please empty your brain below
The Sainsbury building you mention on Holborn Circus replaced a large 1960’s building on that prime site that was the headquarters of the Daily Mirror.

It was big, shiny, brash, new, as befitted the spirit of that time. The street window display included huge unmissable pictures of some of their noted journalists, including Marge Proops, a legendary female columnist of that period.

IanD | 30.03.21 - 7:55 a.m. | #

Thanks DG for that nostalgic trip. In the 00s I temped on several switchboards in the area, including Unilever (the reception area is amazing) & Goldman Sachs - which used to be in Peterborough Court (the old Daily Telegraph building with that Art Deco clock in your photo), but recently relocated to a £1 billion building in Plumtree Court almost next door.

Toni | 30.03.21 - 8:31 a.m. | #

[If you think that says something else, you need your eyes testing]

I have read that paragraph several times but not sure what I may or may not have misread.

RG | 30.03.21 - 8:42 a.m. | #

Now this is what I like most about DG's posts; discovering a sizable fact that I never knew. In this case, Barnard Castle, sorry, Castle Baynard. In all my years of exploring London I've never, ever, heard the name before - unless I have and the effects of lockdown are more serious than I realise. This is truly fascinating stuff. Thank you.

Stuart R | 30.03.21 - 9:42 a.m. | #

Sainsbury’s moved to Holborn around 20 years ago, so may be starting to think about moving again. The brash glass building was designed for Andersen but they decided not to take it at about the time of the acrimonious demerger of the accountants and the consultants, a year or so before Enron broke. Sainsbury’s previous head office was on Stamford Street at the south end of Blackfriars Bridge, where the bulging excrescence of One Blackfriars now stands.

Andrew | 30.03.21 - 9:46 a.m. | #

This is getting to be a fantastic series, London Wards I had no idea of them before. They will make a trip to the City of London more fun in the future.
Only St Pauls and Dr Johnson’s house and the statue of Hodge are familar to be before today.

Michael | 30.03.21 - 10:38 a.m. | #

Until 2019 I had a vote in CB Ward under the City's unique arrangement which gives votes to businesses, in proportion to the number of employees. My (then) employer asks for volunteers to exercise its votes and so in our small department it was "one man, one vote", and I was the one man who had the one vote. (Made me feel like the Elector of Hanover)

timbo | 30.03.21 - 10:39 a.m. | #

Gough Square - the original home of LBC, must have been an awesome place to work back in the 70's when Fleet Street was still a thing, and before all the buying and selling of the company from 1987 onwards, the relocation to Hammersmith, the auctioning off of radio frequencies and so on.

No idea about Baynard's Castle either, if you want to be remembered build a pyramid or perhaps a canal.

Still Anon | 30.03.21 - 10:51 a.m. | #

RG: I think it's about the sign pictured -- if you read two letters of the second line as part of the first, you get something rather rude!

anonymous | 30.03.21 - 12:19 p.m. | #

RG: to get the joke you may need to cast your mind back to a certain Prime Ministerial adviser and his escapades last year.

On another note, there is a Demon Barbers still on Fleet St. It's next to the KFC at number 60, just past the junction with Bouverie St. I'm not sure if it has survived the Covid lockdowns though.

gooneruk | Homepage | 30.03.21 - 1:05 p.m. | #

I worked in that Sainsbury's building for a while about 15 years ago. Not very inspiring as a building or a place to work. Leather Lane and Hatton Garden were great to walk around at lunchtime though.

Johnny Topaz | 30.03.21 - 1:54 p.m. | #

I have a personal connection to this ward, in that the statue of Queen Victoria at the North end of Blackfriars Bridge was presented by my great-grandfather's uncle. Any family journey past the bridge must be acknowledged by a quick photo to confirm it is still present!

TomH | 30.03.21 - 2:21 p.m. | #

I was about to offer @gooneruk's gem about the Demon Barber on Fleet Street. As, in normal times, I work in Bouverie Street, that's where I had my last pre-lockdown haircut. Since then I've had one at the similarly named Sweeney's in Greenwich (run by a real Mr Sweeney). I need another -- it's getting too warm.

AlanBG | 30.03.21 - 3:40 p.m. | #

Oh what memories this triggers. Worked in various offices in this ward in my working life.
Baynard House is only three storey above street level but very deep below. I was told by colleagues who worked in comms that the depth and the endless concrete were because this exchange was designed to survive a nuclear blast - was never sure if they were pulling my leg on that score.

IslandDweller | 30.03.21 - 8:10 p.m. | #

"Hodge, a very fine cat indeed". Good old Sam Johnson.

Idea for a series: Cats and Dogs of London.

Marmaduke Jinks | 30.03.21 - 11:28 p.m. | #

Tom Cruise broke his foot jumping off Baynard House.

Richard DeDomenici | Homepage | 31.03.21 - 8:18 a.m. | #

On the subject of City of London Wards check out this weeks edition of the blog 'A London Inheritance'.

Johnny Topaz | 31.03.21 - 9:48 a.m. | #











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