please empty your brain below
Ah, the “Jewish Vikings”. Back in the mid 80s when I worked in Farringdon Lane, we’d often have a small pint (or 2) and a hearty lunch there. “Why do you call the Coach and Horses that?” I asked. Gruff older sales manager: “Coach n Horses = Kosher Norses”

Lunchtime drinking? The past truly is another country.

Adam D | 17.11.20 - 7:31 a.m. | #

Wow - did not know about Smithfield Market possibly moving. I can totally see this happening, which would be a shame.

Kevin | 17.11.20 - 8:15 a.m. | #

You are so right about lunchtime drinking. When I mention how normal this was to people under 30 I feel like a senile Victorian gent. Sometimes I wonder if my menory is corrupted. Pub food was a rubbery roll - cheese or ham- picked from a glass globe. Some pubs would offer you mustard to relieve the blandness.

Ogden | 17.11.20 - 8:34 a.m. | #

Ham was very different back in the day wasn't it, thin and greasy with a rind you could simply peel away, and as for cheese don't get me started, little more than a processed square with a nod to Cheddar and sweating slightly, and as for the bread in a pub sandwich this would always be white and thickly buttered, although more likely margarine and who knows how many grubby hands had touched it! Some days I find it hard to believe the 1970s actually happened.

Brian | 17.11.20 - 8:45 a.m. | #

My Great grandfather owned a thriving business at Smithfield Market, pre-war.

PJS | 17.11.20 - 9:01 a.m. | #

"The whiff off butchered meat drifts out through the plastic curtains" sounds like a really disgusting euphemism, but I'm not entirely sure what for.

Scott | Homepage | 17.11.20 - 9:20 a.m. | #

Is Molly's Cafe a Benugo joint or a Searcys?

dg writes: Neither

TheLupineOne | 17.11.20 - 9:31 a.m. | #

I did once manage to record the sound of the Fleet from that grate once, and even caught some very slight sparkles in the darkness on a video.

My river-walking companion did need to warn me about approaching cyclists while I was doing this though, so good news for future Fleet fans that the grate is now on the pavement!

Stephen Tjasink | 17.11.20 - 9:37 a.m. | #

The Museum of London is going to move to West Smithfield market.
https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/about-us/our-organisation/west-smithfield

It's the first time I remember an audio component to this excellent Blog. Thanks.

Dave | 17.11.20 - 9:47 a.m. | #

It entirely makes sense for Smithfield to move out

It'll be a sad day though when it does go, as there's something so gloriously anachronistic about something so earthy and workaday still being located smack in the middle of London, where the vast majority of people just sit at desks looking at computer screens

Mikey C | 17.11.20 - 10:35 a.m. | #

Putting the caf in the pub sounds sensible. i wonder what will become of the very modern glass-walled caf at the end of the historic area passage that seemed to be a way of spending some of the too much millenium grant, attracting a great many time-rich Mums and their boisterous children. It rather diminished the magic of the previous experience of darkened period rooms.
i liked the previous caf area in that short bay passage (one end of which led into the library)with it's squeaky cane seats and minimal refreshments.

the other eric | 17.11.20 - 10:45 a.m. | #

All good stuff - though a lot of guided walks leaders will lose out on a major stopping point if Smithfield goes.
Just about every guided walk I've ever done in that area has either gone through or past it, with a stop to talk about it!

Cornish Cockney | 17.11.20 - 11:39 a.m. | #

After reading about the Fleet grating, I looked on OpenStreetMap to find where Ray Street was. I see that somebody has now added some of the hidden rivers including the Fleet, Tyburn and Westbourne from source to end (dashed light blue 'tunnel', need to zoom in). I don't know how accurate the routes are. Given that these are now generally incorporated into the sewers, I assume that there was also an accompanying whiff from the grate as well :-)

dg writes: You assume incorrectly.

Rogmi | 17.11.20 - 12:28 p.m. | #

These things come in threes, as they say. Both John Rogers and Joolz (of Joolz London Guides) on Youtube were walking the Fleet at the weekend, Sure enough, John found a torch enabled sight of the waters outside The Coach. Joolz did experience a smell from one of the grates, outside The Prince Albert in Camden Town.

MartinL | 17.11.20 - 5:04 p.m. | #

I wonder if there are plans to add a station on the Lea Valley Line (Temple Mills branch) opposite Temple Mills depot if they do decide to convert New Spitalfields into an awful lot of housing.

Peewee | 17.11.20 - 10:01 p.m. | #

A friend and I on a socially distanced walk went down to Ray Street just to hear the Fleet. I’ve eaten in the pub before, but didn’t know about the grille until I read about it here.

You could hear the river loud and clear, so thanks for that.

Baldassaro | 18.11.20 - 9:45 p.m. | #

Peewee: the council would like a Ruckholt Road station - presumably funded by S106 money from the 3000 homes they'd like to build on the market site.

I'm not convinced it's a brilliant location for housing: it's hemmed in on three sides by the Lea, the railway and a dual carriageway. Despite being close to lots of stuff I'd feel quite isolated living there.
(Though perhaps I'd be better sending my thoughts to the consultation than dg's comments box).

martin | 20.11.20 - 4:41 a.m. | #











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