Santa's reindeer in Holloway this Sunday

The main stretch of Holloway Road's Nags Head shopping area will be closed to traffic this Sunday when Islington's Christmas extravanganza comes to town.

From 11.30am on Sunday 4th December the street will be taken over by sideshows, music, entertainment, a hog roast, mulled wine, and food and craft stalls which will include locally-produced Amelia Parker clay pipe jewellery. Oh, and Santa's reindeer will be there too!

Click here for a video of last year's event.

More craft shopping opportunities at Chapel Market, Angel, on 10th and 17th December.

Devonshire Place

I was just thinking the other day that I haven't seen any 'new' bootscrapers for a while; just the same designs repeated over and over. I walk about mentally saying, 'got that one, got that one' (how sad!).

But then I had to go for a super-dooper 3D dental Xray doobrey in Devonshire Place yesterday and spotted lots of lovely bits of ironwork along the street. I am sure there are plenty more – time was of the essence and I only had my Blackberry with me and so couldn't take decent pics and I only walked the stretch from Devonshire Street to Wigmore Street so there must be plenty more to see. I must make a return visit.

Below are my finds which also include a coal hole cover plate with a name I haven't seen before, a pretty doorway mosaic, and a strange wall-mounted hook thing with a hole at one end where something must have been fixed to it at some point– any ideas what this item was used for?

The Connaught is lovely

On the corner of Mount Row and Chandos Place, opposite where there used to be an 18th century workhouse, sits the wonderful Connaught Hotel.

I've never been the kind of person who has the money and inclination for prestigious expensive hotels, preferring low budget rooms with a good bed and shower (after all I will be out all day tramping the streets with my camera, meeting people and seeing the city, not lounging about in my room), but the Connaught could change my mind. Hmmmm, now all I need is the means.... If I did have money to burn I think I'd stay there a few times so that I could try out all the different types of rooms.

Most hotels are having to constantly revamp their suites to keep up with all the high tech nonsense we all seem to need these days yet, unlike other hotels I have visited, The Connaught has managed to achieve this without loss of style or elegance. In addition to this, the communal areas are wonderful; the staircases, carpets and floors, and the two little lifts, one dark purple and the other dark green... it's like stepping into a film set.

The ground floor is given over to some top quality bars and restaurants; and they are really good. I had some lovely canapés and martinis (and champagne too!) in the award-winning Connaught Bar but had no time to stay longer to sample the restaurant. If anyone wants to take me to Hélène Darroze at the Connaught any time, my response is 'yes please!'.

Oh, and there's spa in there somewhere. I wasn't interested in checking that out as I'm not really into spas, but I hear their Aman spa is good. What is with hotels and spas? Isn't the great big bath in the room enough?! I do like the idea of outdoor spas of old though; taking the waters and all that. I've never said or written 'spa' so many times. Spa spa spa.

Finally, situated on the pavement outside the main entrance to the hotel is the marvellous and bizarre Tadao Ando water installation, which I have yet to see in action. I have heard it looks great after dark when it's all lit up and the steam is in action.

London photo mosaics

Yesterday someone said they liked my my Spitalfields photo mosaic (see previous post) and asked me if I was selling prints. It had indeed crossed my mind to print this particular one at a decent size and hang it on my stall at Spitalfields market, but what with one thing and another I have been too busy to promote the idea of prints-for-sale properly.

So, to confirm, all of my montages are available as prints. I am also in the process of re-configuring some into portrait format (3 squares wide x 4 squares tall) and will also be printing some of them as greeting cards.

A limited stock of my Christmas cards are still available – 'The 12 London Pubs of Christmas' and 'Clay Pipe Tree'.

Available from my Etsy shop or find me at a market or contact me at jane@janeslondon.com for further details.

Old Spitalfields Market now open on Saturdays

Old Spitalfields Market is now open on Saturdays from 19th November with the usual mix of stalls, similar to their Sunday market.

This Saturday 19th, and every third Saturday of the month, 70 designers/makers will also be there selling all sorts of contemporary hand-made and one-off items.

It's a great place to find those special Christmas presents.

More info here and here.

Some Spitalfields letters:

Top: Woodin's Shades, Sir Robert Peel, Suskin, letterbox

Middle: The Golden Heart, letterbox, Commercial Street, doorbell

Bottom: Gillette ghostsign, letterbox, Godfery Philips Ltd., Bishopsgate

Tarted up newsagent in Dean Street

There is a lot of fuss lately about how the renovation of a newsagent in Soho's Dean Street.

Am I the only one who thinks this was a bad idea?

I was walking past it on Saturday 5th and stopped dead in my tracks, horrified at how it is now a pastiche of its former self.

As shown right, for years it had faded flaky paint. It was old, and it looked old. You could clearly see that. But now the paint has been stripped off back to the wood – a process that the Georgians certainly couldn't be bothered with – and what we have now is an impression of how the shop might have looked on the day it first opened for business.

I agree the windows look better now they have been painted to match the shop (though they could have been even better if they had been replaced with smaller panes) but all the signs needed was a coating of clear varnish. Gone are the layers of history that gave its charm. Can you imagine the uproar if Berry Brothers & Rudd on St James's Street did the same thing and removed its thick dark green paint? There'd be an outrage!

Also in Soho, not far from Dean St, between Ed's Diner and The Spice of Life, I notice another Georgian(?) shop has been reclaimed. At the moment it is stripped down the wood. I will be watching to see what happens.

This cleaned-up, pretend history brings to mind two horribly retouched wall advertisements in Covent Garden (here and here). I am all for preserving history but what is the point of retouching a defunct sign? Why not just leave it as is? As a reminder.

All this revamping and reclaiming London's history actually contradicts the rape of St Giles by plastics and Westminster's plans to renovate a section of the east side of Charing Cross Road that contains Gaby's. But more about that in a future post.

Oh dear.

William Morris Gallery at 2 Temple Place

The wonderful William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow is closed whilst renovations and refurbishment take place. However, a lot of the exhibits can be viewed at one of London's hidden architectural gems at 2 Temple Place, owned and managed by The Bulldog Trust.

This exhibition is the first of a series of shows at this lovely building aimed at showcasing the UK's publically-owned art. It runs until 29th January 2012.

Click here for more about The Bulldog Trust and these events.

The courts, gardens, chambers and alleys of The Inns of Temple are a haven of peace hidden behind Fleet Street's bustle; it sometimes feels if it has been forgotten by time. I love taking friends there who had no idea it was there and seeing the looks on their faces.

Designer arts and crafts markets at Angel

This Saturday 12th sees the first of four designer craft markets leading up to Christmas.

Amelia Parker will be there along with plenty of other specialist stalls selling all sorts of hand-made goods. More info here.

See you there, at the Penton Street end of Chapel Market, Islington, N1.

The next dates are 26th November, 10th & 17th December.

Chapel Market pics:

The lesser-spotted zebra

Mr Edwards tells me that the zebra crossing recently turned 60.

This type of crossing is an endangered species – because there aren't as many as there used to be; more than 1,000 having been removed in the last five years and replaced mainly by pelican/pedestrian crossings because people need lights to tell them when to stop and start or cross the road. Who needs eyes and a brain eh?!

Here's an article on the subject that appeared in the Metro on 31st October.

And here are some of my photos of black and white stripey things:

Top: Highgate Village, Little Essex Street, Boundary Street, Leyton

Bottom: Greek Street, St Mary Axe, Tooley Street, Acton

New market opens in Soho today

A new market opens at Brewer Street's NCP car park today running every week from Thursday to Saturday from 11am.

On the forecourt and within the first floor you will find stalls selling designer-handmade clothing and accessories, art, food, vintage, fashion and much more.

Amelia Parker will be there on Saturday.

More info about the market here, including how to apply for a stall yourself .

Brewer Street, Soho:

Grow a moustache for cancer awareness

It's Movember again.

Movember is the month for growing a moustache.

Start the month clean shaven and see what you can achieve.

Take part and register here.

be inspired by these beauties on The Drill Hall in Chenies Street:

Museum of Brands and Advertising

I recently paid another visit to Robert Opie's wonderful museum in Notting Hill.

A labyrinth of rooms are jam-packed with various ephemera showing how packaging, labelling, branding and advertising have changed over the past century. Toys, signs, foodstuffs, cosmetics, bottles... too many things to mention here.

I especially like one of the rooms towards the end that shows how some brands' packaging and logos have evolved; chronological rows perfectly illustrate the changes that have happened from a product's first outing to the present day; differing sizes and shapes of containers, altered logos and new colours and typefaces. No surprise to hear that I think today's packaging just isn't as charming as the designs from earlier decades.

Go see for yourself... and enjoy the nostalgia trip.
Old brands and advertising on London streets today:

Bovril: Brixton / Hovis: Angel / Pepsi & Coca-Cola: Fulham Broadway / Peterkin: Clapham

Gillette: Spitalfields / R.Whites & Martini: Hackney / Brymay: Fulham

Craven 'A": Camden / Haig: Denmark Hill / Nestlé: New Cross Gate / Ogden's Guinea Gold (tobacco): Homerton

The times they are a-changing

The clocks go back this weekend. Summer is officially over.

On the plus side, you can stay out an hour longer when you are out partying on Saturday night, or revel in that extra hour in bed on Sunday morning. I have even heard that some people use the extra hour wisely and DO something!

On the negative side: it'll start getting dark in the late afternoon, which I don't like, although I do like autumnal days – chilly, bright, beautiful afternoons somewhere like Hampstead Heath are just lovely. Preferably with a dog.

Time waits for no man (or woman). Time is on my side (no it isn't). Where did all the good times go?

Here are some London clocks:

See them all and more here.

The London Column

If you haven't discovered The London Column yet, then get with the programme now... because it's a gem of a site.

The strapline at the top reads, "Reports from the life of a city, 1951-2011, by David Secombe", and it's just that.

It's only been up and running since May this year but it's already packed full of gems and snippets of London life and observations. I have particularly enjoyed reading the excerpts by written by V.S.Pritchett in 1962; especially the one about the Blitz.

One thing that intrigues me about this lovely site, and that's David's logo top right... from 70s–90s, there was a magazine about typography called U&Lc that had its logo in more or less the same style. I suspect the logo design for The London Column has been created as a fond pastiche... very clever!

Here are some nice bits of typography I have found in London:

Top: Kings Cross, Fulham, Marylebone, Clapham.

Middle: Covent Garden, Finsbury Park (now sadly covered up/removed), Islington, Soho (I think this isn't there any more either – I will check).

Bottom: Stoke Newington, Blackfriars, Bermondsey, Temple.

Gaby's Deli under threat

To be honest I have been wondering, what with the sad demise of so many independent London establishments over the years, how Gaby's, one of my favourite cheap eat venues has managed to cling on.

For decades I have enjoyed going in there for meze plates large and small, salt beef sandwiches and kebabs (not all on the same plate!) washed down with good cheap wine, whilst looking at the celebrity photos and endorsements and favourable restaurant reviews pinned to the walls. Back in the '90s I often worked at a company who occupied the upstairs floors, so the sandwich run was quick and easy as well as tasty.

But I am sad to report that Gaby's Deli is under threat after Westminster Council has given consent for the site to be redeveloped.

The council has some bizarre idea that redevelopment "will improve the look and feel of the St Martin's Court area, and this will outweigh the loss of the existing retail units".

Aaargh! By this, I assume they mean, homogenise the area by bringing in Starbucks et al.

Why change such a curiously interesting little pocket of London? The little courts that join Charing Cross Road to St Martin's Lane are really special and are home to some wonderful little bespoke shops and restaurants. Tourists love London history; they don't want to come here and see the same bland high street shops they have at home or at Westfield.

Rent hikes mean we've already lost most of the old bookshops along nearby Charing Cross Road. And, just further north, a great swathe of the St Giles area has been raped by plastic high rise buildings that still have empty shop spaces on the ground floor. To evict well-used, well-loved, flourishing businesses like Gaby's makes no sense at all. This whitewash must stop.

Gaby's planned eviction date is 1st May 2012. Join the Facebook campaign here.

Here are some details and observations, all to be found a stone's throw from Gaby's:

The Art of Walking

Last Saturday I went on one of Fox&Squirrel's walks. F&S offer 'lifestyle walks' all over London themed around fashion, architecture, food etc.

This one was an art walk in Peckham, an area of London that is now bursting with creative talent, no doubt brought on by cheap rent and available space.

Our guide was Natasha, a very erudite and knowledgeable young lady, who met us outside the award-winning Peckham Library. First we visited Peckham Space, opposite the library and then she walked us up the road (passing a relevant bit of cement graffiti) to the lovely Passmore Edwards South London Art Gallery – a free purpose-built gallery space built by the great philanthropist. I was much more interested in the building than the art inside it. I loved the As and Hs on the sign on the front of the building, and found the old Pugin-esque floor tiles, the painted sockets and the old sign board in the back courtyard way more inspiring than what was on show.

Then we walked down Lyndhurst Way and stopped to look at the cleaned-up house that was once a famous squat for artists. Around the corner I noticed a stink pipe. Relevant? Then to a space functioning as both a home and a gallery where we watched two looped films of images of cars and lorries going down the freeway but manipulated into endless tunnels. It was mesmerising. But again, free, though the fella had opened the door especially for our group as it wasn't normally open on Saturdays.

Bells were ringing in my head about whether this 2 hour walk was good value (I spotted an old alarm bell casing showing the old Bishopsgate telephone code!) – after all nothing had an entrance fee, and using a South London Art Map this would cost nothing at all. But I was having a nice time with nice people...

And so to the Hannah Barry Gallery, almost buried amongst a sea of semi-derelict buildings in an old industrial estate. The highlight of my day was meeting the wonderful Hannah Barry herself. Diminutive Hannah belies her size and age – she is a powerhouse of ideas and enthusiasm. She talked eloquently and sensibly about art and galleries. And I loved the metal sculptures there by James Capper.

Then to a bar in one of the arches under Peckham Rye Station for art chat.

A nice afternoon. Thanks.

Cyril Mann Tribute Exhibition

A tribute exhibition marking the centenary of the birth of the British figurative painter Cyril Mann (1911-1980) is currently on at the Piano Nobile Gallery 5th October – 5th November. Included are his rarely seen historic pre- and post-war paintings of London and Paris.
The show traces Mann’s artistic development through six decades, from the 1920s when, aged 12, he was the youngest boy ever to win a scholarship to the Nottingham School of Art, until his death on January 7, 1980, aged 68.

Mann set out to capture London emerging from the ravages of war and returning to normality. Among his early London works is 'St Paul’s from Moor Lane', painted in 1948, the year of the previous London Olympics, which depicts the iconic cathedral dome surrounded by bombsites in a view now obscured by the Barbican development. It is interesting to compare the views in his paintings with what we see today.

Also never previously exhibited is 'Pont Neuf' which shows the famous Paris bridge in 1938 silhouetted against the sun. This tranquil scene shows no sign of the imminent German invasion and upheaval to come.
A graduate of the Royal Academy Schools (1934-1937), Mann never used a studio and lived most of his life in a council flat, refusing to join any art movement and rejecting the fashion for abstraction. Neglected in his lifetime, his work is now represented in major private and public collections, including the Guildhall Museum & Art Gallery and the William Morris Museum, Waltham Forest. The British Museum department of prints and drawings has five of his drawings.

Run away and make money!

It's less than a year to the London Olympics. Nine months. Like a big noisy baby waiting to be born.

At the Thames Festival last month I was chatting to a couple from Americans from Atlanta and they told me it was AWFUL in their home city when the Olympics came the town. They were saddened at how much their city had changed post-event.

As you probably know from reading my occasional rants about the forthcoming Games and the associated homogenised and consumerist hell of Westfield shopping centre, I am not a fan of all this Olympics stuff. I am still convinced that the money could have be better spent.

If you too are dreading the invasion, and thinking of leaving the country until it all blows over, why not make some money out of it all and rent your home for the duration? If you live close to Stratford or any of the other Games sites you'll get some fabulous rental rates that will more than cover the cost of storage for your valuables. LO2010 is free to the first 50 who sign up using the code FREE11. And an iPad is up for grabs too!

Oh, and re that Olympic logo I hate... you know the one I mean, I am not going to show it or link to it here... don't you think the LO2012 logo and site looks way better?

Top: Trafalgar Square, South Tottenham, Kensington, Stamford Hill

Bottom: Wandsworth, Willesden, West Green

Save the countryside

This isn't about 'my' London, but about the green belt that surrounds it.

I copy and paste here from an email I received from 38 Degrees:

Our English countryside is under threat again. The government is trying to rush through massive changes to the planning system, which would make it much easier to build on green field sites. We've just a few weeks to stop this happening.
Experts are lining up to condemn the government plans. The National Trust warns of unchecked and damaging development. Friends of the Earth predicts “a building free-for-all that will blight our countryside with bad building.”
A massive people-powered petition can make the government think again. It worked to stop England's forests being sold off. It can work again to stop precious countryside being wrecked by bulldozers and concrete.
Please add your name now, and forward this message to all your friends:
The English countryside is something we all enjoy. It's far too precious to build on willy-nilly. Once our green fields are gone, they're gone forever.
If we work together, we can stand up for a balanced, careful approach to deciding what to build and where to build it. We can protect local communities' right to have their say, make sure social housing is built where it’s needed and protect wildlife and beautiful, tranquil places.
Having to act fast to stop an urgent threat to our countryside feels eerily familiar doesn't it! It's only a few months since half a million of us came together to stop plans to sell off England's forests. It worked that time - now let's come together again to stop this new threat to our beautiful green places.
Please take two minutes now to add your name to the petition.

Thanks.

Grant's True Tales

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a do in the vaults of the RSA for an evening of food and drink and story telling as part of Grant's True Tales.

I think the idea is everyone has a story to tell and what better way to do it than over a glass of Grant's whisky which has it's own story to tell?

Grant's have been running a story-telling competition on their Facebook page and, between courses, we watched and listened to the three finalists. To be honest, I thought two of the 'stories' were tedious. They weren't stories at all, but ramblings. I've heard better tales in my local pub told by bar flys who would never think to enter a competition.

I joked to a fellow diner that if these were the best three, then perhaps there'd been only ten entrants. It turns out there were only nine! Hmmm... rather of makes a mockery of the winner's certificate that reads something like, "Best story teller 2011".

I'd have written about this sooner had I not been stumped for picture ideas, but as I poured myself another glass from the free bottle of Grant's whisky they gave me, I noticed the bottle is triangular...

Top row: Battersea, Bishopsgate, Paddington, Deptford.

Middle row: Strand, Old St, Holloway Rd, Bloomsbury.

Bottom row: all Holloway Road.

Battle of Cable Street 75th Anniversary

It's 75 years since 1936's Battle of Cable Street.

On Sunday 2nd October the occasion will be marked by events centred in and around Wilton's Music Hall, which I have heard, has finally raised sufficient funding to keep going (though that doesn't mean 'job done', so please keep involved).

There will be a market on the day and I will be there with my Amelia Parker clay pipe jewellery, made using fragments of discarded clay pipes dating from as far back as the 16th century, collected along the Thames foreshores close to Cable Street.

Info about the weekend's events here.

See you there!

Some great historical info and archive images from 1936 here.

And some great shots of Dave Binnington's commemorative mural here.

London Fashion Week

LFW has wafted over my head again. It always does. Every year.

When they show highlights on the news or on daytime magazine programmes I always wonder what the fuss is. It seems to me we are going through the early 1980s resurgence at the moment. Have you seen the poorly made sh1t that's on offer in American Apparel lately, that looks like something even my Nan would have turned her nose up at in 1975?!

But there is nothing new. It's always bemused me why people want to wear (expensive) labels and follow trends Where's the individuality?

A lot of the 'creations' on the catwalks appear badly-made/unfinished, or look to be one piece of draped material held together with pins that only looks right on a person with a body like a silver birch tree. I've made far better things myself(!).

On July 1st this year I went to a free Yohji Yamamoto show at the V&A with Gill. The thing that struck me was how many dowdy women filled the seats. Most of them sat and stared blankly at the model couples who strutted past them in Yamamoto's deconstructed coats. It didn't look to me* as if these women had made any effort to appear fashionable or different or individual or whatever... they seemed to be completely out of touch with fashion, having let it pass them by for decades, and had instead plumped for comfort of the Primark and Gap variety.

*I am dead trendy, me.

Tom's Tired of London

No, he's not. At least I don't think he is. Especially when he is pedalling about all over London finding things to mention on his site.

Every day Tom posts a suggestion of something to do, see or visit in this fair city. He might be a bit worn out, but he's certainly not jaded.

I can't keep up with him – one day last month Tom and Ian took Boris bikes to Paris and back in a day.

I hear Tom's site is in the process of being turned into a book. Well done Tom. And happy birthday!

Paralympics tickets... only 5 days left to apply

Tickets for the Paralympic Games are on sale until 26th August.

There are 21 sports and the athletes who compete in them are truly amazing. This, coming from someone who lounged about in her dressing gown drinking endless cups of tea whilst watching The Great North Race on TV last Sunday!

But check out some of these paralympic sports – believe me, I am not making these up – the fastest marathon on Earth, wheelchair rugby, visually impaired javelin throwing and dwarf powerlifting, the latter being dwarves lifting weights, not people lifting dwarves. And wheelchair fencing also sounds rather weird to a pedant like me!

See the Channel 4 site for more info.

Top: Abbey Mills, Chatsworth Rd, Chiswell St, Dalston

Bottom: Leytonstone, Old Street, Shoreditch, London Eye

Open House Weekend

It really does not seem like 12 months have gone by since I went inside my old butcher shop on the Saturday of Open House 2011.

W. Plumb's shop on Hornsey Road used to be my local butcher shop. One of the butchers in there had even gave me a handful of meat hooks to use on my pan rail when I'd asked him where to buy them (this was pre-Ikea!).

The shop closed for business approx 15 years ago probably through lack of business being as it sits in the middle of a terrace in a no man's land between Holloway, Archway, Crouch End and Finsbury Park, and must have suffered when we got swamped by supermarkets.

Every time I walked past I wondered what had become of the gorgeous ornate Edwardian tiled interior complete with mahogany cashier's booth, etched glass and intricate ironwork.

Then I noticed it in the Open House listing last year and breathed a sigh of relief. The adjoining flat is now owned by a lovely Canadian man who can be trusted to keep the butcher's shop intact and unchanged. He is rightly proud of it:

Almost everything is still there as I remember it. I say 'almost' because the butcher's wooden chopping and carving block has been removed 'for health and safety reasons' (oh gawd) and with it another tiled rural scene which formed part of its base. I took lots of photos. I was happy. I still am.

On the 2nd day of Open House weekend last year I went to a Georgian building near Spitalfields only to discover that the place is used an an art gallery so I could have gone there any day of the week (grr; I should have checked the info and paid attention to what I wrote on here last year!). I stayed for the tour which was really interesting but then had a mad dash to try and catch the last opening minutes of the Drapers Hall. Damn. Got there 5 mins late. Made all the more frustrating by people coming out and telling me how lovely it was in there. I was hoping to go this year but it's not on the list :-(

So, my advice is, plan ahead. Check that the buildings are open specially for the weekend only and make a map/gameplan. Be prepared to queue. And be prepared to be disappointed if you don't get in to your chosen buildings.

There's always next year... start planning now as some places are advance booking/tickets only. It's like applying for Olympics tickets, only better because it's free and you'll get a good view.