Learn about Aldwych ghost station
Aldwych tube station, originally as Strand, is a former Piccadilly Line station on the corner of The Strand and Surrey Street. The Station exterior is still visible at street level, particularly so due to the distinctive Leslie Green design.
The Station was the terminus for a short branch of the Picadilly Line which linked it with Holborn station, but this was finally closed in September 1994. It retains many of its original 1907 features, including tiling and signage, and the quality of the station’s well-preserved interior, and the fact that ordinary tube traffic does not pass through the station, has made it very useful for design work and filming. Indeed, wikipedia claims that the tunnels at Aldwych were used in The Prodigy’s Firestarter video.
There’s plenty of other trivia for you in the article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldwych_tube_station
Try Manze’s Pie and Mash
There are three Manze’s Eel and Pie Houses in Greater London. The business has remained in the same family for over 100 years and still use the same recipes today for the pies and liquor as were used when the current owner’s grandfather, Michele Manze, opened his first shop.
Manze arrived in Britain from the hillside village of Ravello in Southern Italy in 1878, at the age of 3. The Manze family settled in Bermondsey, first trading in ice and ice-cream, with Michele branching out into the pie, mash & eels trade in 1902, when he acquired his first shop from the legendary Cooke family, as it had been established in 1891 by Robert Cooke. This shop, at 87 Tower Bridge Road, Bermondsey, is open to this day, and as such it claims to be the oldest eel & pie shop in the world. It was joined by a second shop at 250 Southwark Park Road, Bermondsey in 1908 (now closed), and two further shops in Poplar, which were lost during World War Two. A fifth shop at 105 Peckham High Street was opened in 1927. A final shop is at 226 High Street, Sutton. Only the Tower Bridge Road, Peckham and Sutton shops are still open today.
It is a fantastic history, but your author finds the eclectic list of celebrity endorsements equally intriguing. Did you know that Janine and Sonia from ‘Eastenders’ were interviewed for ‘Heat’ in the Tower Bridge shop? That Roy Orbison, Jim Davidson, Danny Baker, and David Beckham are named by the owners as regulars? That Jono Coleman once hosted the Heart Radio breakfast show from in the shop? and that Rick Stein once filmed a ‘Rick Stein Food Heroes’ here..? Did you care..? Thought not.
For more, see http://www.manze.co.uk/
^Picture by Leeks^
View the Cable Street Mural
Completed in October 1982, the Cable Street Mural recalls the infamous 1936 Battle of Cable Street, which saw a clash between Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists, and a range of local and anti-fascist groups, which included local Jewish, socialist, anarchist, Irish and communist organisations. The Fascists were famously blocked from marching through Cable Street in Stepney, then mainly a Jewish area.
The mural is painted on the side of St George’s Town Hall, which has been in the past the Town Hall for Stepney and a local Vestry Hall. The mural was intended to mark the famous victory by the people of the East End, but was attacked during its creation in 1980 when fascists daubed it with the words ‘British Nationalism not Communism – Rights for Whites. Stop the Race War’ in six foot high letters.
Vandalism has, apparently, continued, and £8,000 had to be spent on repairs in 1985, and £18,000 in 1993 following attacks. Thankfully, at the moment it is ok, and you can see it for yourself by visiting the area. For more on the mural and the battle, see http://www.battleofcablestreet.co.uk/
^Picture by nicksarebi^
Rent the Hoover Building
Today’s article was going to be just another “Admire the…” until your author realised that the wonderful Hoover Building, in North West London, appears to still be available for rent. The 31,443 sq ft Art Deco office building on the A40 Western Avenue dual-carriageway, was designed by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners and completed in 1932.
The building was granted Grade II listed status in 1980, and was in use until the late 1980’s. The factory was built to produce Hoover vacuum cleaners but also manufactured electrical equipment for aircraft and tanks during the war. Whilst part of the original factory is now a Tesco, it would appear that the self contained ‘Hoover Building’ which faces onto the road, and underwent a full refurbishment in 1997, is still available to anyone in need of the space, as long as they have money to burn.
A website which appears to be touting for potential occupants claims the current rent is £480,000 per annum, but it appears running costs and business rates would set you back another few hundred thousand pounds. Your author thinks its probably beyond his means at this time.
For more, see http://www.hooverbuilding.co.uk/
^Picture by stevecadman^
Go climbing at Mile End Climbing Wall
Situated in an old pipe engineering works in Mile End Park, Mile End Climbing Wall was established in the 1980s and now offers 16,000 sq. ft of climbing surface, which is presumably a lot.
The climbing wall is open daily, and until 9.30pm, Monday-Thursday and offers a range of different climbing experiences, from a £12 taster ‘first climb’ session to annual unlimited membership for £300.
The climbing centre also offers extensive “bouldering” at all levels, alongside top-roped and lead climbing and more advanced training areas, in the form of “The Board Room”, and famous “Monkey House”, though no real monkeys were available at time of going to press.
For more information, see http://www.mileendwall.org.uk/
