London has an L of a lot more unsung suburbs starting with L.
L is for Leaves Green
We're in Bromley, just north of Biggin Hill and rather closer to the airport runway. A few big houses back onto a long village green bookended by two pubs, only one of which serves Turkish humus kavurma. They like their coal tax post so much they put it on their village sign. I've written about Leaves Green before, obviously.
L is for Lessness Heath
We're in Bexley in an area better known as Upper Belvedere, but not much better known otherwise you'd now know where it is. Roughly halfway between Abbey Wood and Erith but up a bit if that helps. Most local businesses actually plump for the Belvedere name, also the local library and parish church, while The Fox pub instead claims to be part of Nuxley Village. But there is a Lessness Heath Primary School and also a long back history, indeed the Hundred of Little and Lesnes was the name of the northernmost part of Kent as far back as the Domesday Book, the spelling 'Lessness' coming into vogue by the start of the 19th century.
L is for Little Heath
We're in Redbridge, just off the A12 to the north of Goodmayes. The main reason people come here is to visit King George V Hospital, a utilitarian collection of clinicky blocks where I was disturbed to see the collection of vehicles parked out front comprised five ambulances and an ice cream van. Little Heath was an isolated hamlet until Eastern Avenue cut through in the 1920s and scored a direct hit on St James's chapel. The village green survives as a grassy triangle opposite a further education college and is the terminus of the EL3 bus, destination Little Heath. The Hawbush pub closed in 2006 and is now 14 flats, sadly, because there's bugger all else to do here. Barley Wines Supermarket is so named because it lies on Barley Lane, not because it specialises in strong beers.
L is for Little Stanmore
We're in Harrow, barely a mile west of Edgware, at the upper end of the Jubilee line. What we now know as Stanmore was originally Great Stanmore and alongside was Little Stanmore, this rather closer to the station now called Canons Park. Cannons was a significant country estate belonging to the Duke of Chandos and here we find the parish church of St Lawrence Little Stanmore. It has a medieval tower but the interior is pure Georgian, indeed Grinling Gibbons did some of the carving and the actual George Frederick Handel was employed here to play the organ. Note that the sign outside also calls this area Whitchurch, a name that's fallen out of favour but is still referenced in the main road being Whitchurch Lane. For more background info try this Voicemap tour of Canons Park.
L is for Little Woodcote
We're in Sutton in fields south of Carshalton, quite near that lavender farm everyone goes nuts for in summer. Immediately after WW1 79 weatherboarded 'Homes for Heroes' were built here, each surrounded by a smallholding to permit veterans some dignified independence. Last time I looked some still had polytunnels and greenhouses, also veg for sale, but many are now fortified fiefdoms with Range Rovers and guard dogs. As a sparse grid of off-grid lanes nowhere else in London compares. I've written about Little Woodcote before, obviously.
L is for Locksbottom
We're in Bromley, a couple of miles west of Orpington. Locksbottom has an amusing name and would have been an excellent choice for my unsung suburb, but it also abuts Farnborough and Keston which were my F and K so I didn't want to go again. Let's just say it has a big hospital, a smart Mock Tudor parade, a Michelin-starred restaurant, a large open space called Tugmutton Common and a cafe guarded by a six foot cuddly bear dressed as a policeman.
L is for Longford
We're in Hillingdon, immediately to the northwest of Heathrow Airport. So close alas that if the 3rd runway ever gets built Longford will cease to exist, a complete demolition job including ten listed buildings because progress beats heritage. The greatest loss may be The White Horse, a former coaching inn, not least because it serves Sunday roasts and Nanny Marge's Fish Pie. Until 1928 the Bath Road passed through, this being a key bridging point for the River Colne, but then the Colnbrook bypass opened and the crooked high street became much quieter until someone built an international airport nextdoor. I've written about Longford before, obviously.
L is for Longlands
We're in Bexley but only just, at the western end of the Sidcup bypass. Longlands gets its name from a big house whose lodge was roughly where the shopping parade now is, a bit nearer Charlie's Barber than Carnivore butchers. Here we find a branch of the excellent retro J Ayre bakery, also a comfortingly tame Italian restaurant called Limoncello. A few streets away are Longlands Primary and Longlands Rec, while Longlands Road stretches down to Sidcup station. Tesco have strange ideas about what that area's called because it's their Longlands branch whereas most people call it Sidcup and last week I argued it was really Lamorbey.
L is for Loxford
We're in Redbridge, marginally north of Barking. Here we find a stream called the Loxford Water, previously blogged, also a park called Loxford Park with its deflowered sunken garden. A road called Loxford Lane starts at Loxford Polyclinic and leads to Loxford School, formerly Loxford School of Science & Technology. Loxford Hall was recently converted nicely into two flats and horribly into four more. I wrote about Loxford five years ago in a feature I actually called 'Unsung London suburbs', so obviously I was never going to write about it at length this time.
Now test yourself and see how many unsung Ls you can correctly locate.
