Lying to the north of the City of London, Islington is London’s smallest borough, with 200,000 people living in an area of of just over six square miles.
It’s an area of marked contrasts – home to some very wealthy people and providing a vibrant offering of restaurants, bars, shops and entertainment, but as I’ve noted at the same time Islington is one of London’s most deprived boroughs.
Islington stretches from Clerkenwell and King’s Cross in the south to Highbury and Holloway in the north. It’s home to Arsenal Football Club, some very fine Georgian squares and the Regent’s canal passes through the borough.
For the Evening Standard Canonbury Square was, in the 1950s, “London’s most beautiful square”. But not everyone at the time would have agreed, turning their noses up at the prospect of living in what are today pleasant Georgian-built terraces facing onto communal gardens. The area then was dirty, […]
Walking down Upper Street in Islington would give you the impression that the borough is extremely wealthy. On any day of the week, the upmarket restaurants and shops on this busy stretch seem to be booming. But not all of Islington have been taken by the elite as […]
Sunday morning and the towpath of the Regent’s Canal was a hectic place to be. Joggers – headphones plugged in and sweating from the heat of the sun – and cyclists fought for their share of the narrow space between the water’s edge and towering brick-built buildings. Things […]
If a proposed scheme had gone the way a group of businessmen had wanted 170 years ago, there wouldn’t be a Regent’s Canal today. The eight and a half mile stretch of water between Little Venice, near Paddington, and Limehouse Basin would have been drained and converted to […]
Whatever time of day you emerge from Angel tube station in Islington, the surrounding streets always seem hectic. People rush from cafe to cafe to grab their morning coffee and then later on move from bar to bar as they unwind after work. This area – like many […]
It’s a sunny Sunday afternoon and Finsbury Park is alive with the infectious sound of drumming. More than 25 people are sitting in a circle holding their instruments and jamming along to the lively rhythms. The session in front of Finsbury Park Art Club, on the Seven Sisters […]
For centuries London’s cattle market was Smithfield on the eastern fringes of the City. Drovers brought animals down what is today the A1, which incorporates Holloway Road and Upper Street in Islington, on long journeys from Scotland and the north of England. The animals would then often be […]
St John’s Gate, a red-brick structure faced with ragstone near the centre of Clerkenwell, north London, has had a number of interesting uses over the past 500 years. In the early 18th century it housed a coffee shop, run the father of William Hogarth, the artist. Latin was […]
Islington on Arsenal match days becomes a chaotic place. Tube stations are closed, or at the very least passengers are shepherded by police out through specific exits. Supporters spill out of pubs onto the pavements and traditional cafés roll-out record numbers of full English breakfasts. Sadly, as recent […]
William Hogarth’s infamous depiction of Gin Lane has for a long time fascinated me. Issued in 1751, the print portrays the supposed evils of consuming the addictive spirit. In a busy scene, Hogarth has captured, the poverty and despair of a community dependent on gin. In the foreground […]
