Every time I’ve gone to Liverpool Street with Krish (who goes on to Guys) I’ve meant to check out the new shops they’ve built into the Broadgate exit from the station. Before, it was a shop-lined walk back to an open area where you could sit on the steps and enjoy your lunch. Inside the Broadgate circle were some popular chain cafes – places I’d think of eating and then was put off by queues and prices. In that respect, it hasn’t much changed.
Now from the back of the station where you’d walk at ground level to Broadgate, you can go an alternate route to an upper level — up the escalators to some fancy new shops, look out at Old Broad Street from the top and circle around to Broadgate Circle where it’s expanded to some upper cafes where I’m plagued by queues and prices! Somewhere in my head I’m thinking maybe it always was here. Such thinking can give me a headache though, so I’ll just say that, if it was always there, it’s been refreshed. It’s open, bright and very, very different than the old station roads of Liverpool Street and Bishopsgate.
Map of Broadgate walk. The yellow are the Broadgate pedestrian areas, and the red is my outside walking routeHackney Downs to Liverpool Street – eight minutes as a rule. Mask wearing for most in the overgroundFür das Kind, the Kindertransport memorial inside the station by the tube entranceWalking towards Broadgate – at the back entrance to the stationEscalators to the upper level of Broadgate, Old Broad Street, and the Elizabeth Line entrance. The shops that used to line the left hand side of this lower level are all goneLooking up to the top level of Broadgate shoppingLooking out towards Old Broad Street from upper level Broadgate shopping. The Elizabeth Line entry is towards the leftTop of the escalators at Broadgate shopping level. If you look straight ahead you see the bus arrival stationLooking straight ahead is Broadgate CircleShopping ahead before entering Broadgate Circle
These two photos show the wide area before Broadgate Circle and of the construction continuing
A little something about Broadgate – it’s a hub of office buildings linked by public squares located on the original site of Broad Street station (closed in 1986) and beside and above the railway approaches into Liverpool Street station. It covers 32 acres and brings the world of finance together with food, retail and culture. 19 million people come here to work, and to shop, dine and be entertained in the mainly-pedestrianised development. Building started in the mid to late 80s. Broadgate Circle was completed in 2015, not so long ago.
Leaping Hare on Crescent and Bell statue by Barry Flanagan in Broadgate CircleBroadgate Circle from this level is like looking at an amphitheatre and from up here you don’t imagine the activity just belowLooking down at Broadgate Circle diningView of Broadgate Circle with Finsbury Avenue Square in the backgroundThe queues at every fast food place
I considered each fast food place. The dim sum was motioning, the poke bowls were fascinating, but I moved on towards Finsbury Avenue Square, an area I didn’t recognise as having seen before. To get to it I had to walk in a seemingly narrow area by an interesting metallic structure.
We were walking along New Road a few weeks ago when Krish said, ‘Look, there’s a porcupine.’ Only it wasn’t. What it was, it turns out, is a pod, an education centre, that represents a neuron cell, designed by Will Alsop.
We knew right away that each ‘spine’ was a light filament and guessed correctly that at night this must be a beautiful sight with the lights all glowing. When the clocks go back and the nights are longer, we’ll go back and see it.
We were heading down to Lahore Kebab House in our eternal search for a great biryani. I waited inside for it, while Krish scouted around outside. On our way out we saw Shalamar Kebab House, the same name as the place on New Road that we buy kebab. That’s when I saw the old sign for Hessel Street under the new one. That’s a street name I’ve heard many times. It was once home to the main Jewish East End market specialising in the slaughtering and koshering of chickens. It was then called Morgan Street and there are many stories here.
Hessel Street is named for Phoebe Hessel who famously dressed as a man and fought as a private in the West Indies and Gibraltar, and was wounded in the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745. She’s buried in St Nicholas’ churchyard and was said to be 108 when she died.
No time to linger and explore Hessel Street – and I’ve since seen some interesting facts about Umberston Street where Lahore Kebab House is – but yet again something for another day.
We saw this impressive building along Commercial Road. So close to the end of our journey (or so I thought) I couldn’t face going to explore but I’d love to know its history
Heading along New Road again to catch our bus home, we saw some interesting houses. It’s been some time since I walked past them. I try to imagine what they would have been like a hundred years ago.
23 New Road. The inscription reads: The first indoor meeting of the mission which became The Salvation Army was held here on 3rd September 1865See the face above the door at 33 New Road? I don’t know who it is but the houses date from the 1780s along here
This little caption shows me that there is probably something to say about every house in the area. I’m humbled by it, especially in a blog where I promised myself to not get too longwinded on history or dates.
Despite wanting to get on the bus and home, Krish asked if I could walk further and I thought I could. My thinking included that I would catch the bus from the hospital, but somehow we kept walking. I think I lost track somewhere.
At the back of the Royal London Hospital, walking towards Stepney, the clocks have already turned back – to many decades ago, to the streets I grew up on. Among the newer homes, are the old terraced homes from the 1800s. As a child, I don’t remember giving our house much thought – I’m sure I didn’t think it dilapidated. I even remember being about to see the date it was built etched into the door mantle. I wish I had photos of it, but somewhere in my memory I’m thinking 1837 … as a child I knew our house was over a hundred years old, so that might even be right. In those days a hundred years felt like a thousand.
ꕷ𐒋ℓȟēԵ ÑÌဌȟԵʂ ‘𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐞 𝐎𝐟 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐥’ 💚❤💚 Authentic Bengal Dishes! (I stole this from Instagram, irresistible)
A mysterious black facaded building on our walk. I can’t find it on the map, but I’m still looking for the storyOn Cavell Street, it’s a typical East End day
On Ashfield Street, at number 91, we spotted a plaque.
I’m somewhat determined to not get to historical and date-y here but I love anything to do with Jack Cohen because of his Hackney history. Jacob Edward Kohen ( known as “Jack”) was born in Whitechapel, London, in 1898. His father Avroam Kohen, was a tailor and immigrant Russian Jew. Avroam made uniforms during WWI and life got better for the family. Jack joined up and when he got his demob pay he bought up surplus NAFII food and sold them on Well Street Market. One of the things he sold was packs of tea from Mr T. E. Stockwell – this gave birth to Tesco. Accidentally, Jack had created the brand that exists till this day. He created self-service shops, opened his first supermarket in 1956 and died in 1979. Continue reading “Whitechapel and Stepney walk”
I have yet to exhaust the area around Cornhill. It would be easy to feel exhausted, to be fair. It’s like burrowing down in the earth, only to feel that you’ll never reach centre. Except that this burrowing is exciting, finding sparkly minerals as I go and part of me hoping there actually is no centre. I don’t have a clue how many days or hours I’d need since an inch away there’d be another countless layers of earth to burrow…I’ll just wish instead for a hundred more lifetimes, if that’s enough. Perhaps 100,000. So buckle up, this will be another long one.
My plan today was to see Pudding Lane and the Monument and then meet Krish. I went from Liverpool Street Station to Fenchurch Street on a grey day when I knew the photographs might not be as sparkly. In fact, London when it’s grey is just London, so best to capture it in its relaxed state.
From Fenchurch Street, I set my destination but I can’t resist an alley and I saw one that was quite wide, only loosely an alley, and thought it might be an interesting shortcut when I saw what looked like a pub at the bottom and a promise of another exit, so not a dead end.
Off of the bus and down an alley, with a glimmer of a pub at the end
But I was headed to Pudding Lane.
Pudding Lane is a small street in London, widely known as the location of Thomas Farriner’s bakery, where the Great Fire of London started in 1666.
This is where it’s said the Great Fire of London started (on 2 September 1666) at Thomas Farriner’s bakery, the King’s baker. It was on the eastern side of Pudding Lane, one of the first one-way roads in the world in 1617. Pudding wasn’t a sweet thing. It’s what the butchers called the offal that they took down to the river to the waste barges.
This sounds ‘romantic,’ but Pudding Lane today isn’t quaint or anything of the kind. Instead it’s a rather barren narrow street with some boring office building on either side. I was so unimpressed that I didn’t see the plaque to the bakery and fire that Google assures me is there. That teaches me to look more closely or do a little bit of research before I leave home.
Opposite where the bakery stood, is the Monument (The Monument to the Great Fire of London.) It’s 202 feet (52M) high and it was built that high to mark the bakery site, 202 feet west. It was designed by Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke – a Doric column topped with a gilded urn of fire. (The Golden Boy of Pye Corner marks the spot where the fire was stopped, near Smithfield. See my blog that mentions it.) It’s closed now but inside there are 311 steps leading up to a viewing platform. At one time it would have had a great view of the river and The City.
Standing at the west side of the Monument at the wonderfully named Fish Hill, to the north is Monument Tube station and to the south is the river and St Magnus The Martyr church on Lower Thames Street. I haven’t been there for years but inside there’s a four metre model of the old London Bridge, and outside some masonry thought to be from the bridge.
I hadn’t been this close to the Monument for over a decade and I was amused by stone benches, which were engraved with the rhyme of ‘London’s burning.’ When I was a child, we would sing this in rounds, but I’m quite sure I had no idea at the time that it referred to the Great Fire. It was just fun to sing. As well as the benches there was a drinking fountain nearby with the rhyme engraved on a metal plaque.
The distance from Hackney to the Royal Exchange and CornhillArea walked in The City
On my second visit to Cornhill, I decided that with only one goal (St Peters) I’d start off with a visit to the Royal Exchange. I’m pretty sure it was closed for a while since it’s a collection of high end shops and a Fortnum and Mason’s restaurant. The view of and from the main entrance has always been one of my favourites in The City.
Even before I’d got off the bus, I was engaged with this view through the bus window, a very clear reflection of the Old City on a New City glass front
I took the bus from Liverpool Street Station intending to get off just after the intersection, but the stop was quite a distance west. I stopped right outside the Bloomberg Arcade and it would have been tempting to spend some time there too, but if I don’t focus these days, my main destination slips my grasp. Best to hurry on, eyes averted from all the photo opps, and head directly for – in this case – the Royal Exchange.
Mary Harris Smith was an accountant and entrepreneur. She became the first woman to complete the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales qualification but was denied membership because she was a woman. This plaque is on the City of London Magistrates’ CourtSt Stephen Walbrook, by Bloomberg Arcade
I almost did it but I chose to travel on the back streets – Bucklersbury, St Stephens Row and Mansion House Place – and got a tiny bit distracted along the way…
Hawksmoor’s St Mary Woolnoth – a clumsy looking church with a very ornate gilded gate. The site has been used for worship for at least 2,000 years. Partially destroyed in the Great Fire, it was repaired by Wren and rebuilt by Hawksmoor after it was found to be unsafe. It reopened in 1727. It’s used by London’s German-speaking Swiss community, and is the official London church of British Columbia, CanadaLombard Street runs between King William Street and the Royal Exchange. It’s a lovely curved narrow street that I must look at more carefully soonCornhill from the Bank intersection
The Royal Exchange is a fantastic building. It looks so impressive and when I first stepped inside many years ago, I was surprised to see that it was really a shopping mall, but a high end one with Tiffany’s, Hermes, Aspinall, Jo Malone, and Fortnum & Mason occupying some of its space. This year it is celebrating its 450th anniversary.
There’s a lot of history in this building so here are some of the highlights.
The original Royal Exchange, a trading floor, was opened by Queen Elizabeth I in 1571. Thomas Gresham, an English merchant and financier, added two additional floors of shops to the original trading floor creating Britain’s first shopping mall in 1660. Only six years later the Great Fire destroyed the building and in 1669 a second site was opened this time with merchants and brokers. In 1838 it was again destroyed by a fire on Lombard Street. In 1844 Sir William Tite won an architectural competition to design the third (and current) Royal Exchange. He reverted to the original layout and included an imposing, eight-column entrance inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. The building was officially opened by Queen Victoria in 1844.
To more modern times – in the 1980s, The Royal Exchange briefly became a trading floor again, and the roof was replaced. In 2001 the Grade I-listed building was extensively remodelled by architects Aukett Fitzroy Robinson, and was transformed into a luxury shopping and dining destination. Though an entirely different building from his original design, the modern-day The Royal Exchange pays homage to its founder in its gilded copper grasshopper weathervane – a symbol taken from the Gresham family crest.
The weathervane with a grasshopper, to honour Thomas Gresham (taken by Krish, the tall one!)
Looking up to the iconic Royal Exchange
The entrance is very beautiful
If you stand at the entrance, there’s a great view towards central London. Right now it isn’t as wonderful as it was. So much is lost by Fortnum and Mason’s bow to the pandemic outdoor terrace and its patio umbrellas.
If the exterior is impressive, the interior is just as eyecatching, if not more. The F&M colour scheme rules these days and some of the shops haven’t reopened since closing for the first lockdown, but the overall effect is beautiful.
Fortnum and Mason tea in one of its boutiques
If Gresham was inspired by Belgium, the overall feeling to me is Italian. I think I could be in a grand galliera in Milan or Turin
Cornhill, first mentioned in the 12th century, is a ward and a street in The City. The street goes between Bank and Leadenhall Street. Cornhill is one of the three ancient hills of London, the other being Tower Hill and Ludgate Hill. This was the site of the Roman forum of Londinium, and later a corn market, which gave the area its name. Here also was the first underground public toilet, which cost 1d, creating the term ‘to spend a penny.’ Today, the street is associated with opticians and makers of things like microscopes and telescopes. To me, it’s just a beautiful street with some stunning architecture.
Finally we reached St Michael’s Cornhill, but before we went into the church, we wandered down St Michael’s Alley. At the bottom is The Jamaica Wine House, known by locals as The Jampot. The red sandstone building dates from 1869 and was designed in art nouveau style. Many of the original features are still here, On this site in 1652, London’s first ever coffee house opened. Samuel Pepys was one of its earliest patrons. There’s a lovely detail from the original coffee house, Pasqua Rosée. At the back there are medieval courtyards.
At the back, a glimpse of St Michael’s Tower
With not much time before evensong begun, we went back to the church.
In front there is a beautiful war memorial.
DURING THE / GREAT WAR / 1914–1919 / THE NAMES WERE / RECORDED ON THIS / SITE OF 2130 MEN / WHO FROM OFFICES / IN THE PARISHES OF / THIS UNITED BENEFICE / VOLUNTEERED TO / SERVE THEIR COUNTRY / IN THE NAVY AND / ARMY + OF THESE / IT IS KNOWN THAT / AT LEAST 170 GAVE / THEIR LIVES FOR THE / FREEDOM OF / THE WORLD.
The two parishes of Benet (short for Benedict) le Fink and Peter le Poer (thought to be a reference to the poverty of the medieval area) were united to St. Michael’s upon the demolition of the former church. But ‘le Fink’? Not sure about that
For those who love historical and architectural detail, St Michael Cornhill was built over the northern part of the great Roman Forum. It’s a medieval church with the original building lost in the Great Fire of London, leaving just the tower. It’s been in existence since 1055 and was under the patronage of The Drapers’ Company during the 15th century. The present Gothic Revival style church is attributed to architects Christopher Wren (there’s doubt about that), with Nicholas Hawksmoor between 1669 and 1672. The tower was designed by Wren and Hawksmoor in the ‘Gothick’ style between 1718 and 1722. It has twelve bells cast by the Phelps Foundry of Whitechapel. Sir George Gilbert Scott, architect of the Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras Station, remodelled the interior in the High Victorian manner between 1857 and 1860. It has Tuscan columns and still has pre-Victorian features, with panelling and sculptures dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. The Church escaped serious damage in the Second World War and the interior was restored in 1960, with the roofs and the nave of the tower being renewed in 1975.
There’s a very interesting organ in the church. It’s built so that two parts join at a 90 degree angle. The sound was very full, but the recording I made didn’t bring that out so I was disappointed. There have been some famous organists, some serving the church for many decades. The present organist has been there for over fifty years, a fact Krish and I found quite astounding. It must be humblng to sit at the organ and play on it knowing how many other hands have touched the keys and produced music. I’m a bit sad that my recording was so poor because it was an unusual piece being played. I did find this video online that may very well be the sort of music I heard – not your normal choral sound. It’s too bad that there is a focus on hands and feet and no pull back to see the organ itself.
In this photo you can see the right angles of the organ
