The London Compendium: A Street-By-Street Exploration of the Hidden Metropolis

514 Pages·2004·74.53 MB·English

by  Ed Glinert

PENGUIN BOOKS
THE LONDON COMPENDIUM
'Did you know that Eisenhower ran his HQ from Goodge Street.tube
station, or that, 2,000 years ago, St Brides in Fleet Street was a pagan
place of worship dedicated to a Celtic goddess of childbirth called
Brighde? This street-by-street companion will be of absorbing
interest to anyone fascinated by the city's resonances' Independent
'Ed Glinert could give any black cab driver a run for his money with
his knowledge of London' Islington Gazette
'A breathtaking cavalcade of facts, figures and faces ... the book is not
only expertly organized but has a superb index and ties the whole of
London together into a sprawling, complex yet contiguous whole ...
Buy a copy, don a stout pair ofw a1king shoes ... and explore'
East End Life
'He reveals the secrets of the streets and the magic and mischief of
the city' What's On in London ·
'An unusual and charming collection of obscure facts and stories that
will appeal to anyone who lives there, has visited there, or has just
flown over the city ... it will also provide hours of entertainment for
curious residents, determined day-trippers and tourists looking for
something more eccentric and amusing than the usual guidebook
fare' Focus
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ed Glinert was born in Dalston. The author of The Literary Guide to
London, he leads a variety of walks for a major London walking tours
company.
The LONDON
Compendium
A Street-by-Street Exploration of
the Hidden Metropolis
Ed Glinert
PENGUIN BOOKS
For Katy and Marian
PENGUIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Books Ltd, 8o Strand, London wen ORL, England
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, NewYorluoo14. USA
Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 31:2.4. Australia
Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2
Penguin Books India (P) Ltd, 11, Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi -110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 8o Strand, Londori wclR ORL, England
www.penguin.com
F~ published by Allen Lane 2003
Published in Penguin Books 2004
10
Copyrigllt C Ed Glinert, 2003
All rigllts reserved
Grateful acknowledgement is made for permission to reproduce extracts from 'City' (1937),
'Middlesex' (1954), 'The Metropolitan Railway' (1954) and Summoned by Bells (1960) by
John Betjen~an. Reprinted by permission of the executors of the estate of John Betjen~an and
John Murray.
The moral rigllt of the author has been asserted
Typeset by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Printed in England by Clays Ltd, St Ives pic
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject
to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,
re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's
prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in
which it is published and without a sinlilar condition including this
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
ISBN-13: 9784-141--01213-1
Contents
Acknowledgements vii WAPPING, El 260
LIMEHOUSE, El4 262
Forewordix ISLE OF DOGS, El4 263
BARNES, SW13 265
The City of London 1 PUTNEY, SW15 265
ALDERSGATE,EC14 WANDSWORTH, SW18 265
MOORGATE, EC214 BATTERSEA, SWll 265
CIRCLE LINE 19 NINE ELMS, SW8 266
FENCHURCH, EC3 26 LAMBETH, SEl 266
FLEET STREET I ST PAUL'S, EC4 38 SOUTH BANK, SEl 267
BANKSIDE, SEl 268
Central London 67 BERMONDSEY, SEl 269
CLERKENWELL I FINSBURY, ECl 68 ROTHERHITHE, SE16 269
BLOOMSBURY, WCl 83 DEPTFORD, SE8 270
COVENT GARDEN, WC2 98 GREENWICH, SElO 271
The West End 136 East London 273
CENTRAL LINE 140 THE EAST END, El 274
FITZROVIA, Wl 142 EAST LONDON LINE 296
MARYLEBONE, Wl 148 BETHNAL GREEN, E2 307
MAYFAIR, W1158 POPLAR I ISLE OF DOGS, El4 313
PICCADILLY LINE 177
SOHO, Wl183 North London 319
THE ANGEL I ISLINGTON, Nl 320
W I
estn1inster Whitehall2o5 NORTHERN LINE 321
DISTRICT LINE 222 HIGHBURY, NS 331
VICTORIA LINE 247 HIGHGATE, N6 332
HOLLOWAY, N7,~19335
River Thames 249 STOKE NEWINGTON, Nl6 340
HAMMERSMITH, W6 250
FULHAM, SW6 251 North-west London 343
CHELSEA, SW3, SWlO 251 CAMDEN TOWN I REGENT'S PARK, NW1344
PIMLICO, SWl 253 IAKERLOO LINE 347
WESTMINSTER, SWl 254 HAMPSTEAD, NW3 358
STRAND, WC2 256 STJOHN'S WOOD, NW8 367
CITY OF LONDON, EC4,EC3 257 METROPOLITAN LINE 370
~CONTENTS
South-east London
373
SOUTHWARK, SEl 373
JUBILEE LINE 374
GREENWICH, SElO 389
KENNINGTON, SE11393
South-west London
396
. BELGRAVIA, SWl 397
BRIXTON, SW2, SW9 403
CHELSEA, SW3, SWlO 406
EARL'S COURT, SWS 419
SOUTH KENSINGTON, SW7 420
West London
426
BAYSWATER, W2 417
HAMMERSMITH, W6 436
HAMMERSMITH a CITY LINE 436
KENSINGTON, W8 437
NORTH KENSINGTON, WlO 444
NOTTING HILL, Wll 447
SHEPHERD'S BUSH, Wl2 461
WEST KENSINGTON, Wl4 466
Select Bibliography
470
People Index
473 .
· Subject Index
499
Acknowledgements
Without my agent, Faith Evans, and editor, In producing the book, Penguin's
Margaret Bluman, this book would not have Nigel Wilcockson, Louise Ball (publicity),
been possible, and I cannot thank them Elisabeth Merriman, Andrew Barker
enough for their guidance, hard work and (design) and Paul Simonon (for the stun
help. ning cover).
I would like to thank a number of people Finally, I would like to thank Katy Walsh
for providing information, inspiration and Glinert for listeriing so patiently while I read
assistance: Celia Boggis, John Naughton, out to her vast chunks of the editorial,
Tessa Fry, David Stone, Richard Aron, Marian Walsh for all her time, patience and
Simon Rose, Lucy Richmond, Sheila care, and in particular John Nicholson and
Redclift, Nancy Hopkins, Tim Perry, Peter Golds for all the wonderful stories,
Martin Morris, David Rich of Tower nuggets of information and ideas they gave
Hamlets archives, and the staff of the me, month after month, without which this
London Library. book would have been a considerably duller
Many thanks also to Cormach Moore and affair.
Andrea Vincenti.

Foreword
Lord Macaulay, the great early-Victorian his sleaze, football, transport, and so on - but
torian, claimed he had walked down every sets out the information in a dear and easily
street in London. Sam Weller, according to accessible manner.
Charles Dickens in The Pickwick Papers, had Let us see how this works in practice by
a knowledge of London that was 'extensive taking a typical London street - Dean Street
and peculiar'. Sherlock Holmes, according in Soho. A lively and welcoming West End
to his narrator, Dr Watson, had 'an exact thoroughfare, Dean Street is thronged with
knowledge of London'. office workers and the occasional celebrity
Although there are considerably more by day, revellers and partygoers at night,
London streets now than there were in the and tourists at the weekend straying
nineteenth century, it was with these august between the shops of Oxford Street and the
gentlemen in mind that I walked across the cafes of Old Compton Street. On the wall of
capital-from Limehouse to Lambeth, from No. 28 is a plaque commemorating the resi
Sands Ends to Somers Town, from White dency of Karl Marx during the 185os. There
hall to Whitechapel-also hoping to gain an is another plaque, to the considerably less
'extensive and peculiar' understaJ?.ding of well-known Dr Joseph Rogers, a Victorian
London, even if the 'exact knowledge' of era health reformer, at No. 33· Neither
Sherlock Holmes is unattainable, in plaque has room to reveal anything other
researching The London Compendium. than the name of the house's illustrious
The book attempts to unravel the mystery former occupant, and most London guide
of London and relate its most interesting books say little about Dean Street other
stories not in chronological order of events, than a cursory mention of its restaurants
through a haphazard list of themes and sub and pubs or a brief summary of Marx's
jects, or in an A-Z format, but through the stay.
physical reality of the place: its areas, streets Yet Dean Street has a history that is
and buildings. This differentiates The characteristic of London and worth relating
London Compendium from countless in detail. At No. 21, on the east side, once
numbers of other books on London - stood the Venetian ambassador's chapel
themed guides, directories, encyclopaedias where, in 1763, the seven-year-old Mozart
and area histories-in that it not only con played the harpsichord accompanied by his
tains considerable information on all the four-year-old sister. It was rebuilt in the
main topics that one would expect to find in 186os as a school, converted into the West
a book of this size and scope -local history, End Synagogue in 1944. and after that
politics, architecture, royal scandal, litera closed, in the late 1990s became the Soho
ture, espionage and the secret state, music, Theatre. Almost next door is the Quo Vadis
art, religious activity, immigration, crime, restaurant, opened by the Italian Peppino