Previously Posted: My favourite things

5 March, 2022 Gibson Square 2 Comments

For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.

My favourite things (27.12.09)

It’s that time of year when the media is crammed full of trivia, so in the Christmas tradition, here are CabbieBlog’s London favourites:

Neighbourhood: Clerkenwell; I had my first job in London in this small district populated at the time by Italians giving us great delicatessens, a catholic church and an introduction to their beautiful language. The principal industries there was watchmaking and typesetting.

Building: St. Paul’s is obscured by other buildings, so the best place to see it is from Bankside on the other side of the Thames, then cross by Millennium Bridge and climb to the top, and don’t forget to visit the crypt.

View: No problem choosing this one, Waterloo Bridge in the evening. Wordsworth got it wrong when he wrote Upon Westminster Bridge:
Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth like a garment wear

Nice sentiment, wrong bridge. But to be fair to Bill, Waterloo wasn’t built then, Ray Davis was right though, with Waterloo Sunset.

Open Space: Hampstead Heath, the highest point in London, with its varied landscape and nutcases swimming in its famous ponds.

Interesting Shop: Pollock’s Toy Museum and shop in Scala Street near Goodge Street. A fascinating collection of toys from a bygone era.

Bar/Pub/Restaurant: Bar Italia on Frith Street, Soho, for the best cappuccino north of the Alps, their espresso machine is over 50 years old and still going strong. Open 24 hours a day, they just kick you out into the street when they want to clean the place. Or for a slightly upmarket tea try Claridges, good value, superb service and no tourists.

London book/film/documentary: London Sight Unseen by Snowdon. I was bought this book a few years ago. Snowdon travelled all over the capital photographing anything unusual or fascinating that caught his photographer’s eye. Or watch the play “The Knowledge” by the late Jack Rosenthal a brilliant comedy about becoming a cabbie.

London street/road/square: Queen Anne’s Gate. Unlike her statute outside St. Paul’s Cathedral, this exquisite little turning which takes its name from the aforementioned queen, encapsulates Georgian London, go there and be amazed that there are still places left in London like this, just don’t tell those modern architects, they’ll want to develop it.

Londoner: Thomas Coram although born in Lyme Regis, Dorset and spent much of his early life at sea and in the American colonies he’s an adopted Londoner. He later became a successful merchant in London, as a great philanthropist Coram was appalled by the many abandoned, homeless children living in the streets of London. On 17 October 1739, he obtained a Royal Charter granted by George II establishing a “hospital for the maintenance and education of exposed and deserted young children.” Visit the Foundling Museum near the children’s playing fields which take his name, just don’t go into the playground next door, you must be accompanied by a minor.

Period: 1650-1720 This is the time when London was brought to its knees after the Great Fire of London, yet within decades London was reborn as the greatest city in the world, in addition to surviving civil war, plague, drought and bankruptcy. It’s a time when London gave rise to a generation of extraordinary men: Sir Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke, John Locke, John Evelyn and Nicholas Barbon.

Puppydog tails

Test Your Knowledge: March 2022

4 March, 2022 Gibson Square 2 Comments

Claiming something to be the ‘oldest’ is often fraught with problems, so bear with me on what I think are the correct answers. As with the previous Quizzes, the correct answer will turn green when it’s clicked upon and expanded to give more information. The incorrect answers will turn red giving the correct explanation.

1. Britain’s oldest door can be found in which religious building in London?

Westminster Abbey

CORRECT Westminster Abbey has Britain’s oldest door, dated for the first time in 2005 by the process known as dendrochronology, it showed the wood had been felled after 1032 and the door constructed sometime in the 1050s during the reign of King Edward the Confessor.

Tower of London

WRONG Westminster Abbey has Britain’s oldest door, dated for the first time in 2005 by the process known as dendrochronology, it showed the wood had been felled after 1032 and the door constructed sometime in the 1050s during the reign of King Edward the Confessor.

Fulham Palace

2. What is the capital’s oldest mainline train station in Zone One?

Kings Cross

WRONG London Bridge station was opened in December 1836. Kings Cross was opened in 1852 and named after a huge statue of much-derided statue of George IV, removed in 1842. Charing Cross Station was named after a short street near the notional centre of London from which distances from the city are measured and opened in 1864.

London Bridge

CORRECT London Bridge station was opened in December 1836. Kings Cross was opened in 1852 and named after a huge statue of much-derided statue of George IV, removed in 1842. Charing Cross Station was named after a short street near the notional centre of London from which distances from the city are measured and opened in 1864.

Charing Cross

3. Which restaurant claims to be London’s oldest?

Rules

CORRECT Established in 1798, Rules is regarded as London’s oldest restaurant. Edward, The Prince of Wales would entertain his mistresses there in a secret room. Established in 1889, Sweetings is London’s oldest seafood restaurant, apparently gangster George Francis once offered one-time owner George Needham £1,000,000 in cash for the restaurant. Wiltons began life as an oyster stall in 1742 before its establishment in St James in the 1840s, they proudly announced in 2017 that it was older than America.

Wiltons

WRONG Established in 1798, Rules is regarded as London’s oldest restaurant. Edward, The Prince of Wales would entertain his mistresses there in a secret room. Established in 1889, Sweetings is London’s oldest seafood restaurant, apparently gangster George Francis once offered one-time owner George Needham £1,000,000 in cash for the restaurant. Wiltons began life as an oyster stall in 1742 before its establishment in St James in the 1840s, they proudly announced in 2017 that it was older than America.

Sweetings

4. Some of the world’s earliest shops can be found in London, but which is the oldest?

Lock & Co

CORRECT Curiously all three are near each other. Lock & Co founded in 1676 is the oldest hatter in the world who invented the bowler. Berry Brothers are next door and have been supplying fine wines since 1698. Founded by a saddler and whip maker in 1750, Swaine Adeney Brigg has been selling leather goods for centuries, supplying luggage for films including the Kingsman movies.

Berry Brothers & Rudd

WRONG Curiously all three are near each other. Lock & Co founded in 1676 is the oldest hatter in the world who invented the bowler. Berry Brothers are next door and have been supplying fine wines since 1698. Founded by a saddler and whip maker in 1750, Swaine Adeney Brigg has been selling leather goods for centuries, supplying luggage for films including the Kingsman movies.

Swaine Adeney Brigg

5. We’ve more statues than you could shake a stick at, but which is the oldest?

King Alfred the Great in Trinity Church Square

CORRECT Created in the 14th century in honour of King Alfred, the man who ruled Wessex in the 9th century was originally located at the Palace of Westminster before it was brought to its present location in 1823 at about the time the square was being laid. Credited as being London’s oldest equestrian bronze, King Charles I statue is used to measure all distances from London. Queen Elizabeth I dates from 1586 and was created during her reign.

King Charles I sitting astride his horse on the southern side of Trafalgar Square

WRONG Created in the 14th century in honour of King Alfred, the man who ruled Wessex in the 9th century was originally located at the Palace of Westminster before it was brought to its present location in 1823 at about the time the square was being laid. Credited as being London’s oldest equestrian bronze, King Charles I statue is used to measure all distances from London. Queen Elizabeth I dates from 1586 and was created during her reign.

Queen Elizabeth I standing on the facade of St Dunstan-in-the-West in Fleet Street

6. Where is what’s claimed to be London’s oldest house?

Mayesbrooke Road, Barking

WRONG Estimated to have been first built in 1435 this house was known as Walthamstow Tony. Sadly, this isn’t after a 15th century East London ‘Tone’ living in Walthamstow, but the name probably derives from the combination of a Saxon landowner ‘Waltheof’ and the name of a French nobleman called Ralph de Toni. Hidden down a small street in Farringdon lies 41/42 Cloth Fair, built between 1597 and 1614, this is the only house in the City of London to have survived the Great Fire of London. Was the Gunpowder Plot hatched at Eastbury Manor House, Mayesbrooke Road, Barking built in 1557? So says a local tradition supported by the author Daniel Defoe.

Cloth Fair, Smithfield

Church Lane, Walthamstow

CORRECT Estimated to have been first built in 1435 this house was known as Walthamstow Tony. Sadly, this isn’t after a 15th century East London ‘Tone’ living in Walthamstow, but the name probably derives from the combination of a Saxon landowner ‘Waltheof’ and the name of a French nobleman called Ralph de Toni. Hidden down a small street in Farringdon lies 41/42 Cloth Fair, built between 1597 and 1614, this is the only house in the City of London to have survived the Great Fire of London. Was the Gunpowder Plot hatched at Eastbury Manor House, Mayesbrooke Road, Barking built in 1557? So says a local tradition supported by the author Daniel Defoe.

7. You can still worship in London’s oldest Christian church, but which one?

St. Bartholomew-the-Great

WRONG Believed to be one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in England, St. Pancras Old Church was established around the 4th century, on the site of a former Roman temple. St Bartholomew-the-Great in Smithfield might be the oldest intact continuous place of worship, dating back to 1123. Some parts of the original building remain. All Hallows dates back to 625, but very little of the original structure remains.

All Hallows by the Tower

St. Pancras Old Church

CORRECT Believed to be one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in England, St. Pancras Old Church was established around the 4th century, on the site of a former Roman temple. St Bartholomew-the-Great in Smithfield might be the oldest intact continuous place of worship, dating back to 1123. Some parts of the original building remain. All Hallows dates back to 625, but very little of the original structure remains.

8. Love it, or loathe it, can you identify the oldest actress to appear on BBC’s Eastenders?

Barbara Windsor

WRONG June Brown joined the show in 1985, the year it was created, and stayed until January 2020, playing Dot Cotton the chain-smoking, quick-witted and loveable character who left the square in 2020 aged 94. Gretchen Franklin played Ethel Skinner’s final scenes at the age of 89, marking the end of her acting career. The late Barbara Winsor was a mere 79 years old when she left The Vic.

Gretchen Franklin

June Brown

CORRECT June Brown joined the show in 1985, the year it was created, and stayed until January 2020, playing Dot Cotton the chain-smoking, quick-witted and loveable character who left the square in 2020 aged 94. Gretchen Franklin played Ethel Skinner’s final scenes at the age of 89, marking the end of her acting career. The late Barbara Winsor was a mere 79 years old when she left The Vic.

9. Have you watched a match at London’s oldest football club?

Fulham

CORRECT Their formation in 1879 make Fulham the oldest professional club in London and the second oldest in the world. The oldest senior non-league club is thought to be Cray Wanderers, founded in 1860, currently playing in Bromley.

Chelsea

WRONG Their formation in 1879 make Fulham the oldest professional club in London and the second oldest in the world. The oldest senior non-league club is thought to be Cray Wanderers, founded in 1860, currently playing in Bromley.

Arsenal

10. Noted for its quintessential squares, but which is London’s oldest?

Charterhouse

WRONG The earliest squares were little more than open grass, surrounded by timber fences. The first square to have a properly laid out garden at its centre was probably Soho Square built in 1681 by the Earl of Macclesfield. Did you know? The body of Oliver Cromwell is said to lie beneath Red Lion Square, dug up from Westminster Abbey in 1666 and dumped in unconsecrated ground.

Soho

CORRECT The earliest squares were little more than open grass, surrounded by timber fences. The first square to have a properly laid out garden at its centre was probably Soho Square built in 1681 by the Earl of Macclesfield. Did you know? The body of Oliver Cromwell is said to lie beneath Red Lion Square, dug up from Westminster Abbey in 1666 and dumped in unconsecrated ground.

Red Lion

Thinking allowed

Gift shops?

3 March, 2022 Gibson Square 2 Comments

Have you walked down the eastern end of Oxford Street recently? How do those emporiums selling ‘tourist’ crap survive? Usually empty of customers, they are purveyors of low-margin stock from high-rent retail spaces to, judging from the routine absence of punters, an indifferent public. I’m afraid there can only be one answer: money laundering.

Puppydog tails

Johnson’s London Dictionary: Houses of Parliament

2 March, 2022 Gibson Square 1 Comment

HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT (n.) Edifice designed to impress the naive, whose incumbants doth speak with alacritous mannerisms, but whose actions are tardy

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

The Grill

The London Grill: Roundel Round We Go

1 March, 2022 Gibson Square 3 Comments

We challenge our contributors to reply to ten devilishly probing questions about their London and we don’t take “Sorry Gov” for an answer. Everyone sitting in the hot seat they will face the same questions ranging from their favourite way to spend a day out in the capital to their most hated building on London’s skyline to find out what Londoners think about their city. The questions are the same but the answers vary wildly.

Roundel Round We Go is a podcast created by two London Underground nerds. In each episode, we draw one of the 272 stations out of a bag, research it, and make a show. Though we love trains, the show goes beyond just the Tube and looks at architecture, local history and how London has been built around the underground network.

What’s your secret London tip?

Emily: In 2018 I rode on every bus in London (they’ve added a few since – I need to catch up), and some take you on remarkable journeys around the city. I love the 210 (Finsbury Park to Brent Cross), 319 (Sloane Square to Streatham Hill), 52 (Willesden to Victoria), 36 (Queen’s Park to New Cross Gate), 139 (Golders Green to Waterloo) and W3 (Finsbury Park to Northumberland Park – great views from Ally Pally). I think I’m showing my north Londoner bias here, but if I’m ever at a loose end in London I’ll always just hop on a bus.

Paul: Despite being a massive enthusiast for public transport, when I’ve got time I love to walk across central London. I’d always visualised London as effectively a series of islands around tube stations, but one day not long after getting a smartphone with maps on for the first time decided to try navigating town on foot. Suddenly I realised not only how close together so much of it is, but also just how quiet and beautiful the many side roads and squares can be only a few dozen metres from even the busiest roads. So my tip is, if you get the chance, don’t hop on the tube or a bus, try wandering through the backstreets of London.

What’s your secret London place?

Emily: Not a specific place per-se, but I absolutely love cycling at night in London, particularly on the quiet side streets. I used to be an usher at the National Theatre, and I’d cycle home at about 10:30 most nights up Hampstead Road and swing off at Mornington Crescent and then cycle up along the railway lines out of Euston. It was such a different world from the business of Camden just a couple of streets away, and it always felt a bit magical.

Paul: South East London Combined Heat and Power – also known as the giant municipal waste incinerator near the Millwall stadium. Not strictly secret given its chimney can be seen for miles, but what is less apparent is that it’s often possible to visit during London’s annual Open House weekend, and is one of the most impressive and exciting buildings to look around. You can see the sci-fi-like control room, open a hatch to stare through a window straight into the flames of the furnace, get almost deafened by the generators, and look over the vast bunker full of waste to watch rubbish lorries empty their loads onto the mounds far below. Best of all, they once even let me have a go operating the crane that moves the waste from the heap into the furnace – it’s like a giant version of the seaside arcade grabber crane games!

What’s your biggest gripe about London?

Emily: Probably a pretty standard one, but the cost of living. I’ve paid way too much of my income to live in mice-infested, falling-down flats in the past – and I’m one of the lucky ones! When I was a teacher, I saw so many families living in poverty, and the level of disparity between people all living in the same city really upsets me.

Paul: I can’t stand the politicisation of transport policy and funding in London. It’s particularly prominent at the moment, but goes back decades, whether that be mayoral vanity projects, imposition of privatisation, starvation of funding… All done for ideological reasons, or even worse political scheming, and totally detached from the genuine needs of the city.

What’s your favourite building?

Emily: The Houses of Parliament – I know that’s the most basic, touristy answer, but my reason is a little more interesting! I used to be a tour guide there for school groups and one of my favourite parts of that job was when we got to do morning inspections of the tour route before the building opened to the public to make sure there weren’t any unforeseen obstacles, and it was always quite magnificent to stand in the middle of Commons or Lords completely on my own and think about all the things that had happened in those rooms. I’d also usually have my headphones on, and so had a history of dancing through the voting lobbies to the great amusement of the security guards.

Paul: 55 Broadway. Until 2019 it was the headquarters of Transport for London, having originally been built as the headquarters for their privately owned predecessor the Underground Group back in 1929. I first visited as a volunteer giving tours of the building for the Transport Museum, and later many times while working for TfL. It is one of those buildings where every visit from my first to my last had a real sense of occasion; entering through teak doors into a marble-clad lobby; climbing the stairs decorated with old enamelled metal tube maps; attending lectures in what was once the chairman’s vast wood-panelled office and holding meetings around what had been the same chairman’s table. The view from the top was quite spectacular too.
At the end of 2019, it was sold to a hotel company, so I’m hoping to be able to visit again in a few years’ time.

What’s your most hated building?

Emily: I have nothing particularly personal against Arsenal fans, but I hate Emirates Stadium. Compared with the beautiful Highbury one (I love walking through the housing complex it is now) and various other recent stadia, I just think it’s not very attractive. Plus, when I lived in Finsbury Park, every time there was a game on, the whole area was massively overcrowded and I could barely get on the tube or a bus. Ironically, however, Arsenal Station is my favourite tube station – I love that it is in the middle of a bunch of terraced houses and it has beautiful platform tiling – so at least something nice came out of massive football overcrowding!

Paul: I absolutely detest St George Wharf in Vauxhall. It’s a giant block of multi-million-pound flats by the Thames which looks absolutely hideous. They form a solid wall of five near-identical buildings, providing no variety or visual interest along their length, blocking all views past them, towering over their surroundings, visible for miles, with a badly-proportioned, ungainly design that combines the excessive size of Soviet-style apartment blocks with the cladding and glazing of a nineties office park.

What’s the best view in London?

Emily: I have a friend who lives in Dawson Heights in East Dulwich – it’s the big, brutalist housing estate by Kate Macintosh you can see really clearly on the Horizon if you’re at the Horniman Gardens. He lives on the north side of the building, and the views from his flat are immaculate. I was once there entirely by coincidence on Bonfire Night, and I saw fireworks go off over all of London – you can see from Wembley to Stratford to and everywhere in between. And the flats are rent-controlled – it’s a very enviable situation! If you ever get a chance to go up there, even to the little park below the flats, I highly recommend it (just don’t be too loud or I’ll hear no end of complaints from said friend).

Paul: Standing on the south end of the platforms at London Bridge station, you can see for over two miles of almost dead straight railway, with up to eleven tracks running in parallel. By daylight, you can see five or more trains running beside each other to and from the station at busy times, like a fantastic synchronised dance that carries tens of thousands of people. At night you can just see the trains’ headlights and tail-lights and above them the rows of signals shining from gantries over the track, controlling this incredibly complex system.

What’s your personal London landmark?

Emily and Paul: I guess for both of us it would be Moorgate Station? It’s where we met in 2020, just before lockdown at a work training event. It was Emily’s birthday and she had made a roundel-shaped cake. We basically haven’t stopped talking since that day.

What’s London’s best film, book or documentary?

Emily: White Teeth by Zadie Smith. I read it when I first moved to London and was living in NW very close to where it was set. Smith is a great storyteller, but I love the intimacy with London geography that her writing has. I haven’t lived in NW for years, but it’s still a place close to my heart.

Paul: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman – originally a 1996 BBC TV series, then a novel and also a radio drama, telling the story of a man accidentally pulled into a magical underworld version of London. I love how familiar landmarks are reimagined, like the bizarre Earl’s Court complete with jester, and the terrifying Knight’s Bridge which one must risk death to cross.

What’s your favourite restaurant?

Emily: Saki in Crouch End. Vegetarian Sushi is usually pretty lacklustre, but they do this thing called the Rock ‘n’ Roll with sweet potato tempura and avocado that is to die for! I moved out of their delivery range over a year ago and I’ve still not over it – but I still go up there in person when I can and it’s a good excuse to walk up part of the abandoned railway line that is now the Parkland Walk.

Paul: Piccolo Mayfair sandwich bar on Shepherd Street. When I’m doing tours of disused stations for the Transport Museum I like to treat myself to lunch somewhere nice each time, and Piccolo is where I always go when I’m at Down Street. It’s one of those classic deli-greasy spoon-sandwich shop type places, used by a huge variety of the people who live and work in the area. I particularly love their extensive range of delicious toasted paninis.

How would you spend your ideal day off in London?

Emily: Riding buses, and then walking. I’ve walked the Capital Ring, and am about ¾ through the London LOOP, and I love just exploring all the natural spaces that exist within London, particularly whilst listening to podcasts or non-fiction audiobooks. After a long walk, I’d go to the theatre, as I’m a huge theatre fan – ideally to see an exciting new work at somewhere like the Young Vic, Royal Court, or Donmar – but I’m happy in any theatre!

Paul: Working for both TfL and the Transport Museum, I’ve got to see some amazing parts of our transport infrastructure that are usually hidden from the public, either long-closed or not yet opened. But my ideal day off would be to explore all the tunnels I’ll probably never get to see, like the secret government tunnels around Whitehall and quite possibly well beyond. There are rumours of them extending all over central London, maybe out to the suburbs, and I’d love to see how much of that is true.