Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Railway Approach, Harringay, 1957

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Comment by Alan on December 12, 2016 at 13:44: I don't remember the signal box being so close to the bridge. It was well to the right and I delievered a repaired pair of shoes there once.

Comment by Hugh on December 12, 2016 at 14:00: Here's another view of it, Alan.

Comment by Gordon T on December 12, 2016 at 14:09: Looking at the footbridge ramp, it and the parapet look to be straight i.e. same gradient throughout. Was that part of the footbridge rebuilt when the line was electrified, to give more clearance for the wires underneath? Would explain the current precipitous gradient at the station approach end of the bridge.

Comment by Richard Woods on December 12, 2016 at 16:28: This is the view we had most days at about 4.10 p.m. weekdays on the way home from Stationers. Just in time for the Flying Scotsman, leaving Kings Cross at 4 p.m. it reached Harringay about 10 minutes later. Some great images HERE

Comment by Geraldine on December 12, 2016 at 21:41: Those three buildings formed the centre of my life. I was christened at St Paul's. Harringay arena was our fantasy world with its circuses and wild west shows. I was a steam addict and would lean over the parapet for it to envelop me as trains passed underneath. Crazy!

Comment by Teresa Wilson on February 11, 2017 at 20:18: I am fairly certain that sometime back in the 1960s and possibly early 70s, where the two lads are standing, there was a cobblers / shoe mender.

Comment by Alan on February 13, 2017 at 14:16: TW is right about the shoe menders as being here. It was called Ron Barfords and I worked there as a youngish lad. Who knows I might even have brought you your repaired shoes as he had a wide catchment area. I remember Duvals, Coburn & Hughes etc.

Comment by David Adrian Grant on October 22, 2021 at 11:46: I hate to think how many times I crossed that bridge going to school and down to the shops in Green Lanes. Strand Motorcycles (later Coburn & Hughes) was my main interest from 14-16 when I got my first bike from "George Clarke" in Brixton. Got a very nice Velo Viper from C&H! Old Ron Barford was a fantastic character. I repainted the name on the shop window for him! 10 Players Weights. He used to come right across London to his shop each morning and didn't shut up before 7 o'clock. His Name was actually Ruben Barford but was happy with Ron.

Comment by Alan on February 7, 2023 at 20:29: Ron Barford, the cobbler [closest to the signal box] when I was a delivery boy there, back in the mid '60s was a character indeed. With a mouthful of nails and a flat file, he'd sole & heel for 19s 6d, blakeys extra.

He'd send me over to Channings in Quernmore for his 20 Capstan full strength.

Mrs Dwight opposite the library was a good customer & a good tipper [2x tanners] sometimes. Or there was the newsagent with the 2 alsations. Or Caitlins in Wightman.

There was the man with his ladder, who lit those gas lights nightly- with a cord either side for on or off.

That handrail was round and shiney-with-wear brass rail the full length, not like the square cold metal now. There was a barbers there too, see the Brilcream sign at left. The corner shop was a 'delicatescen'

I think there was a greeengrocers and a betting shop this side too.

The ornate metal scrollwork over his shop said 'The Facade', and there was another round the corner, by 'Dor-to-Dor' rail goods loading banks. [Now Jewsons?]

Lovely library on the corner[opposite the UD] with polished brass handles and newspapers drapped over hardwood rods. No W5 bus then, no bus at all !!

The footpath by Channings was not open in my time, but unlike today, the one by Steven & Steeds was open and led through to Ridge Road- that's why called the hogs back, where train-spotters could be found by day, but courting couples, and dog-walkers, around dusk.

Comment by Harry Carson on February 10, 2023 at 11:12: As a group we felt safe with few if any of the real children-focused dangers unknown to us (and our parents?).

Five or six of us primary aged kids were heading for the Hog's Back. From Pemberton Road, along Wightman road and up opposite Burgoyne... stopping for sweets on the corner.

Like the two in the photo we'd also peer through cracks...to check the railway signals....had we missed the Northern 9.35? Or Deltic? Armed with notepad, official spotters book ( underlined all numbers spotted) and a drink the summer days were always warm and dry!

Suddenly we had to run to the other railway line, past Atterbury and Cyprus Close, through a crack, beside the wartime bunker to see an important train coming up from the Stadium station.

A slow walk back , stopping to get bubble gum from a freestanding machine outside a shop enroute.

Fit? Then off to Finsbury Park or back to Pemberton Road to run laps down to Green lanes and up the other side.

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