FREEDOM PASS WETHERSPOONS PART 5
FREEDOM PASS WETHERSPOONS PART 5
Having already visited around two thirds of Wetherspoons pubs in Greater London, those that remain are about as familiar to me as the dark side of the Moon - but all the more interesting.The George - Wanstead Part 5
Outside Wanstead Underground Station, opposite The George, proudly stands a rare sight - an Edward VIII Post Box. There are 115,500 post boxes in the UK but just 171 bear the Edward VIII cypher. Only 200 were produced during the 326 days Edward was on the throne before he abdicated on December 11, 1936.
More than 60% of the existing post boxes carry the ER II cypher and this will continue to be the case for some time as the Royal Mail still has some in stock. These will be used first before CR III boxes appear.
British postage stamps already bear the profile of the King and there are some 50p coins in circulation. The Queen faced right on all coins but Charles III will face left, following a tradition of alternation introduced in the 17th century.
The Fox on the Hill - Denmark Hill
This is a super Spoons, the best I've found in London so far. It has a spacious interior with a good variety of rooms and booths. Also, there is plenty of outdoor seating at the front and a covered beer garden to the rear. I would imagine it is very popular in the summer and has great views - you can see the London Eye in the distance.
The name of this pub dates back to the 1700s when The Fox was situated further down Denmark Hill. Later it was renamed The Fox Under Hill and the starting point for many hunting meets with foxhounds. It was flattened by the Luftwaffe in 1941 and later rebuilt at this new location as the present Fox on the Hill. It stands next to Ruskin Park on Denmark Hill, named after Prince George of Denmark, who hunted there. He was the husband of Queen Anne.
"The English country gentlemen galloping after a fox is the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable". Oscar Wilde
Which leads me smoothly/clumsily (you decide) to the fact that Pink Floyd used Ruskin Park for their first official photoshoot in 1967 ....
www.rockarchive.com
Nick Mason, Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and Richard Wright are seen here next to the Ruskin Park Portico, a remnant of the villas which once encircled Denmark Hill. It was restored in 2017.
The park is named after poet, writer and champion of green spaces John Ruskin who lived nearby from 1823 to 1871.
When this beautiful park was created in 1907, existing houses, apart from the Portico, were demolished. One of those houses was where Felix Mendelssohn composed the very familiar Spring Song. A commemorative terracotta sundial bears the inscription: "Here stood the house where Mendelssohn wrote his Spring Song" - which is not strictly true as in 2021 it was relocated to the Labyrinth Garden.
The original bandstand still remains from when the park was opened.
The Kentish Drovers - Peckham
It may be just one stop away on the Overground, but The Kentish Drovers sits in a whole different world to The Fox on the Hill.
The pub takes it's name from an inn dating from the late 1700s that stood opposite. When Peckham was a village it would have been the final port of call for cattle drovers taking their livestock to Smithfield Market.
Now, Peckham is one of the most ethnically diverse places in the UK with less than 30% White and over 50% Black/African/Caribbean.
On the side of The Kentish Drovers is the Peckham Peace Wall ....
Rather than being an open invitation for mischief, the spirit of the Peace Wall seems to have been respected.
Also, next to the pub is the award-winning Peckham Library ....
"Trotters Independent Trading Co. New York - Paris - Peckham" was famously emblazoned on the side of Del Boy's Reliant Regal in the classic British sitcom Only Fools and Horses. Click here for a lovely jubbly clip.
Only Fools and Horses ran for 64 episodes. Despite it being set in Peckham the majority of location filming was in Bristol and other parts of London.
Rye Lane was my favourite low-budget movie of 2023, named after Peckham's main thoroughfare. Much of the film was shot in the area, including local restaurants, Rye Lane Market and Peckhamplex cinema.
The fun-loving folk of Peckham certainly know how to paint the town .....
..... so, it's probably advisable to keep moving. It seems anything stationary here quickly ends up with a makeover.
The Hart and Spool - Borehamwood
There are no signs of any luvvies drinking there, least of all Danny Dyer behind the bar. It certainly seems like a 'regulars' pub who arrive with a cheery "ello sweet 'art, the usual please" followed by some inappropriate sexist comment - all taken in good humour by the barmaids (er, I mean bar associates).
'Hart' in the name comes from Hertsmere, meaning the Hertfordshire boundary. Spool is the obvious film reference.
Elstree Studios are Britain's Hollywood. But the numerous film and TV studios have always been in Borehamwood as when, in 1914, they started shooting movies here it was thought working in the pleasant hamlet of Elstree would have more appeal for the film stars of the day than industrial Borehamwood, literally the other side of the tracks.
I love the movies, and I signed up for a very enjoyable and informative walking tour of Borehamwood with guide Rob Smith. https://footprintsoflondon.com/guides/rob-smith/
It's no Hollywood Boulevard, but Borehamwood's Shenley Road has its own Film and Television Heritage Trail of eighteen plaques. These two can be found opposite The Hart and Spool .....
..... apparently Harrison Ford, who spent plenty of time here shooting the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, called it 'Boringwood'.
Rob first took us to the site of the Neptune Film Company, which opened the first studios in Borehamwood in 1914. From 1920 onwards the town became the main centre of the British film industry. The first British talkie made here was Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail (1929).
By the 1980s there were six major Elstree studios boasting a whole string of blockbusters including Star Wars (from 1977), The Shining (1980), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Brief Encounter (1945), The Dam Busters (1955), Moby Dick (1956), and, er, Summer Holiday (1963).
From 1959 Television shows, like The Saint (1961-1969) with Roger Moore, were made here ....
The Muppet Show was also produced in Borehamwood for ATV after being rejected by the American networks.
And the ground-breaking video for Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody was filmed in Borehamwood in November 1975.
As a boy, Simon Cowell lived in Elstree. He recalls the house next door being rented by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton as their sanctuary whenever they were working at the studios.
There are now just two major studios in Borehamwood - Elstree Studios and the BBC Elstree Centre. A third, Sky Studios is currently under construction. It will have 13 sound stages.
BBC Elstree Centre ....
On the left is the rear of Eastenders Albert Square (take 2). It had to be completely rebuilt to more convincing specs after the introduction of HD.
The building on the right was originally built as an ABC TV office block. It became the unlikely location of later episodes of Grange Hill school. More recently it was the more plausible Holby City hospital or, on occasion, Walford General in Eastenders.
The Moon on the Hill - Sutton
This is a regular pub with a default Spoons name, some rather odd metal tree sculptures and visually disturbing carpets.
Near to Sutton station is a mural of US singer/songwriter Erykah Badu by Spanish urban artist Eva Mena. It was commissioned by the owner of a cleaning firm and took three days to complete.
David Wynne's Messenger statue stands outside Quadrant House. The sculptor is probably best known for Girl With A Dolphin by Tower Bridge which former Wimbledon champion Virginia Wade recently revealed she modelled for naked. See my National Portrait Gallery
What is now The Winning Post was formerly The Red Lion where, in January 1963, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts became permanent members of the Rolling Stones. They had their first hit with Come On six months later.
The King's Tun - Kingston upon Thames
On two floors, this massive town centre Wetherspoons is named to reflect Kingston's royal history. At least seven Saxon Kings were crowned in Kings Tun, meaning royal estate.
The Coronation Stone, in front of Kingston Guildhall, marks the spot where the kings were crowned, the last being the wonderfully named Ethelred the Unready in 979 AD.
The telephone box sculpture, created by David Mach is entitled Out of Order. Commissioned in 1988, it was described by Mach as "anti-minimalist".
Flick the chimp is by Gillie and Marc (2022).
Photographer Eadweard Muybridge lived much of his life in America but was born and died in Kingston. His first name was actually Edward. But he changed it to be the same as the Saxon king on the Coronation Stone. There is more on Muybridge in the next pub.
A beaten docket is a losing betting slip, associated with horse racing and popular in the area at the end of the 19th century. The walls of The Beaten Docket are adorned with plenty of old horse racing prints.
Until still frame photography was invented, all paintings of galloping horses looked like this. But it was Eadweard Muybridge who showed their legs are never in this position* after being assigned to show that all hooves can leave the ground when a horse is galloping ....
.... to produce this sequence of images Muybridge used a line of 12 cameras, each triggered by a thread. This work took some time as in the middle of his experiments Muybridge discovered his wife was having an affair and shot her lover. His murder trial put his work on hold. But he was eventually acquitted on the grounds of justifiable homicide.
* apart from Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National.
Gladstone Park, between Cricklewood and Dollis Hill, covers approximately 35 hectares and offers very good views on a clear day (unlike this one in February).
It was named after William Gladstone shortly following his death in 1898. As Prime Minister, he spent many hours relaxing here, at Dollis Hill House, the home of Lord Aberdeen.
Dollis Hill House was demolished in 2012 after becoming derelict. But the footprint (above) remains and is used as a performance centre.
Another regular visitor to Dollis Hill House was Mark Twain, who loved Gladstone Park. He said, "I have never seen any place that was so satisfactorily situated, with its noble trees and stretch of country, and everything that went to make life delightful, and all within a biscuit's throw of the metropolis of the world".
I'm not one to miss the opportunity of quoting quotes so here are ten from Mark Twain who makes Oscar Wilde sound positively reticent:
"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything".
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect".
"Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason".
"Nothing spoils a good story like the arrival of an eye witness".
"Never miss an opportunity to shut up".
"The older I get, the more clearly I remember things that didn't happen".
"God created war so that Americans could learn geography".
"A gentleman is someone who knows how to play the banjo and doesn't".
"Love your enemy, it will scare the life out of him".
"Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level then beat you with experience".
Mark Twain Drive skirts the eastern side of the park and on it sits the distinctive Cricklewood Pumping Station, built in 1905. The interior was used in the movies as the engine room of The Titanic. But there are conflicting claims as to whether this was for Titanic (1997) or A Night to Remember (1958). Maybe it was both?
The Coronation Hall - Surbiton
The resplendent Coronation Hall began life as a lecture hall on June 21, 1911, the day before the coronation of King George V.
It later became a cinema and then a bingo hall. Wetherspoons have lovingly restored it, retaining many of the original features from its days as a cinema, including the vaulted room beams and stained glass windows.
Alfred Bestall, who wrote and illustrated Rupert the Bear in the Daily Express lived in Cranes Park, Surbiton for thirty years.
Enid Blyton worked as a nursery governess in Surbiton for four years from 1920.
Phyllis Dixey, known as 'The Girl from Surbiton' was the first licenced striptease artist in Britain.
Surbiton Station is Grade II listed and one of Britain's finest modernist stations. It was built after Kingston local council had refused permission for the London and Southampton Railway through the town, fearful it would affect their coaching trade. So Surbiton, around 1.5 miles south of Kingston was chosen to serve the area. When Kingston eventually got its own station it had to settle for a branch line whilst Surbiton retained its position on the main line.
Surbiton has been frequently portrayed by the media as the epitome of British white middle-class suburbia, notably in the BBC sitcom The Good Life. Location filming for the series took place miles away in Northwood.
The William Webb Ellis - Twickenham
The legend goes that Rugby Union was invented in 1823 by Rugby schoolboy William Webb Ellis who picked up the ball and ran with it during a football match. Webb Ellis died in 1872, just two days before the Rugby Football Union was founded.
Despite the story being almost certainly untrue, not only this pub (and another in Rugby) but also the Rugby World Cup trophy are named after Webb Ellis.
England won The Webb Ellis Trophy for the one and only time in 2003.
On the day I popped in for a swift half, The William Webb Ellis was pretty busy ....
.... but then England were playing Ireland a few hours later. (England 23 Ireland 22)
The Moon and Sixpence - Hatch End
It is located in the charming Pinner Memorial Park and has examples of both his impressive earlier work as a book illustrator as well as many of his famous cartoons ....
Testing Golf Drivers Space Economy at a Wedding
THE WART CHAIR. A SIMPLE DEVICE FOR Deceiving Nazi Dive-Bombers
REMOVING A WART FROM THE TOP OF THE HEAD
(Oxford English Dictionary)
STILL TO VISIT ....
The Willow Walk, Victoria SW1V 1LW
The Holland Tringham - Streatham SW16 1HJ
The George - Croydon CR0 1LA
The Good Yarn - Uxbridge UB8 1JX
The Tichenham Inn - Ickenham UB10 8DF
The Village Inn - Rayners Lane HA5 5DY
The Greenwood Hotel - Northolt UB5 4LA
J.J. Moon's - Kingsbury NW9 9EL
J.J. Moon's - Wembley HA9 6AA
The Barking Dog - Barking IG11 8TU currently closed for refurbishment.
The Moon & Stars - Penge SE20 7QS
The Moon Under Water - Norbury SW16 4AU
The Moon Under Water - Watford WD17 2BS
The Moon Under Water - Hounslow TW3 3LF
The New Cross Turnpike - Welling DA16 3PB
The Nonsuch Inn - North Cheam SM3 9AA
The Watchman - New Malden KT3 4ES
The Sir Julian Huxley - Selsdon CR2 8LB
The Tailor's Chalk - Sidcup DA14 6ED
The Whispering Moon - Wallington SM6 8QF
The Wibbas Down Inn - Wimbledon SW19 1QT
The Furze Wren - Bexleyheath DA6 7DY
The Wrong 'Un - Bexleyheath DA6 8AS
The Star Light - Heathrow Airport Terminal 4 airside
The Crown Rivers - Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 airside
Comments
Post a Comment