quite a few in the Lower Clapton area that have the old NE postal region on them. NE was phased out in 1866 when it became part of the E region as shown here by Sewdley St NE right next to Millfields Road E5. It is also interesting to note the changes in punctuation on these early NE signs; some have 2 full points (perhaps signifying a colon turned 90 degrees?), others have a full point and a comma (semi-colon?) and others just a comma, yet Clifden Rd has none of the above.

A larger collection of my photos can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/janepbr

Ghost Signs – N1/Islington area

A larger collection of my photos of ghost signs, and other things that interest me, can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/janepbr