Going, going 2
More London things that aren't long for this world...
Walthamstow dog stadium RIP
After 75 years, Walthamstow dog stadium is due to close its doors in August. According to the owners, this iconic landmark is no longer sustainable. London-RIP reader Wendy McManus writes:
"Recently I treated my 9-year-old son to a night out at Walthamstow Dog track and what a fantastic night it was. On arrival - by public transport I might add, which was a lot easier than expected - we were both stunned by the amazing facade lit by the early evening sun. A fine example of of 30s' architecture, the likes of which we rarely see any more in this great city of ours. Once inside I took great delight at the interior - although now somewhat shabby, it's a great reminder of days gone by. The restaurant had me reminiscing about department stores in the early 70s, when prawn cocktail seemed posh.
Quids in
As it was a pleasant summer's evening we sat outside having placed our £1 bet. We found ourselves whooping and shouting, along with everyone else as the excited dogs tore around the track, chasing a rather bedraggled looking rabbit, I did wonder if any of them had ever actually caught it! Great fun was had by all, especially my rather excited son, and while not wanting to promote the joys of gambling, I did go home quids in - not often that can be said of a night out in London.
The evening was only marred by the devastating news that that it will not only be my first trip to the dog track but probably my last. The stadium is due to close down in August, and in its place, yes, you've guessed it - a block of flats, another piece of our heritage to be replaced by, no doubt, tiny over-priced shoe boxes with acrylic windows. How is this allowed to happen? I for one do not believe that with good management this piece of history can not be viable business and major tourist attraction, especially with the 2012 Olympics about to arrive in the area."
London once had numerous dog tracks. Read about White City
Update: the last race was run at Walthamstow on August 16 2008. A consortium has been formed to try to preserve at least some dog racing on the site.
Heathrow Airport villages RIP?
Sipson, the village earmarked for demolition to make way for Heathrow’s third runway, has a special place in my heart. As an apprentice reporter based in Uxbridge in the ‘80s, the Heathrow villages – Sipson and Harmondsworth – were my patch.
Just a few fields away from the airport, the villages then were bucolic dots on the very edge of London. Old (Harmondsworth boasts a 11th century church and ancient barn) and surprisingly quiet (no detention centre there then), they coexisted uneasily with the airport – which was much resented by old-timers for apparently never having had planning permission in the first place. It started off as an airstrip in World War One and just growed and growed.
My job involved spending hours tramping
around the villages to find news stories to fill the paper every week. This was
a truly epic struggle. Cat up tree was big
news in Sipson and Harmondsworth at the time – except, of course, when plans to raze them to the
ground to expand the airport periodically popped up.
Fight for the future
Now the false alarms are over and Sipson is really fighting for its life. London-RIP would like to see it survive. Shouldn’t London treasure its real villages? Plus, it’s comforting to imagine future generations of local paper reporters sweating to get stories out of the place - and of course, there’s the small matter of the future of the planet. If you feel the same, check out the No Third Runway Action Group
London front gardens RIP
Front gardens, once a defining feature of London's suburbs, are in increasingly short supply. Haringey, where I live, is falling over itself to follow in the concreted, crazy-paved footsteps of Brent, Barnet and Enfield with barely a whimper of protest from anyone. This is a great shame, because there's something very appealing about front gardens.
It's the sheer decorativeness of them that gives them their charm. There's something fanciful, even frivolous, about a little patch of lawn
in front of your house - and they can be marvellous (see the example above, not my garden, unfortunately).
But even if they're individually undistinguished, collectively front gardens can make an ordinary street quite beautiful – while the lack of them tends to do the reverse. Streets where every garden has been paved over look vile and, quite appart from the hideousness factor, this wholesale front garden deforestation is causing serious problems with flooding.
So why are so many people paving over like there's no tomorrow? Would they honestly really rather look at their 4x4s squatting on a patch of concrete outside their front window than a front garden? By the look of it, and as councils introduce more dumb parking schemes, the answer seems to be 'yes'.
