This week TfL have opened a new premier sightseeing attraction to rival the cablecar - the Barking Riverside Viewing Platform. [25 photos]
This amazing elevated viewpoint offers never-before-seen 360° views of East London and the Thames from almost 10 metres in the air. Previously tourists have only been able to glide across the wasteheaps of the Royal Docks in sponsored gondolas susceptible to heavy breezes, but now they can finally stand on a solid island platform and soak in the full glories of estuarine Barking and Dagenham. What's more it's fully weatherproof, cheaper to visit and much more easily reached from Gospel Oak, so what's not to love? Take to the sky and enjoy a truly unique experience.
The Barking Riverside Viewing Platform is a £327m project designed to create a raised structure in a remote area notoriously close to sea level. Previously there was nowhere to go if you wanted to overlook the former marshes downstream of Creekmouth, but this incredible infrastructure triumph provides a much-needed vantage point in the midst of a desolate post-industrial landscape. What's more it's not yet surrounded by any other buildings - flats, businesses or otherwise - so the line of sight to the horizon is often excellent.
The Barking Riverside Viewing Platform is situated in a transport desert to the south of the A13. Walking there is not advised and local parking is extremely limited, but a very frequent bus service runs 12 times an hour from Barking so getting there is really straight-forward. Just alight at either of the bus stops that aren't quite outside and aim for the giant slab of concrete and glass that cuts across the heart of Barking Riverside - you can't miss it. Then head for the austere notch carved through the foot of the viaduct and a group of smiling staff will ignore you unless you need a ticket, in which case you can buy one from the machines.
One day there may be shops here, even somewhere to buy a hot drink, but for now the Barking Riverside Viewing Platform is a refreshingly commercial-free attraction. Instead swipe through the barriers into the cavernous interior and prepare to make your ascent. A pair of lifts is available at the far end to whisk you directly up to viewing level, but far better to climb all 52 steps to help generate a better sense of self-achievement. Left stairs or right stairs it doesn't matter, the orange stairway to heaven works both ways.
The Barking Riverside Viewing Platform is now arrayed before you - a single paved expanse over 100 metres long and at least eight metres above ground level. What's more the architects have really planned ahead in preparation for all weather conditions, with one end shielded by a vast glass shell and the other end open to the elements. It's just like being at the top of the Shard but with less chance of vertigo and a much better view of the Bexley waste incinerator.
In a genius move the BRVP is subdivided into two separate vantage points labelled Platform 1 and Platform 2. First time visitors will naturally gravitate towards Platform 2 with its stunning view of a serpentine bend in the Thames. From the building site in the foreground to the landfill hills in the distance this is a panorama that truly delivers. Giant wind turbines whirl on both sides of the Thames, the liquid storage silos of Stolthaven Dagenham can be clearly seen and yes that really is the legendary shore of Thamesmead beyond a stripe of rippling grey. If you're particularly lucky a big ship might be passing by, otherwise you'll have to make to with an empty bus.
When you finally manage to tear your eyes away you'll discover that platform 1 offers an even more amazing panorama. The characterfully spiky structure directly in front of you is what remains of Barking Substation, once the powerhouse of East London and still a veritable cavalcade of transformers, cables and pylons. To the left you should catch Docklands, maybe even the Shard, and at the far end of River Road the actual Barking Flood Barrier. Shift further along the platform and off to the right are the distant towers of Ilford, even Stratford, but alas the City skyline remains hidden because someone thoughtlessly built an estate of flats in the way.
It would be too distracting to have both platforms clear at the same time, so TfL have cleverly arranged for four orange carriages to block off most of each view for 15 minutes at a time. They alternate, first occupying platform 1 and then platform 2, affording visitors sight of either central London or the downstream Thames but not both. A genuine sense of expectation builds up as each departure time approaches, after which those who choose to remain on the platform are suddenly rewarded with a fresh panorama. Be sure to prolong your visit beyond quarter of an hour otherwise you're only getting the half of it.
What's more these orange carriages double up as an additional sightseeing attraction, carrying passengers along a mile-long viaduct with exceptional viewing possibilities. Take a seat in the refreshing air-conditioned interior and you'll be whisked gently northwards along elevated tracks allowing you to look down on additional acres of post-industrial wonderland. Soak in the grey boxes of the outlying power station, a secondary school and its astroturf sports ground, various marshy soakaways and the future slums of a strikingly modern housing estate. Large carriage windows maximise viewing opportunities, although you may have to twist your neck because the seats sadly all face the wrong way.
The sightseeing train returns to ground level at Renwick Road and then continues all the way to Barking. Here you might choose to go home, but far better to take the next train back to the riverside and enjoy the full length of the viaduct for a second time. Perhaps you'll spot the playground you missed on the way out, or catch the cheeky silhouette of the Gherkin and Cheesegrater as they finally emerge from the shadows. And don't be in a hurry to descend back to ground level, make sure you've spotted every last visual treat the Barking Riverside Viewing Platform affords. I think I spotted 50 pylons in total from this unique vantage point - maybe you can do better.
The Barking Riverside Viewing Platform is open daily from 5.30am to midnight, and just imagine how amazing the sparkling lights on all the cranes will look after dark. But it's during the daytime that this multi-million pound structure offers the optimum conditions for a truly astonishing and entirely isolated day out. Come soon before they build thousands of flats right up close and wreck the entire point of visiting.
Made final ballot of party membership
• 137 votes Rishi Sunak: "I will work night and day to deliver our message around the country", says Rishi; 'they're tearing each other apart', says Sir Keir; "will lose to Liz", says YouGov (11-8)
• 113 votes Liz Truss: "as prime minister I would hit the ground running from day one," says Liz; "a truly useless Remainer who did nothing in govt except gabble with hacks cos she’s reassuringly mad behind the eyes", says Dominic Cummings (8-15 fav)
Ambitions crushed
• 105 votes Penny Mordaunt: "politics isn’t easy, it can be a divisive and difficult place", says Penny.
Extra signs have been added to help you find the way between Canary Wharf Jubilee line and Canary Wharf Crossrail, but they're not in the right font because TfL didn't make them, also this is not the route the interchange signs inside the stations send you, it's very much not part of a coherent plan.
The 385 bus continues to run less than once an hour, specifically every 70 minutes, should you ever feel the need to go from Walthamstow Sainsbury's to Chingford via the reservoirs, the other buses which operate less than hourly are the 347, 375, 549, R5, R8 and R10, I've ridden five of these this month.
Barking Riverside station opened on Monday, what a day to pick, it was proper sweltering, they actually advised people not to turn up, plus remember it closes for engineering works this weekend, I didn't go because I am hiding from the heat in Norfolk at the moment, but I did take this photo earlier while they were practising.
What is the point of this poster, people already know whether wearing a face covering might improve their confidence, this ridiculous message is also available in announcement form, "please continue to wear a face covering on TfL services or at TfL stations if this helps you to travel with confidence", they've totally missed the point, any confidence they provide is generally for others not for you.
This is the northbound platform of the Northern City line at Highbury & Islington, it's quite grim, it perhaps looked livelier before they removed its Network SouthEast branding, there is no special news to mention here but everybody loves a photo of the subterranean Northern City line.
The cablecar has not been unbranded yet, OK it has on the maps and diagrams at stations and on trains, but if you actually go to the terminals everything still has Emirates plastered all over it, the new name 'London Cable Car' is not used, lucky Emirates getting all this free post-contract publicity.
This is Loughborough Junction but it is not a junction where you can change trains any more, whereas Beckenham Junction and Norwood Junction are still junctions, Clapham Junction and Willesden Junction are definitely junctions, meanwhile Dalston Junction is only tenuously a junction and Mitcham Junction is no longer a railway junction, but Loughborough Junction has had its day.
The R7 bus is being withdrawn from the village of Maypole on Saturday, three bus stops will be permanently closed, several Londoners will have to walk up to a mile along a narrow unlit lane to Chelsfield, TfL's helpful advice is "passengers should take care when walking along the country roads in the area", still it'll improve reliability for everyone else.
The whole of Crossrail, all of it, will be closed all day on December 25th, 26th and 27th, so best plan your alternative festive travel routes now.
The name of only one Tram stop includes the letters T, R, A and M, sorry this is not exactly news, it's been true for decades.
Made 5th round ballot paper
• 118 votes Rishi Sunak: so the dangerous one's still in (5-4)
• 92 votes Penny Mordaunt: so the dangerous one's still in (6-1)
• 85 votes Liz Truss: so the dangerous one's still in (10-11)
Ambitions crushed
• 59 votes Kemi Badenoch: so at least the dangerous one's out
Dates on which the temperature at Hampstead reached 30°C
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
2010
27
9/10
2011
27
2012
25
18
2013
13 15/16/17 22
1
2014
18
2015
1
22
2016
18/19/20
24
13
2017
17/18/19/20/21
6
2018
5/6/7/8 15 23 25/26/27
2/3 6/7
2019
29
23/24/25
25/26/27
2020
24/25/26
31
7/8/9/10/11/12
2021
18/19/20
2022
17
11/12 17/18/19
11/12/13/14
» in red: reached 33°C
» in red & bold: reached 35°C
» in red & bold & underlined: reached 37°C
Maximum annual temperature
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
31°C
31°C
30°C
32°C
31°C
34°C
32°C
33°C
33°C
36°C
36°C
31°C
39°C
• The temperature's reached 30°C at least once every year since 2010
• The temperature's reached 33°C ten times since 2010
• The temperature's reached 35°C five times since 2010
• The temperature's reached 37°C once, and 39°C once
• Only once were there six consecutive days above 30°C (and once five)
• Of all the days with 30°C+ temperatures, over half have occurred in July
n.b. Hampstead's usually a bit cooler than other less elevated London weather stations.
e.g. On 25th July 2019 Hampstead reached 36.8°C but Kew and Heathrow reached 37.9°C.
UK's highest recorded temperature(successive records) 36.7°C9th August 1911: Raunds/Epsom/Canterbury 37.1°C3rd August 1990: Cheltenham 38.5°C10th August 2003: Faversham 38.7°C25th July 2019: Cambridge 40.3°C19th July 2022:Coningsby
The UK's five hottest days on record
today, 25/7/2019, 10/8/2003, yesterday, 31/7/2020
UK's highest temperature by country England: 40.3°C (today) (previous record 38.7°C in 2019) Wales: 37.1°C (yesterday) (previous record 35.2°C in 1990) Scotland: 34.8°C (today) (previous record 32.9°C in 2013) Northern Ireland: 31.3°C (21st July 2021)
Number of 'tropical nights' per decade (overnight temperature failed to drop below 20°C somewhere in the UK) 1960s: 5 1970s: 18 1980s: 17 1990s: 33 2000s: 33 2010s: 20 2020s: 12 so far
UK's highest temperature by month Jan: 18.3°C (record from 2003) Feb: 21.2°C (record from 2019) Mar: 25.6°C (record from 1968) Apr: 29.4°C (record from 1949) May: 32.8°C (record from 1944) Jun: 35.6°C (record from 1976) Jul: 40.3°C (record from 2022) Aug: 38.5°C (record from 2003) Sep: 35.6°C (record from 1906) Oct: 29.9°C (record from 2011) Nov: 22.4°C (record from 2015) Dec: 18.7°C (record from 2019)
Atmospheric CO2 1820: 284ppm 1870: 288ppm 1920: 303ppm (up 19ppm in 100 years) 1970: 325ppm 1980: 338ppm 1990: 354ppm 2000: 369ppm 2010: 390ppm 2020: 414ppm (up 24ppm in 10 years)
Today we take it for granted that a constant supply of drinkable water is available at the turn of a tap, but rarely stop to consider how it got here or where it came from. In a city like London the challenge of sourcing and delivering water has been key to growth of the metropolis, a centuries-long story that's the subject of this new book by Nick Higham, the former BBC arts and media correspondent. He tells a tale of entrepreneurs and engineers, of greed and skill, and of the evolving infrastructure that eventually delivered a public amenity the capital could be proud of.
It's a fact-thick volume, topping 400 pages before the notes and bibliography kick in, and based on a considerable amount of fresh research. A lot of original documentation has been fished out of the London Metropolitan Archives, particularly company reports, and often referenced in chatty footnotes in case you want to follow in Nick's footsteps and unwrap it yourself. This meticulous fieldwork has been chronologically arranged into 20 thematic chapters, along with observations from numerous site visits, and the end result is a definitive and entertaining labour of love.
If there's an underlying theme it's that water equals money. And yet London's medieval water supply was originally free, a series of conduits delivering a communal feed from nearby streams and springs 'for the profit of the city and the good of the whole realm'. But as London's population grew even sixteen conduits proved insufficient, so in the 1590s a soldier called Edmund Colthurst proposed a super-conduit bringing water from springs near Ware. He identified the route and started the digging, but ultimately it was Hugh Myddelton who took the credit for the New River, and the profits too. The New River Company was one of the first private utility companies and its often dubious machinations thread through much of the remainder of the book.
Several water companies emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries taking water from the Thames or the Lea, initially geographically-based but later competing for customers in adjacent territory. Chelsea's board were somewhat predatory, Bethnal Green's essentially incompetent mafiosi and several others acted together as a price-fixing cartel. The introduction of steam-powered pumpingstations and cast iron pipes triggered further growth, which often saw roads repeatedly dug up when houses changed suppliers. Unregulated competition proved increasingly unpopular so in 1817 the big companies decided to carve up central London between them, only to prove that unregulated monopolies were often worse.
With more and more of London's population connected up the big problem switched from supply to sanitation. Cesspits had previously been local affairs but the spread of WCs meant effluent could now be flushed away and often ended up in the Thames, from which it circulated around the system again. Some water companies therefore shifted their intakes above the tidal limit, whereas others only did that later when legally forced. James Simpson's invention of the filter bed also saved lives, although nobody realised at the time that most of the hard work was being done by a 'slime blanket' of micro-organisms on top of the water rather than the layers of sand, shells and gravel underneath.
It says much for Nick's scholarly approach that the well-known tale of John Snow and the Soho pump-handle doesn't appear until page 237, and the government's final capitulation during The Great Stink until page 278. I learned that Joseph Bazalgette didn't come up with the idea of giant intercepting sewers, he merely inherited the project and made sure they got built, being 'a man of heroic patience' as well as a great engineer. If he'd had his way they'd have been extended another 20 miles downstream, but budgets dictated terminating at Beckton and Crossness rather than Mucking and Higham. Nick chuckles audibly at this point.
The worst machinations of the water companies were eventually halted in 1904 with the creation of the Metropolitan Water Board, although some received over-generous payoffs and some sidestepped the legislation and continued to reap profits. With water finally taken under public control the book skips rapidly ahead, contracting the entire 20th century into a single chapter. Nick has little good to say about Margaret Thatcher's eventual reprivatisation in the 1980s, an echo of the past which confirms that 'left to their own devices shareholders will enrich themselves and let society go hang'. He also muses on how London's water supply might be protected in a warmer future, and ends by making a pilgrimage to the Oak Room at New River Head where the whole caboodle kicked off.
I knew I was in safe hands on page 1 when, in a note on style, Nick says 'I prefer the River Lea to Lee'. I very much enjoyed following the battle of science over ignorance, and appreciated the diligence with which the information on every page had been sourced. I noted that the book is more historical and economic than geographical - a single map at the start has to do some very heavy lifting - so expect to read more about shareholder battles than lost rivers. But it was fascinating to learn how the battle between private companies and consumers has been going on a lot longer than I might have assumed, and to be reminded that two-thirds of London's water supply is still sourced from the Thames. The mercenary river indeed.
In 2019 Tower Hamlets council introduced a number of Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes, here branded 'Liveable Streets'. They hoped that blocking off a few roads, making others one-way and allowing buses to slip through would improve road safety, ease pollution and discourage ratrunning.
It would be true to say they weren't universally popular. When Bow's original proposals were trialled an army of car-driving naysayers came out to protest, and were vindicated when the manual bus gate proved so shambolic that it was abandoned within hours. But projects in other neighbourhoods were duly introduced, and in some cases boosted during lockdown, so looked to be here for the long haul. Not so. They're all being withdrawn, and it's all because our new Mayor says so.
Lutfur Rahman, the disgraced yet re-elected Mayor of Tower Hamlets, led his manifesto with a pledge to end the Liveable Streets road closure program. Now he's in power he's dived in with a growing set of consultations designed to step back previous changes, and in one case to go ahead and stop fining motorists tomorrow anyway. Residents are invited to contribute their views but I have no doubt that the reversals will go ahead whatever's said because the underlying argument has fundamentally changed.
It's still about lowering pollution, but previously it was also about walking, cycling and not getting knocked down. Now it's all about shorter car journeys, enhancing mobility and the loss of passing trade. I've checked the new documents and the words 'pedestrian' and 'cyclist' don't appear once.
Previously: "Closing this road permanently to motor vehicles will improve road safety, air quality, and reduce noise pollution" Now: "The increased congestion caused by the closures has worsened air quality and resulted in significant delays to bus services"
Previously: "By reducing traffic volume on this road we can create a cycle and pedestrian friendly environment" Now: "Concerns have been raised on the impact on residents who have limited mobility and rely on travel in licensed taxis and private hire vehicles"
Previously: "Survey results showed this road is used by drivers who are cutting through Bow; they are not stopping and spending time in the area" Now: "For many residents, the closures have created longer journeys which directly increases emissions and costs"
It's quite the about face.
One intended loss is the bus gate which for several hours a day divided Wapping into two entirely distinct parts. I wrote in November 2019 that I thought the signage was far too easy to overlook, leading drivers to risk a whopping fine, and that if you're going to introduce something called a 'bus gate' it ought to have at least some gatelike properties. But it was easy to see how this simple intervention would greatly reduce ratrunning and many's the lockdown walk that was made safer thanks to greatly reduced traffic. The Wapping bus gate consultation ends on 27th July.
Another proposed loss is of two short closures on Brick Lane. These currently apply on Saturday afternoons and most of Sunday, making driving along the full length of the street impossible, but are intended to be cut back to Sunday market hours only. Lutfur's long had a powerbase amongst businesses in Spitalfields and they'll be delighted to see bans on traffic end. The Brick Lane consultation doesn't have a published end date.
Another change is at Arnold Circus where the intention is to remove all the planters and reinstate the roundabout. I wrote about the closures when I walked the B122 in January, because they'd essentially made this B road undriveable. It does look a bit odd to see a conservation area with great big wooden boxes everywhere, but I'm not convinced that bringing back through traffic and reinstating a ring of parking spaces is the right option. The Arnold Circus consultation ends on 31st July.
I'm more baffled by proposed changes to the western end of the B118 where four separate blockages and alternating one-way sections have pretty much nullified a full mile of road. Of all the changes this did look the most like motorist-hating, but only because it's incredibly difficult to block off all possible through routes without making a topological mess. The most blatant improvement was the pedestrianised pocket park by the shops on Old Bethnal Green Road, previously a two-way street and now somewhere you might choose tolinger. But the flower beds, benches and shared surfaces are all destined to be unceremoniously ripped out, and local non-driving residents are incensed. The Old Bethnal Green Road consultation ends on 7th August.
One minor blockage on Antill Road in Bow is being nullified tomorrow anyway. The 'No motor vehicles' signs will be removed and the constriction returned to a one-way filter, which will both help local residents to drive around more easily and reinstall the shortcut others previously enjoyed.
You may be sighing at the abandonment of simple schemes promoting active travel or you may be cheering at the restoration of freedom and choice. It is amazing how polarised the debate on low traffic neighbourhoods has become, and how both sides can view the same situation and come to entirely contradictory conclusions.
Personally I'm with the 70% of Tower Hamlets households who don't have access to a car and am happy for some people to have to drive a bit further if I can get round more safely. I'm also sad that this is the nail in the coffin for any future cycling and pedestrian improvements that might upset a few drivers, so now won't even reach the drawing board. It's often difficult to strike the right balance between complexity and practicality, and not every bike-friendly scheme hits the right note, but here in Tower Hamlets a populist four-wheeled agenda has won out because you get what you vote for.
Still battling for the top spot
• Penny Mordaunt: MP for Portsmouth North since 2010 (evens)
• Rishi Sunak: MP for Richmond (Yorks) since 2015 (7-4)
• Liz Truss: MP for South West Norfolk since 2010 (5-1)
• Kemi Badenoch: MP for Saffron Walden since 2017 (12-1)
• Tom Tugendhat: MP for Tonbridge and Malling since 2015 (33-1)
What the Sunday papers say Mail on Sunday: Does leak show Mordaunt did back gender self-ID? Sunday Express: Rishi: I'll scrap EU red tape in first 100 days Sunday People: Penny's cash from climate sceptics Sunday Telegraph: Truss: I will put an end to Stalinist housing targets Sunday Times: Mordaunt's gender claims undermined by leaked papers The Observer: Boris accused of trying to derail Rishi's bid
Last time I posted about the boundaries of the London borough of Havering my readers left only one comment and that was about a defunct bus route. I expect a similar level of interest today.
This is the Havering Stone. You'd be forgiven for not noticing it in the rough beside the High Road in Chadwell Heath, and even if you did spot it there are no clues to suggest how significant it once was. It's just over a foot high, it's ancient and if there were ever inscriptions on it they're no longer evident.
It sits a short distance back from the pavement on a grass verge in the shadow of a single tree. It's also protected by a low railing all around it, presumable to keep mowers at bay, although nobody's cut the surrounding grass for some considerable time. In the background is a big billboard targeting Romford-bound traffic plus a brick wall attached to a block of flats on Kings Avenue. The number 86 bus stops just up the road, but there really is no reason for anyone to be walking past because there are no houses along the next half mile of pavement, only a golf course and a farm.
It's significant that this is where the houses stop because the stone marks the boundary between the boroughs of Havering and Barking & Dagenham. What's impressive is that there's been a stone at this spot since 1641 and that the boundary has been fixed since the 14th century. When the Barking & Dagenham street sweeper truck turns around here it's essentially because King Edward II said so.
All of this was once Essex and Essex was once mostly forest. In this case forest doesn't necessarily mean woodland, just that the king had hunting rights, particularly over deer. The largest such area was Waltham Forest (not the borough, although that was eventually named after it) which covered much of the southwest corner of the county. In the west it stretched as far as the river Lea and to the south as far as the Roman Road between London and Colchester (which not uncoincidentally is the road in the photo).
Waltham Forest was later split into Epping Forest and Hainault Forest, the dividing line being the River Roding. Additionally Edward II split off the eastern chunk of Hainault Forest and gave it to his wife Queen Isabella, which became the Liberty of Havering because it was no longer subject to forest laws. Part of the Hainault/Havering boundary followed the River Rom, or the Bourne Brook as it was known back then. But the rest was less well defined so in 1641 Charles I had stones erected at key points to help resolve disputes.
• Richard's Stone: This one's on the common at Curtishall Green, very close to the M25 (roughly halfway between J27 and J28), where you can still see it.
• Navestock Stone: This one's half a mile south beside the fledgling River Rom, but in a private field so you can't see it.
• Park Corner Stone: This one's three miles downstream in the corner of a former playing field off Lodge Lane, where you won't see it.
• Collier Row Stone: This one's on the B174 at the point where Havering meets Redbridge meets Barking & Dagenham, which I wrote about in that previous post only one person commented on. I didn't spot the stone in the verge but apparently it's obvious.
• Warren Stone: This was in the middle of a field east of Whalebone Lane but was twice damaged and is currently in the care of Valence House Museum.
• Mark's Stone: This pair of stones, one from 1641 and the other from 1772, can be found in a hedge beside Whalebone Lane. They were the very last thing I documented as part of my jamjar tour of London boroughs.
• Forest Bounds Stone: This was on Whalebone Lane South between Warren School and the Golf Kingdom driving range, but was "inadvertently removed and destroyed" in 1993.
• Havering Stone: This is the stone in all the photos, on the A118 where High Road becomes London Road. There's also a coal tax post just across the street but that's another story.
For centuries everyone heading east would have passed the Havering Stone, but its primacy was lost in the 1920s when Eastern Avenue was built as an arterial bypass for Ilford and Romford. And that's why it's still there in a verge, unmodernised and unmowable, but still doing its job of telling everyone where Havering begins.
I apologise for posting a photo of a shopfront with an 0181 phone number earlier in the week. I could of done better.
This is better. Its an 0181 phone number coupled with an obsolete county.
This is B&K Salt Beef Bar on Whitchurch Lane in Edgware. It looks like a new sign, all shiny and white, but it can't be new because 0181 numbers were last used in April 2000. It trumps my previous Muswell Hill photo because the address is given as Edgware Middx, and Middlesex hasn't existed since 1965 despite the anguished cries of many administrative throwbacks. It therefore cannot be possible that the telephone number and metropolitan county were both correct simultaneously.
I said this in the comments on Tuesday but Tony pointed out that the postal county of Middlesex was only dropped from addresses in 1996. This is when Royal Mail introduced optical character recognition equipment and switched to sorting letters using the first half of the postcode instead, thereby making postal counties redundant. Technically it took until 2000 before postal county data was removed from the Postcode Address File database, but this does not change the fact that adding 'Middx' was already entirely futile.
The postal county of Middlesex was a peculiar beast because it existed in two distinct geographical chunks. The main chunk comprised of the HA and UX postcode districts, that's Harrow and Uxbridge, along with most of Twickenham (TW). The other chunk was the entirely seperate Enfield postal town, namely postcode areas EN1, EN2 and EN3. The remainder of former Middlesex was instead part of the London postal district so didn't use Middx as the postal county, it was all N, NW and W instead.
There is of course only one place outside Greater London which has a London postcode, and that's Sewardstone in Essex which is part of the E4 postcode zone. Sewardstone also has 020 phone numbers despite not being in London, an anomaly it shares with Buckhurst Hill, Chigwell and Loughton (Essex), Borehamwood, Bushey, Carpenters Park, Elstree and South Oxhey (Herts), and Ewell, Molesey, Thames Ditton and Whyteleafe (Surrey). This means there could be 0181 shopfronts lingering in Sewardstone, but there aren't because I checked when I was there earlier in the week, and anyway Sewardstone hardly has any shops anyway.
But I digress.
I need not have bothered with the 0181 shopfronts because I can beat it with a 081.
This is Shoe Repairs on the High Road in Chadwell Heath. It still displays a telephone number that was last correct in April 1995 which is over 27 years ago. Even the logo alongside the number depicts a dialphone nobody has any more. This is a genuinely old shop, proper cobblers, as you can tell if you boldly go inside with heels to fix or soles to mend. I bet that's Mr Wynter behind the counter, because it's all thanks to him that the 081 number has never been changed, and he does watch batteries and keycutting too.
Incidentally the shop's address of 1211 High Road is pretty extreme too. Only eight streets in Greater London have addresses whose numbers exceeds 1200, of which this is one, the others being Great Cambridge Road in Enfield (1798), London Road in Croydon (1597), Greenford Road in Sudbury Hill (1564), High Road in Whetstone (1541), Uxbridge Road in Hillingdon (1390), Finchley Road in Golders Green (1287) and Eastern Avenue in Redbridge (1228). Shoe Repairs by M Wynter only just squeezes in because this High Road stops five doors down at 1221. That's former Essex for you.
But I digress.
It turns out I need'nt've bothered with the 081 shopfronts because I can beat it with an 01.
A reader called Will pointed out in Tuesday's comments that "J. Ayres Bakery in Eltham has an 01 proudly displayed on the side of its shop, or at least did a year ago. Its a cracking bakery too." He also added a Streetview URL, which was thoughtful, although it was 334 characters long and essentially broke the comments box (so if any of you are thinking of doing similar please use Google's shortened shareable link because that's only 37 characters instead).
I was in the area yesterday and blimey won't you look at that, a proper 01 phone number.
This sign would last have been correct on 5th May 1990, more than thirty years ago, which is telecommunicatively ridiculous. Importantly this isn't the J Ayre bakery in Eltham, this is the J Ayre bakery in Blackfen, and what are the chances of two of their branches still being rooted in dialling code prehistory? I wondered whether this was a deliberate ploy to attract older customers, the kind of cream horn eaters who still believe Bexley is in Kent, but seemingly not. J Ayre have one further branch in Sidcup so I checked that (Streetview: https://goo.gl/maps/52cSed3NyngXsQmN9) and its telephone number is 081 300 1465, so I can only assume they really like their old branding and have been determined to keep it.
The branch in Blackfen used to be BestMate's local bakery, and he remembers queues stretching out of the door on Saturday mornings back in the era when 01 was current. He also remembers going in regularly to buy gypsy tart, a very Kentish treat, and also a staple of many a Seventies school lunch. I always preferred it to coconut sponge, although jam slice sprinkled with hundreds and thousands and swimming in pink custard was better, and the appearance of chocolate pudding was always a red letter day.
But I digress.
I hope you appeciate that todays post has managed to incorporate outdated telephone dialling codes, historic counties, postcode anomalies, street numbering, Google shortcuts and retro school dinners. I've also thrown in some grammatical errors, dropped apostrophes and spelling mistakes for good measure, and probably included a few unintentionally incorrect facts along the way. It's almost as if I've deliberately included certifiable clickbait triggers and am shamelessly begging for feedback.
So today I'm asking you PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE A COMMENT. Just resist for once. Leave the box empty. Keep your thoughts to yourself. See if you can manage it.
Made 3rd round ballot paper
• 101 votes Rishi Sunak: Unfortunately For Rishi, The Tories Are Ready To Take A Risk (3-1)
• 83 votes Penny Mordaunt: Why Penny Mordaunt Reminds Me Of Jeremy Corbyn (4-6)
• 64 votes Liz Truss: Only Liz Truss Can Save Brexit Now (7-2)
• 40 votes Kemi Badenoch: Civil Servants Tried To Stop Kemi’s Gender-Neutral Toilet Reforms (20-1)
• 32 votes Tom Tugendhat: Tom Pins Hopes On TV Debates To Revive Fading Leadership Bid (200-1)
Ambitions crushed
• 27 votes Suella Braverman: The Anti-Woke Prime Minister Our Children Need
Another of Boris Johnson's Mayoral projects has bitten the dust.
The Royal Albert Dock development was launched in 2013 in conjunction with Chinese developers AEP. It promised to transform a 35 acre site opposite London City Airport into a high density commercial district where Asian businesses would flock to invest. It was expected to deliver 20,000 full-time jobs, boost local employment in Newham by 30% and contribute £6bn to the UK economy. It never happened.
They built the first phase and opened up the dockside in 2019, but only one small Taiwanese technology company tookoffices and lockdown hit two weeks later. Instead the three rows of office blocks stood empty, with a particularly tumbleweed atmosphere along the brick canyon of Mandarin Street, and very little has changed today. The building closest to the DLR station now contains a Job Centre (by invitation only). The receptionist nextdoor always looks terribly bored. The Marketing Suite proved a complete waste of time and is still being used to store rolls of unused insulation. Anglo-Chinese nirvana has not materialised.
I've told you this story severaltimesbefore, the sterile streets of RAD being a favourite lockdown destination. What's changed this week is that the current Mayor has finally pulled the plug having issued a final warning to the Chinese developers last summer. They get to keep the 21 townhouse blocks already built but the remainder of the site is now to be retendered and a fresh future sought. And there is a heck of a lot of derelict public land still to play with. Boris tweeted this image of the completed development back in 2013. Only the buildings I've shaded in red have been built.
This is a prime site located conveniently close to Crossrail with multiple potential uses. The big downside is that it's bang opposite the point on the runway where planes land and take off, which probably puts the kybosh on any luxury residential quarter. A commercial future of some kind might make more sense, assuming work patterns post-Covid make that economic, or perhaps student accommodation because they can be shoeboxed anywhere. But that's still a decade essentially wasted, and there's no guarantee that what comes next is any better. BBC London has the full story.
London's Mayors have often made grand plans for the Royal Docks because it's one of the few expanses of public land they have reasonable control over. The Royal Docks is also London's only Enterprise Zone — one of just 48 nationwide - which means central government sometimes chucks in money too. So I thought I'd try listing some of the key Royal Docks projects over the years, several of which have yet to prove their full worth.
London City Airport (1987): This pre-Mayoral slice of infrastructure was fully supported by government, if not the GLC, and has been both wildly successful and woefully underused during its existence. It's always been hamstrung by its short runway and a ban on larger planes, but has still managed to increase the permitted engine size much to the annoyance of local residents. Mostly used by short haul business travellers, its latest wheeze is a request to introduce flights on Saturday afternoons which currently provide a period of audible respite. Some have argued that the airport could be removed now Crossrail links directly to Heathrow and better residential use made of the site, but I wouldn't bet on that idea taking off.
ExCeL (2000): This massive exhibition centre has proved an excellent use of a lot of undeveloped space, particularly if you like wearing a lanyard and walking round a maze of stalls. Phase 2 (the 'eastern gateway experience') opened in 2008 and you should be warned that work has just started on Phase 3 on what used to be the eastern car park. Admittedly most of the building is empty most of the time and ExCeL has mainly become an investment trinket for its Middle Eastern owners, but delegates looked to be having a good time at the 30th Congress of the International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis yesterday.
Silvertown Quays: The derelict expanse around Millennium Mills has long been pencilled in for substantial development but nothing's ever come to fruition, and all sorts of film crews have taken advantage of the hiatus. A 2007 proposal for 5000 homes and a new London Aquarium (called Biota) was officially cancelled three years later. A different regeneration proposal emerged in 2012, including refurbishing the mills for business use, but has never materialised. Then last week Sadiq announced a £3.5bn regeneration package that essentially boils down to cramming in as many flats as possible, and we might see the first of those in 2024 or we might not.
The Dangleway (2012): The futility of Boris's cablecar is well documented.
The Crystal (2012): The idea that the Royal Docks needed a landmark eco-friendly building was entirely reasonable. The idea it should be a tourist attraction promoting Siemens corporate agenda was ridiculous as subsequent footfall later proved. Sadiq has recently managed to salvage a future for the spiky building by repurposing it as City Hall, but how much money that's actually saved remains questionable.
Silvertown Tunnel: Many assumed Sadiq would scrap Boris's road tunnel but instead he's doubled down and run with it, claiming it's the environmental option because it'll reduce congestion elsewhere. Many would vehemently disagree. Construction has reached the "almost ready to start tunnelling phase" and in 2025 we should discover whether the benefits of a new Thames crossing outweigh the downsides.
We can expect more Mayoral mis-steps in the future because big gambles don't always pay off, and round here they're bigger gambles than most. Whatever the Royal Docks is ultimately going to be, it very much isn't there yet.
Made 2nd round ballot paper
• 88 votes Ready For Rishi: Ready To Restore Trust (3-1)
• 67 votes PM4PM: Leadership Has To Change (4-6)
• 50 votes Liz For Leader: Trusted To Deliver (9-2)
• 40 votes Kemi For Prime Minister: I Can Deliver Change (16-1)
• 37 votes Time For Tugendhat: A Clean Start (40-1)
• 32 votes Suella 4 Leader: It's Time To Get Back On Track (200-1)
Ambitions crushed
• 25 votes NZ4PM: Get Britain Back On Track
• 18 votes Jeremy Hunt 2022: Win Back Trust
UNVISITED LONDON TQ1592: Bentley Priory Nature Reserve(Harrow)
As with most of these untrodden 1km×1km grid squares, I had very nearly visited TQ1592 but not quite. I'd looked round the museum at Bentley Priory, the home of Battle of Britain Fighter Command, but on the wrong side of a serious security fence. I'd ridden the 258 and H12 buses whose routes skirt close but don't quite enter. And I'd walked section 15 of the London Loop passes which within 30 metres as it traverses the upper slopes of the local nature reserve. But I'd never stepped down to explore that nature reserve, which it turns out is worthy of a blogpost all of its own because it's brilliant, so today I'm pleased to put that right.
The Bentley Priory Nature Trail
Bentley Priory sits at the highest point of the county of Middlesex. The mansion was designed by Sir John Soane on behalf of the Marquis of Abercorn, and its most famous resident was Queen Adelaide, widow of King William IV, who essentially came here to die. The estate was broken up in 1926 with the Air Ministry taking the house and much of the remaining land sold to a syndicate of housebuilders, but 90 acres was purchased for use as a public park and remains under the control of Harrow council. It's no kickabout space, more an extraordinary mix of ancient woodland, pasture, scrub, species-rich grassland, wetland and an actual deer park, and the best way to explore it is to follow the nature trail.
It really is, the Harrow Nature Conservation Forum have done an excellent job of creating a 25-stop circuit with full backup notes. And although paper versions of the leaflet appear to have run out, you can always download a copy here, grab just the text here or do what I did and dive in when you spot a QR code on a post. You only need to do that once, each page then clicks through to the next in a reassuringly retro manner, and I absolutely would not have got as much out of my hour-long walk had I walked around blind.
The trail starts in Old Lodge Meadow, a short walk from Stanmore high street, as suburbia suddenly gives way to Green Belt. At this time of year you might spot cowpats and a small herd of horned cattle, though not in a marauding way, as you start the gentle climb. The trail is extremely good at identifying the trees in the woodland ahead, which is great because you'd never realise you were passing a rare wild service tree otherwise. Likewise you'd be unlikely to notice the boundary ditch between the parishes of Harrow Weald and Great Stanmore, or the minor embankment to your left which it turns out is a raised causeway created so that the Marquis of Abercorn could ride around his park without getting muddy. Downloading the trail has already proved its worth.
Ahead is Heriots Wood which is packed with hornbeam, plus a long fence that segregates a private deer park from the remainder of the reserve. The herd is descended from the marquis's originals and numbers about 20 fallow deer, so I was lucky to spot several of them in the nearest corner taking shade from the heat. They appreciate carrots and apples, apparently, but some visitors are less nutritionally savvy so have had to be warned off feeding them carbs via a message scribbled on cardboard and attached to the fence.
According to the trail notes "the majestic oak tree on the right of the path is a turkey oak (Quercus cerris)", except not any more it isn't because it's toppled over with all its roots exposed. Sometimes nature decays fast. I was more impressed by the resilience of the Bentley Priory Nature Reserve information board at the top of the hill because it's still entirely legible despite having an 081 number at the bottom in case you want further information from the Warden. The trail notes point out you can see 30 miles to Box Hill and Leith Hill from up here, and blimey you just about can, although the best skyline views are from Ron and Vera's bench much further along the upper Loop path.
Instead the trail plunges almost straight back down the slope, this time following a sweep of grassland called The Greensward rather than a metalled path. It get ruinously muddy later in the year, so we're told, but that's totally not an issue during the current summer drought. Also the underlying geology changes as we descend, which means looking out for ragwort and devils-bit scabious on the pebbly acid upland, then switching to bugle and lesser stitchwort on the lower clay soil. Wherever you go there always seems to be another fence segregating one part of the reserve from another, and the lakeside beneath the pine grove is no different. Good luck getting through the 'squeeze stile' if you're rotund of waist.
Summerhouse Lake isn't natural, it was created for the marquis by damming the Stanburn, an otherwise insignificant stream. Around its perimeter the trail alerts you to a silt trap, the remains of two ice houses and a flyway for bats. I never spotted the island it said was here, I suspect because it was too brambled over, so wasn't able to imagine Sir Walter Scott sitting mid-lake in a gazebo while writing his epic poem Marmion. But I was wowed by The Master Oak, supposedly the oldest in Middlesex, which somehow avoided being chopped down to make beams or ships' timbers and whose mighty trunk has a 9 metre circumference.
The end of the trail follows the Stanburn as it weaves round gnarled roots through what's currently parched clay. The channel is crossed at post 22 where the trail makes a special effort to point out the difference between a pendunculate oak and a sessile oak (it's all in the leaves). 'This woodland is lovely in spring' isn't necessarily something you want to read in July, but at least you don't need to bring your wellies. And eventually a boardwalk leads you back to Old Lodge Meadow, where I recommend taking a closer look at Boot Pond because that's where I finally disturbed a heron.
What an excellent circuit that was, and all the better for having being nudged into looking more carefully on the way round.
Made 1st round ballot paper
• Rishi Sunak: "he's got the plan, the character & the experience to deliver", says Matt Hancock (7-4)
• Penny Mordaunt: "she's popular in the red wall seats & with younger voters", says David Davis (7-4)
• Liz Truss: "as strong a Brexiteer as myself and Jacob", says Nadine Dorries (10-3)
• Kemi Badenoch: "bright, brilliant and brave - a phenomenon", says Michael Gove (10-1)
• Tom Tugendhat: "will ensure Labour don’t win the next election", says Anne-Marie Trevelyan (16-1)
• Jeremy Hunt: "a pragmatist who acts dynamically to get things done", says Andy Street (33-1)
• Suella Braverman: "only Suella is really grasping the nettle of the ECHR", says Danny Kruger (50-1)
• Nadhim Zahawi: "put simply, Nadhim is always the grownup in the room", says Brandon Lewis (80-1)
Insufficient supporters
• Sajid Javid: "we need to face outwards, not inwards", said insufficient MPs
• Rehman Chishti: "back to oblivion", said everyone
Everyone loves the thrill of stumbling upon an ancient phone number on a London shopfront. The ultimate prize is an 01 number because they're at least 32 years old. In May 1990 came the split into 071 and 081, the former used for exchanges in the Central area (plus Docklands) and the latter for the rest of the capital. These lasted just five years until PhONEday when an extra 1 was inserted as the second digit of all UK dialling codes. This gifted London the inelegant 0171 and 0181 codes, which were then swapped for 0207 and 0208 during the Big Number Change five years later. Since then London's dialling code has officially been 020, and pedants love nothing more that tutting at an incorrectly spaced number as if the world ended or something.
I didn't spot an 01 while I was out at the weekend but I did spot this 0181 on a florist in Muswell Hill. It's above The Flower Seller, a peculiar wedge-shaped building at the sharp end of a retail terrace with the prestigious address of 1 Fortis Green Road. Its telephone number is still clearly given as 0181 365 2473, a sequence of digits that would only have connected you to the shop between 16th April 1995 and 21st April 2000. That means the shopfront hasn't been updated for at least 22 years, possibly 27, either because the owner couldn't afford the expense or because they assumed people would still be able to deduce the correct number anyway.
Muswell Hill is exactly the kind of place where you might expect an outdated telephone number to linger, being chockful of independent shops, many of which have been around for some time. But although I walked the full extent of its multiple shopping parades, The Flower Seller provided the sole example of a certifiably 20th century dialling code. I did spot two other examples of probable outliers, one at the New Happy Swan Chinese restaurant (883 2810) and the other at the Children's Bookshop (444 5500), both of which have long been unringable. I expected the Broadway Hair Stylist (883 5283) to be a third, but they recently gave their totally retro frontage a revamp and are now the Broadway Grooming Room (est 1959).
Most London shops have updated their signage at some point this century, so 020 (or 0207/0208) are now considerably more prevalent. But more prevalent still, indeed probably the majority, are shopfronts with absolutely no telephone number whatsoever. Even Dunns on Muswell Hill Broadway who've been baking bread for over 200 years now display their web address in pride of place above the awning because that's considerably more useful. Nobody rings up a shop any more, or at least not as a result of seeing a telephone number on the front, which is why they don't get updated, only ever removed. The thrill of stumbling upon an ancient phone number is an ever diminishing occurrence.
When Sir Christopher Wren designed St Paul's Cathedral he forgot one crucial exterior feature - a pool of water to reflect his massive dome. There wasn't really the space for it at the time, plus 17th century technology wasn't up to creating a shimmering flat surface, plus nobody had invented Instagram yet. Thankfully the architects of a new office block on Cannon Street have stepped in and added one, I suspect mainly to distract the City's planning inspectors, and oriented it perfectly to fit the entire dome in the water.
These gardens were last relandscaped in 2000 and won awards, but the central oval was merely a convex lawn surrounded by trees, shrubs and herbaceous planting so reflected absolutely nothing. No wonder it became little more than a shady hideaway for office workers to stuff a sandwich or smoke a fag. Now thankfully water feature specialist Andrew Ewing has created a large pool which reflects the sky and surrounding historic environment on its surface, and suddenly it's possible to relax and boost your socials at the same time.
The problem is that this reflective pool isn't as secret as some would prefer it to be, because the upturned dome obviously looks best when nobody else is getting in the way. Such is its fame that when I turned up yesterday the optimum spot was already taken by a sweaty bloke with an expensive camera on a tripod, and when he grinned at me I realised I wasn't going to get the dazzling photo I really wanted. I got quite a good one, boosted by two City folk sitting on the lip of the pool in matching white shirts, but not the ultimate reflection across the maximum amount of mirrored water.
It does seem as if our city is increasingly being designed so that it looks impressive when viewed through the lens of a wielded smartphone. This also means vistas that look good in 'portrait', because 'landscape' landscapes no longer fit the designated media zeitgeist. The Cannon Street pool fits that rationale perfectly, reorienting the cathedral by doubling it up and creating a prime example of what I propose to call The Architecture of Likes. Just get down here soon before everybody's heard of it, and before your chance of standing in exactly the right place drops to virtually zero.
