Load of old Flaneur aka BLTP's Excellent A-Z adventures:
Volume 12 (probably).
I spent Saturday doing weekend stuff; washing things, buying things, watching “a kid for 2 farthings”. It’s a good film spoilt only by Carol Reeds insistence of choosing the posh kid ever to play a cockney urchin.
Anyway maybe this film (based if not shot in Petticoat lane) or a photo I saw somewhere reminded me that there’s a Bacon street in the East End. With the way that my mind works I thought that it would be good if there was a Sandwich Street near by and after a quick look at the A-Z it showed there was one in Holborn. So I decided to walk between to the two.
Beigels, bacon and bhajis
So this morning in the increasingly heavy rain I “bussed" it round to Brick lane.
There’s no place in London like Brick lane, where the ineffably cool and the ineffably down at heel rub shoulder. In the space of a few yards you’ll see highly excited modishly attired Japanese art students (madly tall fake fur cossacks hats) fighting over off cuts of leather in a skip, just down from an elderly Asian man hawking his wares in the rain. The man’s cheap anorak was sodden and he had a light oran
ge hat fashioned from a Sainsbury bag on his head. He was morosely stood in front of a meagre square of things for sale; the most saleable being a chipped Whitbread pub ash tray. He may have other sources of income but none of them looked good.
Beigels, bacon and bhajis
So this morning in the increasingly heavy rain I “bussed" it round to Brick lane.
There’s no place in London like Brick lane, where the ineffably cool and the ineffably down at heel rub shoulder. In the space of a few yards you’ll see highly excited modishly attired Japanese art students (madly tall fake fur cossacks hats) fighting over off cuts of leather in a skip, just down from an elderly Asian man hawking his wares in the rain. The man’s cheap anorak was sodden and he had a light oran
ge hat fashioned from a Sainsbury bag on his head. He was morosely stood in front of a meagre square of things for sale; the most saleable being a chipped Whitbread pub ash tray. He may have other sources of income but none of them looked good. Elsewhere in the market you can buy more fruit and veg in scoops than even Jamie could swallow or maybe 30 spanners for 3 quid.
Funnily enough Bacon (the street crosses Brick lane) is probably the hardest thing to find in the lane what with the curry houses and beigel shops. The beigels always seem ridiculous good value at £1.20 for salmon and cream cheese and not much more for salt beef (they are also bloody lovely).
Why don’t you just foccacia somewhere else then….
Why don’t you just foccacia somewhere else then….
Anyway after a “light” bite and a mooch I headed off for Sandwich street. The rain however was quite heavy so I only got as far as Old Street and then got buses the rest of the way.
Sandwich Street I only realised, when I got there was close to one of my old flats, round the corner from the Brunswick centre (in Holborn).
The area around there has been gentrified since my time or should that be re-gentrified as in Victorian times it was quite “well to do”, the recent influx of money is just the cycle coming round again.
The area around there has been gentrified since my time or should that be re-gentrified as in Victorian times it was quite “well to do”, the recent influx of money is just the cycle coming round again.
Complaining about gentrification in London is rather futile; after a while it’s really a case of choosing which sort of middle class person you like. The type in Brunswick centre with its Waitrose, Giraffe, and branch of Office do seem to leave a bland trail behind them though. The busy shopping parade that replaced the threadbare charity shops and retro cafes in the Brunswick centre is just so dull. The fact that the shops are packed doesn’t excuse their dullness.
Good luck to the families eating in Giraffe it’s just that the orange café that was in the parade before Giraffe came along still sold fish finger sandwiches except the ketchup wasn’t organic and they were half the price.
The whole place was quite strange almost like a parallel world, the Renoir cinema was still there but the good cheap Chinese café was missing and the book shops have been shuffled round the corner. The planners and councillors will point to the 3 wheel prams and expensive overcoats as proof that they’ve done their job, it’s just, it’s just well you know, you sometimes just want a chemist that sells night nurse and plasters not face cream at £40 a pot, Waitrose is nice but it’s not cheap.
Oh, I don’t know good luck to them all.
I was glad to see the Valencia café was still going round the corner. Its’ staff were always pleasingly gruff, the coffee was good and the food was fine if not quite what the American students from the halls of residence round the corner were was use to. I was never sure if it was trick or not but they use to put the salt in a sugar shaker which wasn’t good when you had a hangover.
I was glad to see the Valencia café was still going round the corner. Its’ staff were always pleasingly gruff, the coffee was good and the food was fine if not quite what the American students from the halls of residence round the corner were was use to. I was never sure if it was trick or not but they use to put the salt in a sugar shaker which wasn’t good when you had a hangover.
Anyway it was interesting visit I may not be back soon
Oh and I still haven't answered the ultimate question, so on a breakfast butty is it "Red" or "Brown" sauce?
