BOW STREET

 

    

     Bow Street is dominated by the former Magistrates Court and Royal Opera House with not much else of note. But, as it is part of Covent Garden, I’ve also highlighted some other places of interest around there. The Covent Garden area was originally the kitchen garden of Westminster Abbey convent.

Stanfords Map Shop (1)

     Coffee at Stanfords brilliant map shop is a nice way to start the day. And I can also tick Denmark off my international food list.

    This famous shop recently moved to Langley Street. It’s just round the corner from the premises in Long Acre they had occupied since 1901. Stanfords have actually been trading in Covent Garden since 1853.

     Ordnance Survey has been the national mapping agency for Great Britain since 1790. Naturally, there are OS maps galore in Stanfords. I may waffle more on this when we get to Marlborough Street where OS founder William Roy lived.

         ….. and where else would I find a map that is older than my house? (other than Amazon)

       

                 Some are rather niche, even for me ....

            …. suddenly ‘A Monopoly Guide to London’ doesn’t sound such a bad idea.

19-20 Bow Street (2)

      The name Bow Street Runners was an early slang term used by the public for the peelers/ filth/ scum/bluebottles/old bill/bobbies/coppers/plods/rozzers/sweeney, etc.

       In cockney rhyming slang ‘Grass’ for informant derives from grasshopper/copper.

Former Bow Street Magistrates Court (3)

    The first court at Bow Street was established in 1740.

    From 1829, when Sir Robert Peel established the Metropolitan Police, Bow Street Magistrates Court was also the home of Britain’s first police station. Bow Street was the only police station to have a white rather than blue light outside. The story goes that, when attending the opera, it upset Queen Victoria to be reminded of the blue room in which Prince Albert died.

   The police station closed in 1992 and the Courthouse in 2006. The listed building now houses the NoMad hotel and London’s newest museum, (of which there are over 170). The Bow Street Police Museum opened in the middle of the pandemic.

Bow Street Police Museum (4)

     In 1968, after assassinating Martin Luther King, James Earl Ray was on the run when he was arrested at Heathrow. He was brought to Bow Street where his extradition was quickly authorised and he was returned to the United States to face trial. Ray was sentenced to 99 years which became 100 after he briefly escaped in 1977. He died in prison in 1998, aged 70.

  Royal Opera House (5)

Bridge of Inspiration (6)

Young Dancer statue (7)

     Bronze sculpture by Enzo Plazzotta. The phone boxes are all locked and used only by tourists using their phones to take photos of phone boxes.

    This Bow Street plaque is on the wall opposite.

Central Market, Covent Garden (8)

        Now a familiar tourist area, this was originally a huge fruit and veg market. It moved to Battersea in 1974 after delivery van congestion made it unviable. Snuff is available. And furloughed opera singers.

 London Transport Museum (9)

St Paul’s, The Actors Church (10)

      Margaret Porteous was also buried here in 1665. She was the first victim of the Great Plague of London.

       They also have nice classical concerts.

 Cross Keys, Endell Street (11)

     The Cross Keys is stuffed full of bric-a-brac including Beatles memorabilia ….

…. and tucked away in a corner (I had to ask) a cricket bat signed by Don Bradman ….

 

      So a better choice to dine would be upstairs in this old favourite ….

Lamb and Flag (12)

     Tucked away Rose Street, the original Lamb and Flag was built sometime between 1623 and 1638, no-one is quite sure. The present pub is a relatively new build - 1772.

      For some time, when it staged prize fights, it was known as the Bucket of Blood. Charles Dickens drank there (of course).

           .... with a nod to cockney rhyming slang .....

    This gives me a chance, for the benefit of my younger readers, to repeat this old Chestnut (Drive) story ….

     A couple of years ago I was in the George in Wanstead and ordered a curry. As the barmaid rang it up on the till, 'ruby' appeared on the screen. I said, "that's a nice touch".  She didn't understand.  So I explained Ruby Murray/curry - after the Irish songstress. Then she told me her name was Ruby.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD3WuD-ERmI

     There are several other branches of Dishoom in central London; and they even do breakfast from 8am ….

Salisbury Arms, St Martin's Lane

    Fine late Victorian interior with original cut glass and hand-carved mahogany.

    The Salisbury was well known as a gay-friendly pub from Oscar Wilde's time up until the mid-1980s. The 1961 British suspense film Victim, directed by Basil Dearden and starring Dirk Bogarde and Sylvia Syms, includes scenes inside and outside The Salisbury and was the first English language film to use the word "homosexual". It is generally recognised that the movie led, in part, to the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

     In 1979, the British serial killer Dennis Nilsen attempted to murder Andrew Ho, a student from Hong Kong that he had met in The Salisbury. Although Ho went to the police and Nilsen was questioned, the student chose not to testify, so no charges were brought against Nilsen. Nilsen had already killed once, and went on to murder another fourteen young men.

     The Salisbury Arms is a handy meeting place as, unlike many central London pubs, it opens before noon, around 11am - perfect for a 1230 booking at Dishoom. Also, if you have a group of between 10-20, free of charge, you can reserve The Whisky Room which is a separate area adjacent to the main bar.

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