London cabbie shelters – my favourite street furniture

I was on a London Walks walking tour around Little Venice a few months ago when,  the very knowledgeable and entertaining guide, Shaughan pointed out a London cabman’s shelter at the start of the walk outside Warick Avenue station.  Since then cabbie shelters have become my favourite piece of London street furniture.

For the uninitiated London cabman shelters are the green shed-type boxes that are dotted throughout the city.  Two of the easiest to find are on Embankment place just before the steps to the western Hungerford foot bridge and on Temple place just near Temple tube. There were originally more than 60 of these shelters around the city although only 13 survive. They’re now all listed.

Apparently in the 1870s George Armstrong had been having a hell of a time getting a cab home one evening. Despite their being lots of cabs around it turned out that all the drivers were on the lash in the pub. Obviously something needed to be done to encourage more professional behaviour amongst cabbies so Armstrong enlisted the help of this friend the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. A charity was set up to build the shelters to provide a more wholesome place for cabbies to relax. As such booze, gambling and swearing are all forbidden inside shelter walls.

The shelters contain a staffed kitchen where cabbies can get a cheap feed and take a break.  Amazingly they sit about a dozen people. I saw some photos taken inside one at the, interesting but far too limited, London Street Photography exhibition currently on at the Museum of London. They look a lot bigger inside than one would think.

Although only cab drivers and staff are allowed inside it is possible for the public to order food and drinks from a window. I’m told a bacon sarnie and cup of tea is only £2. Result! I’ve never seen a window open when passing, unfortunately, so haven’t been able to get a snack there myself.

There are loads more pics and some further information about where cab shelters are located here.

Balham – mobile reception black hole

Balham. Gateway to the south & mobile phone reception black hole.

I really do find it astonishing that in a city like London that I’m virtually unable to get mobile phone reception in some areas. Balham has far and away the worst reception I’ve experienced in this city. And I’m not talking about trying to make a call from inside a bank vault. I struggle to get reception when standing in the middle of the street.

Did the phone companies forget Balham when they were setting up cell towers? I’m no expert on mobile signals but there doesn’t seem to be anything different about Balham than say nearby Tooting or Clapham that could be causing such a communications void.  So I’m at a very frustrated and ongoing loss.

And phone reception is just the start. Don’t even try to get a decent data connection. “Hello Balham? Yeah – the 90s just called. They want their internet speeds and reliability back”.

I know this is supposed to be a blog about London loves but the odd rant is bound to slip through now and then.

Directions please?!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being asked for directions. This is a guilty pleasure of mine. I love being able to play a small part in someone’s day as they try and navigate London. I’m always happy to stop and help.  I like to think that by giving directions a) I’m doing my bit to show that not all Londoners are apathetic grumps and b) I improve the lost person in question’s day by just that little bit.

Occasionally I’ll whip out my phone and look up the exact location for them on my phone but yesterday it was a lot simpler. A man visiting from Wales was on the southbound Victoria line platform at Oxford Circus. He was staring at the tube map looking flummoxed as a train pulled away. In a moment of exasperation he blurted a request for diriections to Victoria at me. He was eternally grateful for my assistance and we entered into a friendly chat. The most unexpected thing was that he made a joke about Welshmen and sheep.  At the next train we parted ways and wished each other all the best – as social etiquette dictates. He was careful not to get on at the same set of doors at me lest we’d be in the awkward position of feeling obliged to carry on the conversation. For this I was grateful. Directions is one thing but carrying on small talk with a stranger on the tube is not something I’m ready for. I had my Kindle to dive into after all.

The great London doors

There are interesting and character filled doors all around London. Here are some that have taken my fancy recently.

Wilton's music hall

This is the door to Wilton’s Music Hall, a Victorian music hall in East London. It’s one of London’s great hidden gems. Wilton’s itself needs over £3m for restoration and recently had their application to the Lottery fund rejected. It would be a great tragedy to see this fantastic venue go. Check out a show there or at the very least get along to the public bar for a drink. I can sum up the character in two words: distressed chic.

Old Buck’s row school house in Whitechapel

This is the door to the old Buck’s Row school house in Whitechapel. The school has now been converted into apartments. It looks like the doorway has been artificially reduced over the years. Back in the day doorways needed to be wider to accommodate the sizeable dresses of society women – although I’m not sure a school in Victorian East London would have had such requirements!

There’s a bit of macabre history nearby. Over the back of the property is where the body of Jack The Ripper’s first victim was discovered.

Patriotic gate

In London one finds intriguing things in the most random places. I found this patriotic doorway on a shed outside a furniture warehouse in Wimbledon. The location is well away from any passing street traffic so it definitely wasn’t painted this way as a show piece. It was a great find though.

More doors will be posted in the future.

Help the war effort. Cut down the front fence.

London is full of secrets and hints about the past. But you need to look closely.

Notice the raised parts of the front fence in the picture below. There used to be a iron fence posts on this house. I’m told that all across London iron posts like these were taken down and used for the manufacture of munitions during the second world war. After the war they were never replaced and these protruding stubs of iron are all that remain.

Stubs of an iron fence

Post-war people had much more to worry about that restoring their fences but I still find it a shame they’re no longer there. It would be quite picturesque to have fence lined streets. I only really notice iron fences on houses in the wealthier areas of London nowdays. The owners of these places obviously had the means to restore them.

Welcome to LDN Loves

Hello and welcome to LDN Loves.

I moved to London in 2007 and have loved it ever since. I love so much about this city.  There is never a dull moment here. I spend vast amounts of my spare time as a perpetual tourist and cultural junkie. I read a lot of books about London and love learning a new interesting fact or historical anecdote – many of which I’ll share here.

I’ll be posting about London news, events, history, nooks and crannies. Hope you like it.

You can follow me on Twitter here: @LDNLoves

Fried chicken shops – how will history remember them?

In the 17th century the coffee houses took London by storm. These were the places to go. Places were people gathered to socialise and do business. Lloyd’s of London was started in a coffee house of the same name on Lombard street in the City. Many societies and clubs were started in coffee houses too.  The coffee house one frequented were a part of ones identity with those in the same profession or of similar philosophical outlook being associated with particular houses. I’ve read that in the 17th century there were as many coffee houses in London as there are today.

In the 18th century it was gin shops that had taken over London.   Londoners took to gin wih such gusto that the resulting drunkenness was considered epidemic.   The gin epidemic was blamed for all societies woes: crime, prostitution, immorality and the spread of disease to name but a few.  At the height of consumption it is said that there was a gin shop for every 75 people in the capital.

Coffee houses and gin shops have a firm place in London history. And this got me thinking. What types of establishments exist in London today that historians will be referring to in years to come?

My nomination: the fried chicken shop.

These days London is awash with fried chicken shops.  They’re on virtually every high street offering incredibly cheap fried chicken to hungry punters.  And it tastes so good. Well, good in a great-until-I-swallow-the-last-mouthful-then-I-feel-sick kind of way. I’d love to know when the first one opened and whether it’s still going. That’d be worth a trip for sure.

I wonder how many friend chicken shops there are in the Greater London area? Several thousand I’d imagine.  Like the kebab, fried chicken is mostly associated with the post-pub crowd desperately in need of a grease fix on the way home.  I do wonder though if fried chicken will one day be replaced by another after booze snack. If this happens I wonder if historians will record their once mighty grip on late night revellers?