please empty your brain below
DG, I think the popularity of your blog has given the Mapco site linked in various paragraphs the ol' "hug of death" as none of the links seem to be working for me.

Jamesthegill | 07.07.20 - 7:20 a.m. | #

Interesting stuff as always DG. I wonder what impact, if any, the old Chrisp Street market had on the viability of shops on nearby Poplar high street? It used to be a busy market running the length of the road before redesigned into the current post-war square.

Today's wonderful post also made me think of how some streets on the Island (Isle of Dogs) are surprisingly suburban. Roads like Themopylae Gate and parts of Manchester Road feel very different than the inner city Poplar, perhaps because of the latter's LCC mansion blocks. Streets like Hesperus Crescent remind me more of the Prince Regent Lane area of Canning Town while Harbinger Road is packed full of workers' terraces that perhaps were more present in Poplar until the war or post-war.

Island | 07.07.20 - 7:44 a.m. | #

I do hope the cats' meat dealer sold meat for cats to eat and not the alternative possibility.

Pedantic of Purley | 07.07.20 - 8:52 a.m. | #

Catsmeat was meat unfit for human consumption, mostly from dead horses of which London had a vast supply. By law it had to be dyed, so it couldn't be sold on as food.

HTFB | 07.07.20 - 9:21 a.m. | #

I wonder just how much worse things will become over the coming decade(s).

Saying that, my local High Street is pretty thriving, in a down-at-heel sort of way. In fact that's where I'm off to now, for the weekly grocery shop!

Cornish Cockney | 07.07.20 - 9:56 a.m. | #

yes, according to downforeveryoneorjustme.com mapco.net is down.

davews | 07.07.20 - 9:59 a.m. | #

A fascinating read.... thankyou DG.

Cau1khead | 07.07.20 - 10:04 a.m. | #

Wood Green had a High Road instead of a High Street. I often wondered if that name was an artficial contrivance so that there were no Streets in the whole borough. But one way or another, that did seem to be the case. Only Roads, Avenue, Closes etc.

Malcolm | 07.07.20 - 10:11 a.m. | #

I wonder if the Broadways fared better. My local Wimbledon is unlike its NY counterpart - though it does have a theatre.

Cornish Monkey | 07.07.20 - 10:17 a.m. | #

Lambeth High Street is today an insignificant thoroughfare near Lambeth Bridge. Perhaps it was cut off when the Albert Embankment was driven through.

Where I live in Streatham we have a High Road - when someone talks of Streatham High Street, I know that they are not from the area.

slundoner | 07.07.20 - 11:15 a.m. | #

But you still love these decayed and run-down High Streets - you told us so when you visited my own local, Teddington:

"I'm struck whenever I venture into West London how very different many of its shops are to what I'm used to back East. We have kebabberies, pound shops and bookmakers, whereas Teddington boasts cheesemongers, cigar vendors and picture framers. I know which side of town I'd rather spend my money."

David | 07.07.20 - 11:56 a.m. | #

Much of Bow High Street seems to have gone the same way, no?

dg writes: Bow doesn't have a High Street.

Patrick | 07.07.20 - 12:50 p.m. | #

And despite it all, Teddington STILL boasts a cheesemonger, a cigar vendor and a picture framer. And a series of great big voids where Carluccios and all but one of the big four banks used to be.

Philip | 07.07.20 - 1:15 p.m. | #

The former Carluccio's is already half-open as a coffee etc. takeaway and plans to re-open as a full-service restaurant. Yes, the banks have closed, as they have in so many places and the premises are often hard to repurpose, though NIMBY locals managed to crush a plan to develop the apallingly ugly former HSBC.

David | 07.07.20 - 2:30 p.m. | #

I am now commuting (on pushbike) between Hammersmith and Richmond, and ride along Mortlake High Street on my ride. I was just thinking the other day as I was riding along looking at all the residential how "un-high street" it seemed. Might have to see if I can look up some history on what it looked like in previous decades and centuries.

Greg | 07.07.20 - 3:43 p.m. | #

My father was born in Stepney and my grandmother liver there until she died in 1958. The High Street has certainly changed since then. I now live in the US and my 2 year old grandson visits a farm to view animals every week. Nice to know that if ever I get to take him to London to discover his roots there will be a farm to greet him.

BRIAN BERKE | 07.07.20 - 4:14 p.m. | #

Fascinating, but there are just as many people living in these areas so I wonder where they do their shopping now.

RogerB | 07.07.20 - 5:28 p.m. | #

Fulham High Street is quite disappointing too.

Greg S | 07.07.20 - 7:33 p.m. | #

My local High Street is nowadays a short and relatively inconsequential road of shops, but it passes the old market place near the historic centre of the city, on the old road from London to Wales. The centre of gravity has shifted away to a longer, wider perpendicular street, where the main shops and modern civic buildings are now.

Andrew | 08.07.20 - 9:35 a.m. | #











TridentScan v2.10.0 | Privacy Policy