All posts by Gibson Square

A Licensed Black London Cab Driver I share my London with you . . . The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Now! Here’s the thing

One of the most prestigious shopping thoroughfares runs in a circulatory route between Oxford Street and Piccadilly and is the only street running between the two. Most shoppers erroneously would call it Bond Street. Running through the centre of Mayfair it’s prosaically named after Sir Thomas Bond, the landowner who had it developed in the 1720s.

But hold on, there is no Bond Street featured on the Geographers’ A-Z. Did you ever notice that Bond Street doesn’t actually exist as a road? You’ll find a Bond Street tube station and numerous brands advertising that their shop fronts the street, but the road itself is strictly termed New Bond Street, or Old Bond Street.

Sir Thomas Bond’s family motto was Orbis non sufficit, which translates as The World is not Enough. Where have we heard that recently?

The phrase originated from Sir Thomas Bond, 1st Baronet, a 15th-century landowner, who was used by Fleming as an ancient ancestor of the modern-day Bond. The coat of arms was first revealed in the novel On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and it was subsequently used in the film adaptation of the novel as well. It’s implied elsewhere in Ian Fleming’s novels that Thomas was an ancestor of the illustrious spy.

Featured image: In High-Change in Bond Street (1796), James Gillray caricatured the lack of courtesy on Bond Street (young men taking up the whole footpath), which was a grand fashionable milieu at the time.

Clipper Conversions

As featured elsewhere on CabbieBlog, Clipper Automotive takes a perfectly serviceable second-hand cab, gives it a thorough overhaul, installs an electric motor and new drive train and replaces the dashboard. This work produces a much more economical vehicle with zero emissions.

Now that we realise the issues associated with waste, you’d have thought that re-purposing a vehicle recognised all over the world as London’s iconic form of public transport was to be commended.

Not so TfL and London’s Mayor who refuse to licence these vehicles, preferring to send parts of 12-year-old vehicles to landfill.

So much for their claims ‘Saving the Planet’.

Johnson’s London Dictionary: Albert Memorial

ALBERT MEMORIAL (n.) Doth dedicated to Her Majesty’s late consort, once constructed the monument was allowed to decline for 150 years, the restoration took as long as the original construction, and much monies.

Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon

Not One Lamppost

Word on the Street is an occasional post about discoveries found on London’s streets, from street furniture, urban byways and trivial roadside facts.

I like to tell anyone who’ll listen that there are no ‘roads’ in The City of London, just streets, passages, alleys or other curious titles like Crutched Friars.

Goswell Street was renamed Goswell Road, in the past the northern section (that being furthest away from the City) was named Goswell Street Road. In 1994 boundary changes brought the eastern half under the jurisdiction of the City of London, while the western carriageway remains firmly in the Borough of Islington.

The boundary now runs down the middle of the road, pedants might argue that this still, technically, means that there isn’t a single road within the City of London, merely a half-road.

Curiously The Square Mile also doesn’t have street lamps, not on the pavements, anyway. Thanks to an old bylaw, all street lighting must be attached to buildings, or else run along a central reservation – you won’t find a single lamp jutting out from the pavement proper. What are dogs to do?

In all my journeys driving a cab in London, how could I have missed this major peculiarity?

London in Quotations: Wendy Cope

On Waterloo Bridge where we said our goodbyes, / the weather conditions bring tears to my eyes. / I wipe them away with a black woolly glove / And try not to notice I’ve fallen in love.

Wendy Cope (b.1945), Serious Concerns