Well, here it is, almost the end of the most unusual year ever – the same year I’d anticipated back in January, thinking that 2020 must be perfect after all (a reference to vision).
We are now in our third lockdown and this is the most serious, serious enough that they created a whole new label for it – Tier 4. This means ‘you must stay home’ but it seems like quite a few aren’t listening. This is no big surprise.
Last weekend I did a lovely virtual Christmas lights tour with Look up London and really enjoyed it. I did this tour because I thought I wouldn’t be able to do one in person. However, yesterday it was a dry day and I had the idea that maybe with lockdown in place and no Boxing Day sales, just maybe I might go down and see some lights for myself. So off we went.
The bus wasn’t busy and we felt pretty safe. It was the first time I’d been into the west end since last year at Somerset House. Along the way, I was trying to remember the way – what were we going to pass by and see on what would a year ago have been a familiar journey. What follows is a great many photos, I think, with some narrative.
There were very few on the bus, with the traffic lights lending a Christmassy feeling
There was a very light rain so things were shiny and sparkly and, with not much traffic, and not many stops requested, we sped to Tottenham Court Road in a little over 20 minutes.
James Smith & Sons umbrella shop marks the approach to Oxford StreetTottenham Court Road is unrecognisable as construction continues on the Elizabeth line
My plan was to get off near Fortnum and Mason, back over to Piccadilly Circus, up Regent Street and into Soho, Chinatown and home again. It’s much less than I’d really like to do but it’s important to allow for the journey home and not need a rest or the toilet.
To get to Fortnum and Mason, you have to go through Piccadilly Circus, and Piccadilly Circus is just about the busiest intersection in London – that and Oxford Circus. It was less quiet and busy than usual, but still bustling compared to elsewhere. They’ve put in extra walking space and there are more bicycles than I usually see but just as many buses in the same London-narrow space.
Fortnum and Mason is a very posh place. It’s been here since 1707, and it stands for luxury. Hugh Mason ran a small store and met an entrepreneur called William Fortnum, whose family were high class builders reinvigorating Mayfair in the wake of the Great Fire. The partnership evolved. When I can get inside again, I’ll say more. For now, I’ll just say that it’s Christmas eye candy.
This extraordinary year F&M are featuring windows from their 313 years . And most splendidly, the front of their store has become a giant advent calendar. I find the whole thing magical.
Piccadilly Street itself has the same angels that it’s had each time I’ve visited. They’re looking over a grand street in an afluent, fashionable area called Mayfair that takes its name from the May fair held in Shepherd’s Market in the area (a fantasticvstreet for another day). Here are fashionable arcades and fancy boutiques and also the Royal Academy founded in 1768 by a group of 40 artists and architects who became the first Royal Academicians. I love its gates (now closed) and courtyard.
The Royal Academy GatesAngels over PiccadillyEntrance to Burlington Arcade
Behind Fortnum and Mason is Jermyn Street. This area dates from 1661 and often looks the part. Sir Isaac Newton, William Pitt, Sir Walter Scott, William Gladstone; and W. M. Thackeray have all lived here. The shops along here are exclusive – mostly it was quiet, even quieter than lockdown Piccadilly today.
At the entrance to Piccadilly Arcade is this statue of Beau Brummell, an iconic figure in Regency England and for many years the arbiter of men’s fashion. I asked Krish to pose the same way behind him
This video shows the Piccadilly Arcade entrance from Jermyn Street. Very elegant.
A touch of Europe – Corner window, Piccadilly ArcadePiccadilly Arcade from PiccadillyMore angels, Jermyn Street styleAn impressive display of shoe lasts at Joseph Heane’s show store on Jermyn StreetSir Isaac Newton lived here
I haven’t been to Old Street or Moorfields since lockdown, and probably for quite a while before that. I’ve had plans to get on a bus and walk around to see what street art has popped up. Somehow, I’d not made it there. This trip wasn’t going to achieve that either. It was dark, cool and windy, and the object of the journey was to keep Krish company on his latest visit to Moorfields Eye Hospital. He’s been a patient since July 2019 when his sight started to be strange after an episode of shingles during June of last year. Let’s skip over that story for now!
His appointment wasn’t going to last long, we thought (it lasted a few hours) and Krish had noticed that a huge Stik mural had been revealed during some construction. I wanted to see that. So the plan was that I’d wander around a bit and meet him after he’d seen the doctor. We took the 55 bus which goes along Mare Street, down Hackney Road, and across Old Street – a twenty minute or so journey.
An Instagram user told me a bit about this wall art —
That this ‘Shoreditch Past Present Future’ mural will be obscured by the Art ‘Otel is beyond irony…..they made a huge deal about how they preserved the Banksy when the old Foundry building was demolished but there were many other significant pieces of art in there that the developers had no interest in…..
It was hidden by a giant advertisement hoarding but occasionally came back on view for a few days/week as the ads changed. The new hotel is circular but there is a second building going up adjacent to the mural – not a high rise but we should all make the most of the current full view of this art.
So I’m glad I went to photograph it. I went there first in case I ran out of time. The light was already fading on a fairly dull day. I considered trying my original plan to go down Rivington Street and perhaps Great Eastern or even to Curtain Road to see some ancestor stuff John had told me about. However, the dark was encroaching and I thought instead I should meander over towards the hospital and see what I could see over there.
I headed down Leonard Street to Tabernacle Street, named for Whitefield’s Tabernacle a former church at the corner. The first church on the site was a wooden building erected by followers of the evangelical preacher George Whitefield in 1741. This was replaced by a brick building in 1753, and rebuilt in stone over a century later in 1868.John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, preached a sermon “On the death of the Rev Mr George Whitefield” here.
Moorfields Tabernacle – a rather large building on a narrow streetThe pillars of the church were elaborate but neglectedThen I noticed this through the raiings – Central Foundation Boys School (1865) – my mother attended Central Foundation Girls School and, funnily, this school is the beneficiary of The Dulwich Estate, where I once lived – link upon link
A surprise around every corner in London – often several!
Looking from the old back streets to the modern Old Street buildingsIt was so quiet in usually chaotic Hoxton. Most offices were dark and deserted. All working from home now.
I was feeling a bit hungry and, as the sun went down, I was feeling the chill. I walked up City Road towards the hospital – through the large roundabout I’ve always thought was so ugly. On the corner of City Road and Old Street is a massive red stone building that I’ve not usually paid close attention to. Today I would. Continue reading “Moorfields and Old Street”
Hackney has a lovely little museum. It’s housed in the modern library building beside the town hall. Despite its small size, they’ve managed to capture the history and spirit of the area. The focus is on immigration to Hackney and its oldest exhibit is from Saxon Times – it’s a logboat believed to have been made from a tree felled in 950 to 1000 when the tree was 200-250 years old. It was found near the Lea River in 1987. If such things fascinate you, you can read about it here. You’ll also see photos since my own were hindered by too much glare. The logboat itself is under glass in the floor but there is usually a model of it on the floor – it’s been stored away for now.
Of course the museum has been closed for some time but opened mid October with an exhibit of photos taken in the 1980s. I booked my slot online and waited for the day to arrive. Then on that day, I planned my route over there so that I could make the most of the time outside.
My walk started with a walk past these two ‘ladies.’ Ming Hai, a rather terrible Chinese restaurant and Casablanca, a Caribbean restaurant. I’d say both are worth a miss for food but they are constants around here. Ming was closed for some time and just reopened a week or so ago. Every day the owner comes out at the same time to open the shutters and set up her day. Her customers are loyal. Casablanca seems to be open for long, long hours – from early until quite late. People come from far away and we have our theories about its role in the community, based on who comes, who goes, and who hangs around outside.
Ming Hai and Casablanca
At the junction of Dalston Lane there’s Navarino Mansions. They were built in 1904 by the Four Per Cent Dwellings Company (now IDS, Industrial Dwellings Society) a group of Jewish philanthropists to relieve the overcrowding in homes in the East End of London. I love these buildings and they definitely deserve a lot more photographs and research but for now here are three images.
Navarino Road is an elegant street and quite different in character than how I started on Wayland Avenue (Navarino Road beginning on the other side of Dalston Lane). I can imagine that this street was settled by people who had a bit more money in their pocket.
Navarino Road housesOn the other side of Graham Road, Navarino Road looks autumnal and spacious
I always turn down Wilton Way. I love the villagey feel of that street. To my right a bit is Violet, the bakery which baked the cake for the royal wedding of Harry and Meghan. I’ve been going to Violet since I moved to Hackney. and Claire its American owner was an unknown. Claire lives on Wilton Way still but I don’t know where exactly. Today I turned left instead to head towards the back of the Hackney Empire and eventually the library.
The charming part of WIlton WayThe stark contrast of the estate on Witon Way when you get closer to Mare Street
After Wilton Way’s residential area there’s a pretty dramatic fork in the road, with one side (to the left) called Penpoll Road, a colourful but mysterious name.
Wlton Way meets Penpoll Road, a fork with a mysterious name
This morning I went to a pop up arts and crafts show in Dalston. ( I bought nothing but enjoyed the outing, and it gave me a chance to take a few photos to add to those I’d been saving for this blog.)
I’ve been feeling deflated recently. Too many apocalyptic thoughts. Sitting here waiting for the infections to rise and the death toll to start climbing, how else can anyone feel? Well, many don’t feel that way at all, so I’m told.
It’s easy to feel sorry for myself and my lethargy was getting me down. Going out helps me think about something else and it also helps me gain perspective.
Overall I’m an optimist. Although I’ll confess to being vastly disappointed and dissatisfied about the many things that others find great joy in, hope is always top or nearly top of my mind. I have great hope for many, many things. So think ‘silver lining,’ ‘counting my blessings,’ ‘it could be worse,’ ‘it will all work out in the end,’ and so on, and you have me in an optimistic nutshell.
I could be living in this makeshift shelter but I’m notAll of these shuttered shops could be out of business but they’re notI’m in a minority group, I’m a woman and I’ve faced adversity, but basically I’m hugely privileged – a white first-world childAnd even the wait or the first bus is shorter than many have to endure and gives me time to chat to a friend online, or whatever I choose to do, in a safe environment
It’s just three stops up to Dalston Junction – not far. It gives me a chance to look at the big picture and reflect on the back streets we walked on a few weeks ago. Dalston’s main streets at this point are Dalston Lane and Kingsland Road (Kingsland High Street).
Kingsland Road was part of the Roman route north named Ermine Street and was the Great North Road or Ware Road. In the early 1700s it was a toll road. Back then East of Kingsland Road was clay pits, brickfields, market gardens and nurseries. To the west it was arable land and dairy farms Despite being impoverished as the century went on, its proximity to the City made it popular , and by 1800 houses had gone up one by one along most of Kingsland Road, through Hoxton and Haggerston, towards the small hamlet of Dalston. Not so small anymore.
Today it’s a very busy high street and, since we moved into the area, it’s become trendy even before the regeneration started. What struck me today was how mixed the architecture and state of housing was in this area. When the ‘luxury flats’ sprang up, we’d often wonder who the tenants were that were happy to pay huge sums of money, and to look down on what’s sometimes squalid and wait for better times ahead.
The name Dalston is thought to come from Deorlaf’s tun (farm), in much the same way as nearby Hoxton was named after the farm of ‘Hoch’. The village was one of four small villages within the Parish of Hackney (along with Newington, Shacklewell, and Kingsland) together having only as many houses as the village of Hackney. Around 1280 a leper hospital was founded here but by the 18th and 19th Centuries the area had changed from being agricultural and rural to urban. By 1849, it was considered suburban, with some handsome old houses. By 1859 the railways came in and the village disappeared.
This corner where Kingsland Road meets Dalston Lane is original but Sheer Bliss, a hair salon which has been there for a long time, has recently had a facelift. It’s competing with some very modern shops and salons now. I can’t read the engraving on the corner but the building is Edwardian and may have been a cinema and then a bankStanding on Kingsland Road, my back to Dalston Junction station and facing Dalston Kingsland Station, the contrast is starkAnd from the back streets, the contrast is even more markedThe modern Dalston bus station, the back of the flats at Dalston Square, and the hanger-on Kingsland Road houses. Comfy together
Time to move off the main road, over behind the Kingsland Road and Dalston Lane junction.
Arcola Theatre, the old Reeves building
Beyond the Arcola Theatre is Abbot Street, basically a laneway leading down to a back yard. It’s a bit scary to walk down when it’s not daylight but, if you continue, you’ll hit the yard and find The Dusty Knuckle Bakery and the 40ft Brewery. The Dusty Knuckle has been here a while now. It’s a social enterprise that trains young offenders, and supplies some of London’s most renowned chefs with bread and pastries. They’re renowned for their inventive sandwich combinations, like Isle of Wight tomatoes, smoked anchovies, almond aioli, lovage, garden lettuce. or Chargrilled hispi cabbage & fennel, crispy pink fir potatoes and romesco. Their pizza is pretty good too! The Dusty Knuckle also has a school, where I learned fermentation and also how to make sour dough rye bread.
The 40ft Brewery is the Dusty Knuckle’s neighbour inside the yard. This makes for some great collaborations. When in the DK classes there was always plenty of free 40ft beer in the fridge while we worked. (I always took mine home for another day.) The independent home brewing company opened in 2015 and had just two 20 foot shipping containers. They’ve since expanded to 150 feet, have a bustling beer garden, and the original name has stuck.
Walking down Abbot Street to the back yard
This lovely door in the shabby alley of Abbot Street
Off the Abbot Street Yard. Such scenes always capture me40ft Brewery Seating in Abbot Street YardDusty Knuckle Bakery pizza ovenAt the back of the newer buildings along Kingsland Road, Arcola Theatre on the leftAshwin Street, Dalston. It’s like a hidden back street with lots of treats. The Arcola Theatre, Cafe Oto, and the lovely Print HouseThe old Reeves Artists Colour Works, now the Arcola Theatre building
The Reeves building dates from 1868. William Reeves was apprenticed as a gold-and-silver wire-drawer. He set up in business as a colourman in or before 1766 and in 1768 he partnered with his older brother, Thomas Reeves. They were awarded the Silver Palette of the Society of Arts, for the invention of the watercolour cake. They started in Little Britain (St Bartholomews) advertising as ‘Superfine Colour Makers.’ 1868 In London City Press of January 18th 1868 E.H Horne was announced as architect of a new Reeves factory building, with Sewell and Sons as builders – their tender was for £2,343. The brand survives today, passed from father to son, and it’s the brand of painting box that sits on my shelf here. It’s good to know a bit about the brand now.
A close up of the roof at ReevesGlorious facade of Reeves, now The Print House. It houses offices and studios and has a lovely rooftop with views over Dalston and a bar and a stageIf this door could talk…I’ve yet to find the building’s history or date of constructionDalston Eastern Curve Garden -tarted up – with a queue for its later opening, nicely distancedAcross from the Curve Garden, the new Dalston Library and Hackney Archives on Dalston Lane. Notice the Halloween balloons
We wandered around the back streets further down Dalston Lane. There are a lot of modern buildings back here and some really nice renovated buildings too. For some very odd reasons I took hardly any photos. Where are they? The loft building, Springfield House Lofts, made me a little envious but no balconies so I’ll give it a pass. As if I could even afford a bedsit in there! (Sorry -studio, or bachelor apartment, if you prefer.)
I learned that Springfield House, formerly the Shannon Factory, is the largest surviving building designed by the “remarkable” Edwin Otho Sachs – a man so passionate about fire prevention he spent time working with fire brigades in Berlin and Paris to learn more about how blazes spread. The Shannon Factory (opened in 1902) made office and bank furniture and used many combustible products. Sachs was their man.
It’s still a lovely building. Krish tells me the rest of the factory complex is still there but I recall it only by looking at Google Maps to see that the whole factory is there but part of it is gated. Another revisit for sure!
New build on the left, repurposed Springfield House Lofts on the right – Tyssen StreetDalston Cross, where Dalston Lane meets Graham Road before continuing down towards Hackney Downs Station. It’s not hard to imagine when Dalston was a hamlet. That’s another walkAt Dalston Cross, what looks like an old church or rectory building. I always admire it. I need to look longer and closer some time to get a clue what it once was
I’m not sure if I’m excited or scared about the amount of ground and history I couldn’t cover but this was what I saw during a couple of hours on the back streets of Dalston.
In ‘normal’ times every now and again we would go to Canary Wharf to get our Toronto fix. It has that Toronto look and no wonder. Its earliest buildings were built by the Canadian company Olympia & York. There are even street names and apartment and shopping complex with Canadian influences. Everything is very modern and there’s even an underground shopping concourse. But we haven’t been for a very long time.
We had an idea that the weekends would be very quiet in the area and we’d be able to walk around and look at the river. And so we jumped on the 277 bus that takes us from Hackney Town Hall all the way to Canary Wharf DLR station.
Victoria Park Village from the bus. A more detailed look is on my Must Walk list
On the way, we pass through Victoria Park Village, Victoria Park itself, and Mile End. Victoria Park was my closest childhood park. I loved the playground there and also the pond. My grandfather would take me fishing at that pond. We’d buy maggots and mealworms in a little shop along the Roman Road and off we’d go. On the way down to the docks (where Canary Wharf is built) we pass by my old childhood home of (the now demolished) Lessada Street, just off Roman Road, and then down under the railway bridge where where the First Flying Bomb fell on London on 13 June 1944. It’s also where I saw a strange and scary site when I was about three years old.
I was walking with my dad – I loved those walks – and saw a fire under the bridge. There was a man and a motorcycle lying there in the hollow and they were alight. I asked my dad about it and he told me it was a guy (for Guy Fawkes Day) and hurried me on. When I was 14, I told my mum what I remembered and that I was sure it was a motorcycle fatality. She looked a little white and then confirmed it. She told me that my dad had hoped I would forget and never to tell me. He had been very shaken. She then asked me never to tell him that I knew. I kept my promise.
I didn’t take photos after Victoria Park. Photos from the bus are never very satisfying but it does mean there’s a gap.
Further down the road, we ride along Burdett Road. Here I have memories of visiting my great aunts – my mum’s mum’s sisters – in their tall, grand houses, or so they seemed in those days. And I remember the little Jewish grocer where they had barrels of olives, herring, pickled cucumbers – with a name something like Vlit Vlosh…who knows. And on down to Poplar, past the canal, and you see the river bank.
Except today there were dozens of people. At our stop, we noticed the same. Lots of people. We’d be wrong in our guess that it would be dead down there. They obviously all had the same idea that we had, to be somewhere ‘quiet.’ Oh well, nothing to do but carry on and see whatever we could.
The main financial district of London is in The City, the original square mile. Canary Wharf is the secondary business district. It’s on the Isle of Dogs and is named after one of the quays of this dockland area, No. 32 berth, where fruit was unloaded from the Canary Islands. And that’s why it’s called the Isle of Dogs. The Canary islands gets its name from the large dogs found there by the Spanish (Canarias from Canine). Canary Wharf is just one piece of the Docklands area and it has many tall buildings, including what was once the tallest (now third tallest) in the UK, One Canada Square, with its iconic pointed roof. Docklands was once just that, a large area of docks on the River Thames. As a child, I learned it was an area that was to be avoided, and also the place where the majority of bombs were aimed during the second world war. East India Docks, West India Docks – dangerous and dirty or not, it all sounded very exotic to me.
These once dangerous, dirty docks are now sparkling and modern roads, full of gleaming office towers and quayside cocktail bars. For years it was like a secret part of London known only to bankers and the like, but based on the number of people we saw here, I’d say the secret is out.
Canary Wharf DLR stationQuayside
And sometimes you get reminders you are on the Thames
Wandering around the Canary Wharf jungle!
Amidst the towers, an oasis of green, Jubilee Park
Crossing the South Dock bridge here we found a little food truck areaFrom over here, we could see the O2 ArenaIn the underground concourse on our way to Waitrose. Doesn’t it look like Toronto?
The floors are filled with tiles showing the history of the area
We’d outstayed our two window for getting home again, so home we came. Meanwhile, I found a good interactive map of the Canary Wharf area at https://canarywharfmap.com/ if you’d like to have an overview.
