Yesterday I took BestMate for a five mile walk across N16, N15 and N17 because he'd never explored the Stamford Hill/Tottenham hinterland before. The route's not important, nor am I suggesting you do the same, merely pointing out that a good walk across the suburbs often throws up intriguing sights and surprises.
Stamford Hill's Sainsbury's has closed
Look at that, the huge Sainsbury's at the main crossroads in Stamford Hill has closed. Men in hardhats are clearing out the fittings and stripping out the shelves, the tills, the aisle numbers, everything. It closed on 1st February apparently, having opened in 2010. It's got to be a significant hit to local shoppers, especially in an area where most of the food stores are independent kosher outlets. Directing people to a Sainsbury's Local at Woodbury Down or a superstore 30 minutes walk away doesn't really cut it. After I got home: Ooh, here's a video showing the last day with very depleted shelves. Aha, Sainsbury's closed the store because their lease was up and the landlord wanted to redevelop the site. Ouch, the big local Asda closed two years ago so it's a double whammy. At least there's still a big Morrisons half a mile down the road, but how quickly local centres hollow out. Also: This story was teasingly announced on a Lancashirenews website as "Supermarket giant announces 'sad' closure of beloved superstore", because local journalism is a desperate pit of clickbait bolx.
There's a piano factory outlet on St Ann's Road
Look at that, a piano factory outlet behind a splendid Georgian facade. Who needs that? Officially it's 'J Reid Piano Factory and Outlet' according to the big blue letters across the front, although I see some of these are now falling off. Is it even still open? Also zero points for the sign by the door that says PIANO'S PLEASE ENTER, a grammatical mis-step. After I got home: Yes it's still open, the website's live and just last week J Reid's Instagram feed announced "Come in and check out the few second hand Yamaha's we have available". But also I see the entire half acre site went up for auction last month and sold for £5.8m with potential for "development or alternative uses", so who's to say how long London's last piano factory will remain.
Black Boy Lane still not fully extinguished
Two years ago, you may remember, Haringey council renamed Black Boy Lane having decided the 300 year-old street name was too controversial. Instead they renamed it La Rose Lane after a pioneering Caribbean publisher who lived elsewhere in the borough, and unsurprisingly several residents weren't happy about the address-change paperwork and/or pompous virtue signalling. The most strident of them made special 'Black Boy Lane' streetsigns and stuck them on the fronts of their houses, and I can confirm that four such residents still have these in place such is their opposition to nominal wokery. The most surprising building to still display a Black Boy Lane address is the local primary school on its nameboard out front, either because they can't be bothered to change or because they're skint.
Model Traffic Area still absolutely brilliant
I had a certain joy in leading BestMate off the main path in Lordship Recreation Ground into perhaps the most amazing social resource in any outer London park, the Model Traffic Area. This intricate mini-road network was opened in 1938 to help educate the young road users of the future and features umpteen looping roads, T-junctions and mini-roundabouts, all properly signed. I blogged about it in 2015 and the full extent still amazes today. No children were using it because it was a school morning but the council's groundskeepers were out doing a fine job of maintaining the shrubbery.
Baby Yoga a big hit at the Lordship Hub
BestMate needed a coffee so we nipped into the Lordship Hub, the Lottery-funded regeneration cabin by the lake in the middle of the park. It was heaving, impressively so for a community resource so far from any houses, with meetings in multiple rooms and most of the tables occupied. It turns out we'd arrived bang inbetween Baby Yoga sessions, just as the tiniest made way for the 8+monthers, so the queue at the cafe was humming with mummies with slings. While Best Mate waited I went off exploring and can confirm that the hub has a sensational collection of leaflets, as if it were still 2013, including the Haringey Smarter Travel Walking Guide, the Tottenham Parks Cafe Trail Walking Map and details of the Luke Howard Weather Station. After I got home: Ooh, in 2022 Lordship Rec was designated the World's first Cloud Appreciation Park, which is bolx because everywhere has sky but also brilliant because Luke Howard who first named our clouds lived just up the road. The park's cirrus-friendly interpretation board can be enjoyed here, and the latest readings from the weather station are here. BestMate's verdict: A good price and a nice coffee.
Broadwater Farm Estate still properly dispiriting
"And this is where the riots were," I said, and even 40 years on it was easy to imagine. The estate's apartment blocks are decaying, the crumblingest has been demolished and to walk around at ground level requires dodging through multiple gloomy undercrofts occupied by parking spaces. That's because all the walkways were originally at first floor level to avoid potential flooding but have since been demolished due to being unsafe so the estate's become impermeably dysfunctional. Some renovation is now underway but it's complex, very slow and so far a drop in the ocean, and we were quite pleased to eventually get through to the other side.
Bruce Castle Museum still closed
The fine mansion in the park remains part-boarded as the East Wing restoration project continues. We wanted to go in the museum but it was closed and the noticeboard out front contained no useful information. Round the back is All Hallows Church which is Tottenham's oldest building and eerily impressive, but far less impressive was the tiny sign outside which said for further historical information scan this QR code. Haringey Council evidently couldn't be arsed to put up a proper information board and likewise we couldn't be arsed to scan the QR code, but I think the page it leads to is here. After I got home: OK, the church was founded mid-12th century but the oldest parts of the tower are 14th century and the majority of the church is a 16th century rebuild. As for Bruce Castle its website says the museum "will remain closed to the public until Wednesday 5 February", which suggests it should be open by now but it wasn't. However they are hosting Anti-Valentine Candlelit Tours tonight from 6.30pm.
Commonwealth War Graves are separately maintained
Halfway across Tottenham Cemetery I was surprised to see a grey van labelled Commonwealth War Graves beside the Commonwealth War Graves. I didn't realise they owned grey vans, and more to the point I hadn't realised they send special people round to look after the Commonwealth War Graves in other people's cemeteries. After I got home: Aha, the CWGC employs a small army of supervisors, gardeners and maintenance workers to maintain war memorials and cemeteries at 23000 locations in 150 countries. One of their main jobs is to maintain headstones and ensure they're legible which can be a challenge during the mossier months. A large troupe of volunteers assists which helps keep costs down, but I suspect it's the permanent employees who get to drive around in vans. A full time post for Mobile Head Gardener (South East Region, United Kingdom) is currently being advertised, should you be interested.
Hang on, what's the King doing here?!
We planned to walk round the north end of Tottenham's stadium but it was all sealed off by security guards. A large area in front of the main entrance was also behind barriers and being watched over by police. A tiny crowd was waiting, and behind the glass a giant photo of the monarch was blazing away on big screens inside the foyer. Tottenham Hotspur Proudly Welcomes His Majesty Charles III, it said, in silver letters on a royal blue background. We could also see a group of well-turned-out local youth hanging around inside. Blimey, what a time to have turned up! We asked a policeman who confirmed yes, the King was inside on an official visit to White Hart Lane, but he'd probably be here for some time so we didn't bother waiting and went home instead. After I got home: A very long visit by the looks of it, including a lot of shaking hands, a lot of meeting people (especially young people and children), a lot of attending workshops and a not very good throw of an American football. I guess the stadium makes an ideal secure venue for a royal visit. Had we waited we could have participated in the mini-walkabout afterwards but we were probably home by then. I watched it all onYouTube instead, as is the modern way.
