please empty your brain below
In Palmers Green St John the Evangelist is Church of England and St Monica's is Roman Catholic.

dg writes: Switched, thanks.

Green Lanes from Haringay Arena to Turnpike Lane and Ducketts Common was my mother's shopping route. She wouldn't recognise it today.. A nostalgic blog for me today.

Sara | 14.11.16 - 7:37 a.m. | #

Note: St Monica's is a catholic church; I attended a funeral there last Friday. Guess that St John's across the junction must be a CofE church.

Frank F | 14.11.16 - 7:37 a.m. | #

When Green Lanes is mentioned I think of the old Harringay Arena, but as it closed over 50 years ago I doubt many people still remember it now.

John | 14.11.16 - 7:38 a.m. | #

My favourite fact about Harringay Stadium is that they once tried cheetah racing, but it failed due to lack of interest by the cheetahs.

As a former Wood Green resident, I enjoyed this post. Thanks, dg.

martin | 14.11.16 - 8:02 a.m. | #

The hill going north from Spouters Corner in Wood Green was always known as Jolly Butchers Hill, named after the pub on the hill, The Three Jolly Butchers (it now has an Irish name).

At the top of Jolly Butchers Hill, Bounds Green Road branches to the left. In the days of trolley buses, two routes went towards Bounds Green rather than continuing along Green Lanes.

As the 521 or 621 approached the junction, the conductor would jump off the rear platform of the moving bus, run to a nearby column and pull on a cable that 'changed the points'. With the turn achieved and the bus still rolling, the conductor then released the cable and sprinted back to jump on the platform before the bus picked up speed.

RayL | 14.11.16 - 8:44 a.m. | #

Loved this; former resident of WN myself!

Matt | 14.11.16 - 9:13 a.m. | #

Are the properties numbered consecutively over the full 6 miles?

Curious | 14.11.16 - 10:20 a.m. | #

No, the numbers start again in the Northern bit.

I lived in 608 Green Lanes, N8. Once I ordered a pizza and the delivery guy was looking for me on the wrong part, beyond the North Circular.

Greg S | 14.11.16 - 10:29 a.m. | #

If there is a blogger anywhere that works harder on his blog than dg, I have not seen him.

Colininthailand | 14.11.16 - 11:54 a.m. | #

Thanks for the memories DG.
I can remember the 33 tram running from Manor House down to Newington Green near where an aunt and uncle of mine lived. As a small child I was scared to cross the lines as I thought I might get electrocuted (the current was picked up from a slot in the road). My Grandmother was a housemaid in Lordship Lane near Clissold Park and married the master of the house. I still have my mother's Post Office book stamped "Green Lanes PO" which, I believe, was bombed out of existence during the war.
Boy, does it sound different around there now!

Baldrick | 14.11.16 - 12:12 p.m. | #

The Red Cross Bookshop at 383 Green Lanes, Palmers Green is far and away the best charity bookshop in London.

Mark | 14.11.16 - 12:19 p.m. | #

Ray L

Trolleybus routes 521, 621, 629, 641 and 625 (rush hours only) all ran up Green Lanes. Discontinued 1960/61.

Agent Z | 14.11.16 - 1:52 p.m. | #

The first incarnation of the W4 (no relation to today's W4) ran from Green Dragon Lane/Masons Corner where the former trolleybus turning circle was (now been filled in) to Turnpike Lane Station from 7th September 1968 as part of LT's infamous reshaping plan. That was a sad day as it didn't work and the 141, 269 and 275 routes were much better at serving the north end of Green Lanes.

Roger | 14.11.16 - 2:05 p.m. | #

Was expecting the ludicrously named "#Hashtag Fish & Chips" (opposite Arena Shopping Park) to get a mention.

Dave | 14.11.16 - 5:48 p.m. | #

Readers may like to note what has changed since DGs 2007 account of the stretch between Manor House & Turnpike Lane stations.

Disney's family furniture store has closed, sad to say. And there's an Iceland! Many independent shops are still there though.

Bob L-S | 14.11.16 - 7:04 p.m. | #

John: Harringay Arena! Some time in the late 50s my Dad took me to a hockey game there -- Harringay Racers versus Paisley Pirates. I think the league folded not long afterward.

Jim Webber | 14.11.16 - 8:21 p.m. | #

This route was the destination for a stag weekend approx 12 years ago . Every pub on Green Lanes was visited and a drink taken at each. It took all the opening hours starting at 11 on Saturday and 12 on Sunday . I seem to remember approx 26 pubs, the last being the Green Dragon Winchmore Hill (now closed and awaiting development0 late on a Sunday eve. Those were the days.

chicker | 14.11.16 - 9:04 p.m. | #

You have no idea (yet) of the spookiness of this post...

Blue Witch | Homepage | 15.11.16 - 9:08 a.m. | #

the Green Lanes pub crawl described above reminds of one my neighbours used to do when I lived in Leytonstone; from Stratford into every pub along Leytonstone High Rd to the Green Man. A shorter distance than Green Lanes, but more than 20 pubs. Many of those pubs have since closed, just like in most other places, so such a crawl might be less alcoholic now.

amber | 15.11.16 - 9:50 a.m. | #

One thing I've always wondered but never found a satisfactory answer to:

Why is it Green Lanes, plural? What are the individual lanes?

jennifer | 15.11.16 - 3:17 p.m. | #

Pity you didn't stop for a pint in the Salisbury; it has one of London's finest Victorian pub interiors.

AP | 16.11.16 - 11:04 a.m. | #

You can see in Ridge Avenue that work has now started on the cycle lanes which have been railroaded through by Cycle Enfield and the Council. This is going to prove a very expensive (£8m) white elephant. It might encourage cycling a bit but at the expemse of all other road users, particularly the elderly, infirm and all bus passengers. In particular the shared bus stop arrangements are likely to prove lethal to people getting off.

Work on the Green Dragon Waitrose is already well under way. The pub has been gutted and is propped up over the empty space where the store is being constructed.

You missed the last evidence of NorthMet trams opposite the former pub. There is a small triangular patch of road surface which comprises square wood blocks which are tar coated. This appears to have survived road surfacing over the years, presumably because of the changing responsibilities for the road between the MoT, Middlesex County Council, the GLC and LB Enfield over the years. This will no doubt be obliterated when cycle lane work reaches here next year.

LenofLondon | 17.11.16 - 10:40 a.m. | #











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