Picadilly

The Angel, Islington

Not a road as such, but an area, named after a coaching inn on this site, dating back from before the fire of London. The area is mainly famous for being where my local Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer are.

And following on from the tank found near Old Kent Road, here's another tank, found at the end of Torrens Street, right next to the Angel tube station.

Kings Cross Station

Kings Cross has just reopened after a bit of a refit. Looking quite spanky, but I can imagine it getting pretty dusty in some of the organically formed crevices about. Note, I edited this post to put in photos of the new refit, which was opened a week or so after this post.

Whitechapel Road

So, following on from the Old Kent Road yesterday, here I am in Whitechapel. Whitechapel Road is actually quite short, so I started on Whitechapel High Street and took in a block or two of the Mile End Road. Cost of a house on Whitechapel Road in Monopoly - £50, current average house price in Whitechapel now- £832, 475. 

 Anyway, Whitechapel High Street is very bustling, with lots of old and independant wee shops. It also used to have a heavy concentration of Jewish tailors. The following shop is one of the last remnants of this.

The lovely Whitechapel Art Gallery

And onto Whitechapel Road proper.

A very fine example of peeling white paint.

The Blind Beggar pub, famous for being the pub where Ronnie Kray shot George Cornell. It was also here that William Booth delivered his first sermon, that led to his formation of the Salvation Army.

There's a lot of very fine Victorian architecture around this part of London.

Almshouses for retired sailors.

Fine detailed decoration on them.

A statue of Sgt. Pepper.

It's actually William Booth, who founded the Salvation Army here, celebrated in this mural.

The new London Royal Hospital on Whitechapel Road. It opened yesterday. I don't know if I like it. It looks a lot like a big version of those new libraries, where they cover the windows in strips of yellow and green cellophane, sell off all the books, get in a few PCs, and call it a "learning centre".

To be fair, though, a lot of the older hospital buildings are looking particularly knackered.

Around the way, though, was this really nice deco block.

And a quick visit to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, where not only Big Ben was cast, but also the Liberty Bell. In the first photo, the bell curve shape around the door is a 1:1 representation of the size of Big Ben.

Old Kent Road

I took a ride down the Old Kent Road this morning. I've decided to break out of my comfort zone of cycle routes and expand my horizons by cycling round the monopoly board. Imaginative, I know. Anyway, to start at the beginning, the Old Kent Road. Price of a house on the monopoly board - £50, actual average property price for a semi-detached - £413,678.



Here's the start of the Old Kent Road. Pretty boring. 

Close by, though, is Pages Walk, which has it's very own Soviet T-34 tank. 

Pages Walk itself is a very nice street of terraced houses. 

With a lovely looking pub at the end.

Here's one for http://01forlondon.wordpress.com/, a blog dedicated to showing any sign that still has the 01 prefix on their sign. 

Old Kent Road itself is pretty boring. A few interesting shopfronts, but lots of big chain shops like Comet, B & Q, Toy'r'Us etc.

Just off the road itself though there are plenty of intreresting side streets. 

This old ramshackle garage was brilliant. They wouldn't let me take photos of the inside however, which was a shame, as it was incredible to look at. 

I think they've got enough scaffolding here...it's like a game of Kerr-Plunk.

I took in the mural of the Four Roders of the Apocalypse on Sanford Walk.

You can tell how old it is...look, one pound notes!

On the way back, with the river being far out, the wharves really looked like a Dickensian Jacob's Island. 

Next stop, Whitechapel, I guess.