The rude and crude street names providing a link with the past

What is in a street name? Residents in Primrose Hill have won an important victory blocking Dumpton Place being given a more "upmarketket" name. Developers building luxury flats had wanted to change it to Jasmin Mews, a name they believed was amenable to buyers - and something which Camden council intially seemed happy to go along with.

If it was strictly down to commercial decisions , we would have lost many historic street names across Britain in response to changing fashions. So victories, like the one in Dumpton Place where Camden council gave in to public pressure this week, are important for preserving our heritage. 

Street names provide useful clues to the past. As I strolled round the City of London at the weekend for example I encountered the likes of Bread Street, Fish Street and Pudding Lane. You don't need to think very hard to get a sense of the trades that used to be based in these places. Change the street names and you immediately lose that Medieval connection.

For the residents of Dumpton Place their street name dates back to 1872 when the road was the site of a hostel for railway workers and a coal dump for steam trains. How times have changed of course for the area as rich and famous of the "Primose Hill set" moved in over the course of the Nineties, making it one of the most expensive suburbs in London.

The Londonist produced a guide to some of the rudest street names in the capital a few years ago - which includes some named after gentlemen's bits, such as Laycock Street in Islington and Cock Lane in the City. Ladies bits also feature, with Clitterhouse Road in Barnet making the list. Elsewhere, in the country you have Penis Road and Cockburn Street.

Residents in Butt Hole Road in South Yorkshire were so fed up of being the subject of endless jokes that they fought to get it changed (they succeeded, it's now Archers Way - refering to a nearing medieval castle). Youths used bare their backsides for photographs while many delivery firms simply refused to believe it existed.

But interestingly an online petition was started to try to get it changed back to its original name of Butt Hole Road, named after a communal water butt that was originally in the area. I would sign this petition - after all, the street name will have been around much longer than the residents. Surely, they shouldn't have moved into the street if they didn't like its names.

In an age where developers of new housing estates often name streets after themselves or other commercial organisations, to the extent that they are meaningless and have no connections with the area, it is fitting that some people are fighting to preserve history. 

Stag parties - a history

The practical jokes are planned and the rules are set for harsh pub drinking games. If you haven’t guessed it already I am indeed getting ready for a fun-filled array of night-time and day-time activities at a friend’s stag weekend.

Preparing a bachelor for married life through a night orweekend of humiliation in the company of male friends is now a multi-million pound industry. Indeed, many UK towns and cities like Blackpool, Newcastle, Bournemouth and Brighton (said to be the most popular in the UK) - have become known as prime stag party destinations. Groups also head to destinations in Europe such as Krakow, Prague and Barcelona.

Where, though, does the tradition of stag parities actually originate from?

Evidence for these early celebrations is unfortunately limited, but like many wedding traditions it seems to stretch back thousands of years. In Sparta, in 5^th century BC, military comrades would toast one another on the eve of a friend’s wedding. There was plenty of feasting and drinking. The groom would say goodbye to the carefree days of bachelorhood and swear continued allegiance to his comrades.

And, according to a blog 'the stag night was held to raise money for the married couple –coincidentally, so that the groom would have means to drink with his friends after his wife takes charge of the finances.'

There is clear evidence for stag parties during the reign of King Henry VIII where groups of men would be invited to lavish banquets. Give his eight marriages, Henry’s friends must have got quite used to the format.

As for the term ‘stag’, this is said to refer to a pre-Christian horned figure of worship that is a symbol of masculinity and of independence.

Over the years, these parties on the eves of weddings have turned extremely commercial. Last year a survey by Teletext Holidays estimated that £300m is being spent annually by Brits. What was 10 years ago simply a question of an evening of drinking down the local pub with friends (the biggest cost being the hire of a stripper) has now developed into mini-holidays with everything from go-karting to paint ball included in packed schedules. 5% of stag dos were found in the survey to last a whole week.

And, thanks to the rise of budget airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet over the last decade, more stag weekends are now taking place abroad. The Foreign Office estimated that 1m Brits headed overseas for this reason.

But stag parties abroad don’t always pass smoothly, with the Foreign Office estimating that about a quarter of these trips running into trouble. Indeed, the Czech tourist board has estimated 20% of all weekend crimein Prague is caused by British men on stag weekends. There was outrage, for example, a few years ago when a 34-year-old was caught urinating on a reveredmonument in the Latvian capital Riga and was given a custodial sentence.

Some places are saying enough is enough. Dublin started the ball rolling when some 34 pubs and hotels banned stag and hen parties in 1998.The move followed a report which revealed that these visitors were putting offtourist business, and costing the city £57m each year. Other destinations, like Amsterdam have also attempted to crack down on stag parties, but in reality it is very difficult to launch outright bans.

Yet stag parties shouldn’t always be seen by outsiders in a negative light. While some do descend into trouble, at the end of the day, they should be seen as celebrations of a boy becoming a man. Most groups won’t set out to cause trouble and disturb other visitors on holiday, they simply want to have fun. Fun and is all I hope for on this upcoming trip.

The trading company that changed London and the world

London is a city that was built on overseas trade. Right from the establishment of Londinium by the Romans in 43AD, merchants came from far and wide to sell their wares. Later on, Medieval London prospered on the back of trade with the continent, with wine being imported and cloth exported amongst other goods.

But the real money was made when London merchants looked further afield from the 1600s to seek out the riches of the East, with the English trading in the likes of cotton, silk, tea and opium. Right at the heart of this trade was the East India Company. From chartering ships in the 1600s to bring back the goods demanded by consumers it grew to an organisation so powerful that it ruled much of India.

But what of its London headquarters and its influence on the capital? That's what I wanted to know as I joined City guide Tim Kidd for a talk and walk on the East India Company, part of Celebrate the City events this weekend.

It was, as Tim described it, like the NHS of its day. At its peak everyone living in London would have known someone who worked or had dealings with the Company, and employed a total of a third of the British workforce. That brought it enormous power - kings and queens (and Cromwell) were so dependent of the taxes and loans it provided to them that they were reluctant to take away the monopoly it enjoyed.

As part of the walk this weekend we visited the East India Arms in Fenchurch Sreets. The pub stands alone today but it was once connected to a vast array of warehouses housing goods imported by the East India Company.

The Company had started in 1600 when Queen Elizabeth I granted it a Charter allowing for a monopoly on trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. This was of course renewed many times over. London based investors bought shares in the profits of specific voyages which were at first focused on spices. By the third voyage, the return was in the region of 300%.

Within about 40 years, the set up of the Company had changed - investors bought shares in the organisation as a whole, rather than just single voyages. It followed a model that was already proving successful for the Dutch. But competition with Holland meant it moved from focusing on spices in what is now Indonesia to tea and other items from the Indian subcontinent.

Shares were traded in Jonathan's coffeehouse in Change Alley in the City, the birth place of the London Stock Exchange, now a private members club. And the East India Company was the one of the first major institutions that made this institution an initial success.

All around the City the company made its mark. Deals were signed in coffee shops and taverns for chartering ships and the like. We saw on the walk where Lloyd's of London, the ship insurance underwriters, started out - it's now a Sainsbury's store but then it was a coffeehouse run by Edward Lloyd.

It didn't initially require many staff to administer the Company. The first governor, Mr Smith had his house in Philpot Lane and was only supported by a small number of people to keep the records up to date.

But over time the workforce was greatly expanded. Thousands would have worked at East India Dock in Poplar, unloading goods by hand as they came in, alone. The headquarters, now the site of Lloyds of London, would have dominated the City.

In India they pretty much ran the country, with a private police force. So the East India Company had turned from being traders to rulers, leaving a lasting impact in frosty diplomatic relations with the rest of the world (the Chinese still remember the Opium Wars).

Such was the power that the Company held that when judges launched enquiries into their monopolistic powers, they would simply pay them off.

Eventually, after the Indian Mutiny of 1857 the British government nationalised the Company. It was the end of an era of an organisation, a major institution, which had had a remarkable impact on London, Britain and the rest of the world. It was one of the great institutions that paved the way for the British to rule large swathes of the world in the 19th century.

The East India Company's name does however live on. In 2010 an Indian businessman bought the rights to the name from the British government after an 135 year absence. He opened a luxury shop in Mayfair London selling goods inspired by the Indian subcontinent - including teas, coffee, chocolates and mustards.

Livery Companies - the ancient institutions making a modern impression

London's Livery Companies, which today boast a membership of over 26,000, have played a big part in this weekend's Celebrate the City festival. They've been selling their wares at a market outside Guildhall and many have also opened their doors to the public.

But what, in the free trade driven 21st century, is the role of livery companies today?

In Medieval times these guilds were a passport to trading in London. If you weren't a member of the relevant trade you couldn't set up in business within the City walls.

They were at the same time the trade unions and professional associations of their day, regulating everything from prices, quality standards and working conditions. When members grew old they supported them with pensions and they would help spouses if their husband died. So they could be seen as forebearers of the welfare state.

Yet in the days of free trade and where you don't largely need professional membership to set up in business, these medieval guilds are still having an important role in London life, most notably through supporting charities across the capital. It was estimated for example that the 108 Livery companies distribute about £41m to good causes in 2010. More than half of that was spent on education-related causes and almost one third on welfare/relief, according to the report. 20 Livery Companies provide accommodation for 855 houses for 1,014 elderly residents in the UK

Many do, as we shall see, still have an important role in regulating trades and maintaining standards. For example the Goldsmiths' Company continues to be responsible testing for the purity of gold and marking with its 'hallmark', the name coming from a requirement since 1478 for wares to be brought to its halls. Several hundred million articles of gold, silver and platinum are awarded hallmarks by the company each year. 

The Fishmongers continues to use the powers of inspection and seizure awarded in 1604  to ensure that quality is maintained on fish sold at Billingsgate Market. The Gunmakers' Company conducts tests so that guns sold in the United Kingdom and safe to use.

Livery Companies also  provide apprenticeships and work placements for trainees and students, with 214 such programmes set up in the City in 2011. The Saddlers' Company for example introduced the Modern Apprenticeship Scheme for saddlery. 

Think again though if you believe the Livery Companies are restricted to trades with ancient origins - there are for example the Water Conservators and Air Pilots & Air Navigators.

Members continue to meet for dinners at their lavish halls across the City. These buildings, the very assets that make guilds wealthy, have been rebuilt many times over following destruction by fire and bombings.

So today the halls continue to be a hive of activity through the working week. I have attended many a client presentation and drinks reception for example at these lovely buildings. The current Haberdashers Hall, near Smithfield Market, may be relatively new but it is built in a historic style, set around a charming courtyard.

Today I looked around Goldsmiths' Hall, a lavish Grade I Listed building built in 1835, the third built since 1339 on the site in Foster Lane. Unsurpisingly, gold features heavily on the ornate interiors, and chandeliers hang in the main meeting room.  It really would be a spectacular place for a function.

The Goldsmiths' Company currently has an amazing exhibition, Gold: Power and Allure, on (runs until 28th July), with 4500 years of gold treasures from across Britain on display. Cabinet after cabinet is filled with luxurious pieces on display, ranging from trophies produced for sporting events and pendants to bowls and coins.

Guildhall, an amazing building stretching back to the 1400s and home to the City of London Corporation, was also open today to the public today. Local government developed here and has been a blueprint for how other towns and cities around the UK were run. It is here that the different Livery companies come to elect a Lord Mayor for the following year. 

The main meeting hall (pictured below) is, I believe, as spectacular as Westminster Hall and boasts lovely high vaulted ceilings and a timber roof. While some of the modern extensions to the Medieval building are ghastly, the wings do hold some spectacular treasures and documents stretching back one thousand years. Today, I was also able to view Shakespeare's first folio and a property deed with his signature on it.

So much of the City of London is hidden away and closed to the public. But keep an eye out on their websites for when they are open. Through visiting the places likes the halls of the Livery Companies and the Guildhall, you will be greatly rewarded with a memorable journey back into the past. London is a city that is always changing, somethings remain re-freshingly remain constant.  

The Guidhall's great hall

Celebrate the City? - we should be doing this every day

Usually deserted at the weekend, the City of London is alive today with activity. Stalls fill Guildhall yard and Cheapside. Livery companies have opened their doors so you can see their wonderful meeting halls, many of which are listed. And with impromptu concerts springing up both inside and outside churches, the City really is looking its best.

The hive of events, which also include talks and walks, are all part of Celebrate the City. Organised by the City of London Corporation and the Bishop of London, the festival showcases 2,000 years of remarkable history. But it also acknowledges that the City, that is the square mile of wealth originally laid out by the Romans, is a great place to hang out in 2012.

Yet while the crowds are flocking in this weekend for the packed programme, unfortunately during the normal course of events the streets are dead after 8pm on a week day. And, because only 11,000 people actually live here (over 300,000 work in the City during in the week), it usually seems like a virtual ghost town at the weekend.

In Medieval times the population could have been as high as 40,000. No one would claim that life was all rosy back then but it still must have been a fascinating and vibrant city to live, work and play in. People lived above their shops, practiced their trades and then went to the taverns in the evening.

It is a real shame that today the City is only seen as a working district. Here you have the best pubs, fine churches and intriguing alleyways. History is quite literally hidden around corners.

There should be a plan to get people back into living in the City. We owe it to our ancestors, the ones that laid out the streets and made it the best capital in the world, to make it vibrant again.

Celebrate the City? We should be enjoying it all day, every day. But in the meantime enjoy the fantastic events planned for tomorrow. Just head for the City and join in the fun.

Curtains for historic theatres but legacy of great buildings lives on

Once there was a grand theatre in every London borough. From east to west people across the capital would flock to playhouses for a night of variety or drama.

But as tastes changes sadly many of these lovely old buildings, some stretching back to the turn of the 20th century, became redundant and faced demolition. Property developers out to make a bob or two probably had their eye on building towering blocks of flats in their place.

Yet some how many of these fine structures survived the bulldozer and are pulling in full houses night after night. Brixton Academy, where I'm writing this from tonight, is a great case in point. As I await Jack White, of White Stripes fame, take to the stage all I can see is people. We are in the circle where every seat is taken. And the stalls are also buzzing as music fans dance to the sounds of support band First Aid Kit.

The music may be good but I can't help getting about the lovely building that we are in. Even though plays have been replaced by gigs the decor has probably changed little from when it was a theatre. We've got the wonderful ornate carvings around the balconies and an almost like temple structure above the stage.

There is also a wonderful display of indoor plants set outside what looks like someone's appartment. What a view that person would have.

And Brixton Academy is just one of a line in theatres in London that has been turned into gig venues - places like the HMV Forum in Kentish Town (where I saw the excellent Shins) and the Shepherds Bush Empire (where I saw Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) are all preserving a flavour of the 30s.And other theatres are now night clubs. I love Koko in Camden, a venue where if you book a VIP spot you can sit in a box.

Should we worried about theatre in London? Not at all, the West End is thriving and I've seen some great plays at smaller venues recently.It may be curtains for these great historic buildings as theatres, but thanks to the likes of Jack White their legacy lives on.

And talking of Jack, he's taking to the stage right now.....

It’s time to explore - the next stop is Caledonian Road

“The next station is Caledonian Road,” is one of the announcements I hear every day as I trundle into work on the Piccadilly Line. Then a few minutes later the doors open so a few people can get out and others get on. And in no time at all we are off again, with most passengers none the wiser as to what is going on above ground.

But as tonight’s episode of the excellent Secret History of Our Streets series (see my earlier blog for my take on episode one) revealed Caledonian Road, which stretches for a mile and a half north of King’s Cross station, really is a fascinating somewhere I want to spend more time exploring. Some would argue that today the area is grubby, unloved and generally a “shit hole”, but as will become clear this is not a view held by all. Many people there seem happy, like those who enjoy sing alongs with Elvis tribute acts at the Prince of Wales pub.  

Right from when it was established in the first decades of the 1800s Caledonian Road has largely been lived on by the working people. It’s ironic because the neighbouring Thornhill Estate, built speculatively a little earlier by the wealthy George Thornhill, was, and is today, very upmarket with the highlight being the lovely Thornhill Square. For Caledonian Road by contrast, tonight’s BBC programme used the late Victorian social explorer Charles Booth’s poverty map to show how 125 years ago it really was a depressing, tatty and generally an “undesirable address”.

When the King’s Cross railway station was opened, cheap housing sprung up for railway workers and the area became rundown. Prostitutes took advantage of the inflow of passengers and operated in large numbers on street corners. The area also gained a reputation for the fencing of stolen goods. And then then opening of a cattle market meant the streets were clogged up with smelly animals as they were moved from King’s Cross to the slaughter house.

Over the years, by some accounts, the area deteriorated further still as waves of newcomers moved into bedsits. When in 1970 the police station was besieged by 100 black youths Islington council felt that enough was enough and that the solution was to knock down rows of perfectly decent terraced houses.

As was the case in other parts of London and indeed elsewhere in the UK the 1970s tower blocks to replace the properties did nothing to resolve the problems – if anything anti-social behaviour increased. Then, as if the area hadn’t suffered enough already, the recession in the 1980s hit the area hard with many shops boarded up.       

Yet what I took from the programme tonight is that in spite of its problems many members of the community have bonded together well to maintain Caledonian Road’s unique character. In contrast to the grime and crime, there were people who had grown up in the area interviewed on camera saying that you could leave your door open and not worry about people stealing valuables. And neighbours’ children happily played with each other, whatever their ethnic group.

Long-standing residents fought to make Caledonian Road and its surroundings a nicer place to live. They successfully campaigned for a tatty open air car park to be turned into a pretty communal garden. Then they famously fought off plans in the 1990s for properties to be pulled down so that the Channel Tunnel lines could be brought into King’s Cross. And later they beat off British Rail’s masterplan large parts of the area to be demolished in order to create a residential and commercial area.  

Could change now be coming to Caledonian Road though? As the commentary on tonight’s programme pointed out, has the road been saved but something indistinguishable from its original make-up been left in its place? Following the opening of the new King’s Cross station, the area is developing fast and new residential properties are being built, leading some to fear that the ‘rough around the edges’ character will alter. Of course, anything that improves the lives of people of people on the poverty line has got to be positive. Gentrification, where the workers are pushed out, is something quite different.

I think there needs to be a happy medium whereby the area is enhanced but the long-standing community is not left behind.   

“The next station is Caledonian Road.” Rather than letting the stop pass me by, I for one will be getting out to explore this fascinating area in more detail.