Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Wood High Road c1960

This is shot from Whymark Avenue looking north, The moderne with the tower was Bartons Department store, which used to occuopy 26-36 High Road.

This photo is linked to a 1925 photo shot a little further north

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Comment by Tony on August 4, 2019 at 14:03: I seem to remember Bartons having a serious fire, after which it closed down and was replaced by British Home Stores. Anyone know what year this happened ?

Comment by Hugh on August 4, 2019 at 14:11: Take a look at my last comment in the photo I've linked to above. The date is at the end of that comment.

Comment by Tony on August 5, 2019 at 12:41: Thanks Hugh, I thought it was late sixties but wasn't sure. Do you know what the purpose was for the tower at Bartons as no other shops seemed to have anything like this and was the tower still there after British Home Stores took over, I can't remember.

Comment by Hugh on August 5, 2019 at 13:42: I think it was just moderne architecture designed to be grand and visible.

If you look at my history of the store's development (just updated) in my comment linked to above, it was obviously doing pretty well. I'm not sure if the buildig was post or pre acquisition by Hide & Co as I have no exact date for that.

Here's a little folk memory on the store:

"As a kid I was fascinated by Barton's overhead money system. It was a track that ran around the store and when you paid the cashier they put it into a tube and attached it to the rail & then pulled a cord to send it winging off to a central cash office." 'Roy' in posting to GEN-TRIVIA-ENG-L list, 6/7/99. (Roy was born in 1945.)

As to the development of the building that took place since the above photo, I don't know. It may be that there's a moderne facade under brutalist Seventies cladding. But there's a planning application on record for 26-26 High Road in 1970 with the following description:

Erection of a department store and four shops minor modifications.

This suggests that the site may have been completely redeveloped.

Comment by Tony on August 5, 2019 at 16:13: Interesting to read about the "overhead money system" used there. I don't actually remember Bartons as a shop as I was only just over 4 years old at the time of the fire although I must have been in there a few times with my mum before that.

Comment by Jeremyb on August 8, 2019 at 23:06: I'm pretty sure Bartons was completely demolished after the fire, and the BHS replacement was a completely new building.As you say elsewhere it's being redeveloped soon and indeed Poundstretcher is winding down with many empty shelves!

Comment by Hugh on August 8, 2019 at 23:23: Jeremy, if you look at my comments on the other thread (linked to in my Sunday comment above), you'll see your recollection of the fate of Bartons confirmed by a very authoritative source.

Comment by Richard Woods on August 9, 2019 at 12:36: Bartons of course was the store in the 50s and 60s. Families literally took outings to wander its wonders. My favourite of course were the overhead pantograph system and the vacuum tubes which linked the tills with the accounts department. Money in, whoosh, accounting done, whoosh, Your receipt madam".

The lifts were manned - "going up ladies underwear".... "Going down gentlemans necessaries"; well maybe not but we pretended.

I had not realised it was a fire that ended it - a few years after I left the area.

The spivs lined up along the High Road, watching out for bobbies and running fast when spotted.

They were somewhat quicker than the legless servicemen who also lined the road seeking the odd copper - no that sort, the one in yer pocket guv.

By the way, that old super wide pavement looks pretty narrow now....

Comment by Derek Reynolds on February 12, 2020 at 19:15: Like Richard Woods, the overhead canisters whizzing along, and the pneumatic tubes were mesmerising to this young chap!

I recall the fire too, which put an end to Barton's. Sandwich men with "The End is Nigh", and match sellers. So many folk on a Saturday afternoon, it was common to have two deep into the road. Shopping best done early!

Comment by Tim Fennell on April 2, 2021 at 19:27: I remember my mum taking me to Bartons in the sixties. My best memory of the high road was the Sainsbury's on the opposite side of the road. It was just one long room with marble counters on each side, with large mosaics on the walls behind indicating what was being sold at that particular part of the counter. Also, all the ladies serving wore white hair nets.

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