please empty your brain below
Hazy, aged memory thing: years back, wasn't there a large mannequin on the Angel frontage (or very close by) of a woman in suspenders and a top hat? Probably it was a nod to Marlene Dietrich's career-launching role in the movie The Blue Angel. Angel today is noisy and depressing; somewhere to pass through quickly rather than linger for any time. Nice read, thank you.

Waterhouse | 20.02.24 - 7:17 a.m. | #

Yes, a good read, well illustrated, thanks.
Technically the A1 doesn't cross the Inner Ring Road here, it joins it. For a short distance to the east the A1 shares a bit of City Road.

Malcolm of Kent | 20.02.24 - 8:35 a.m. | #

I've always had an irrational dislike of the now ex-office block, so this is a rare instance of a bland development I'm actually in favour of... That said, I wish the Angel Inn/Lyon's and the Phoenix were still intact!

Gunnersaurus | 20.02.24 - 8:49 a.m. | #

The cream building next to the pub next door to The Angel (ground floor now a Starbucks) was a cinema when I was a child in the fifties. My loving ,caring parents let me go at the age of six with a few chums but no adult accompaniment to the Saturday morning show. Features, all in black and white, included Hopalong Cassidy, Buck Rogers and something with a scary villain called The Scorpion.

Keith from N2 | 20.02.24 - 9:09 a.m. | #

I remember when I first moved to London I did have a series of outings based on Neverwhere (rather than a UK Monopoly board, which I'd never seen at that point). I thought the Wetherspoons was a pretty dire thing to name the area after and assumed it sat on a demolished Victorian folly of a pub. I hadn't realised the actual thing was next door. I did make myself content with a detour up to see Hotblack Desiato instead.

Chz | 20.02.24 - 9:15 a.m. | #

Seems short sighted to rename the (not quite in the right place) Angel pub to The Junction - losing all the free Monopoly publicity.

MKIan | 20.02.24 - 10:20 a.m. | #

Busy as the junction at Angel might be I still found this an unreasonably rosy-eyed takedown of what remains one of the nicest high streets in north London. Unlike Camden or Kentish Town it has pavements wide enough for a proper pedestrian throughput. The pubs might be thoroughly mid but the reaches of Upper Street have some of the best charity shops in the entire N postcode area. Just don't leave your bike here overnight or stick your phone out for a nicking.

Why so down on Angel, DG?

dg writes: this is a post about a street corner, not a street.

EHL | Homepage | 20.02.24 - 10:21 a.m. | #

I recall the Blue Angel image, l think it had been painted on an inner wall on the part-demolished cinema and became visible from the outside as it was being knocked-down. It was best seen from the top deck of EB buses negotiating the then one-way system from Pentonville Road to Islington High Street.

Kim | 20.02.24 - 11:14 a.m. | #

The blue paintwork in the space used by the CoOp banks is likely coincidental because the corporate colours of that park of the CoOp is a similar light blue to the Monopoly colour

MilesT | 20.02.24 - 11:55 a.m. | #

Angel station in the rose-tinted good old days.

Sprout Eater | 20.02.24 - 1:14 p.m. | #

The Angel, Islington - always remembered from the 1960s as the most magical and mystical of Monopoly properties. In reality though, remembered in the 1980s for the uncanny and unsafe atmosphere going down to the overcrowded island platform at the Underground station. Never to pleased to see a train arrive, and get on it!

cau1khead | 20.02.24 - 4:37 p.m. | #

As per MKIan's comment, not using one of, if not the, most famous pub names in the city seems an odd choice, unless it was a term of the sale

Herned | 20.02.24 - 6:47 p.m. | #

A rather unpleasant plan somewhat linked with the Ringways scheme would have seen the Angel junction being transformed into some motorway monstrosity.

Didn't know they'd razed the building over the tube station so quickly! It was still standing (and occupied probably) when I last dropped last summer.

Angel in itself is a bit of a strange place. As in the 'centre of gravity' of retail isn't on the junction itself. It's either toward Chapel Market or further up Upper Street. Always found the corner itself to be rather grim.

In terms of pedantry, is it correct to refer to the area as Angel without the 'the' with only the (ex)-pub/corner being referred to as *the* Angel.

matthieu1221 | 20.02.24 - 7:38 p.m. | #

Can you say a place has been razed when the structure is being reused?

tops | 21.02.24 - 9:12 a.m. | #

Ooh, this post has been Hacker-News-ed.
Hello, thousands of you.

To answer a couple of questions...

• I'm writing about the British version of the board.
• I didn't mention the clubs round the corner because I was writing about a single building.
• The top of the nipple is quite phallic.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 23.02.24 - 11:39 p.m. | #











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