Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Turning back time at the Haringey Local History Fair
A beautiful day, parent duties over, it was time to set off for Bruce Castle Museum for the afternoon session of the Haringey Local History Fair.
One of the themes of the History Fair was the history of the High Street, following on from the BBC Turn Back Time local history series, and the focus was on three high streets in the east of the borough which were once hubs of commercial activity: Harringay, Wood Green and Tottenham.
I missed the Harringay session, due to aforementioned parental duties, which I felt wasn't too much of a disaster as Harringay Online has filled in a lot of that history for me, but I was in time for the Wood Green talk by Albert Pinching, writer of Wood Green past and present, and the 'Burgess's in Focus' talk about the biggest department store on Tottenham High Road by Renata Pillay.
Albert Pinching, Wood Green historian
There were so many delicious nuggets of history that it would be difficult to cover it all in one blog post, and probably much of what I learned merits various posts of their own in the History group, but the lesson taken away from these two sessions was just how much the public have helped to bring about the demise of the great parades through our shopping habits, although, of course, fashion dictated some of the worst excesses of high street vandalism, when it was decided that big futuristic concrete blocks shopping malls were much more in keeping with modern times than pokey old Victorian shops. Albert was diplomatic in his treatment of the development of Wood Green in the 70s but I couldn't help sighing for the loss of the big taverns, the Wood Green tea garden, the Wood Green Assembly rooms.
However the ghosts of the past are still there in Wood Green, you just have to look up above the cheap clothes shops and betting shops to find them, such as the splendid Art Deco building of Montague Burtons tailors with its North American Indian symbolism (near Maplins, you can see it on the bottom photo here), just as you can catch glimpses of Grand Parade's Edwardian splendour on closer inspection.
The same could not be said for Tottenham's centrepiece (pictured above in 1931), now an Aldi and a row of rectangular buildings, but further along the old Co-op building from the 1930s hints at past glory.
Old Co-op building Lansdowne Road/Tottenham High Road
After the talks, I went to chat to the people manning the history stalls, which absorbed me for another hour, including a long chat with Bob Hare of the New River Action Group about how Harringay could make more of their stretches of the New River (more on that soon, watch this space). I also met the lovely Ray Swain, brother of Alan who runs the Tottenham-Summerhill website which is full of personal memories of Tottenham past, who helped me with my own personal project to piece together the view from Charlotte Riddell's windows in West Green.
I'd like to echo Lesley's thanks to the staff (nice to finally meet Lesley) and stall holders for an entertaining and informative afternoon.
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Comment by StephenBln on February 13, 2011 at 15:48
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The building remained virtually unchanged until the end. I can't remember exactly when the Co-Op took over the store.. 1970?
It's really difficult to understand what would posses anyone to want to demolish such a gem.
The toy department was on the 1st floor and I remember Santa's Grotto being a great treat. 2/6 entrance plus 'small present'.
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Comment by Liz on February 13, 2011 at 16:35
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Although not about this part of the world, this film from the 60s narrated by Sid James contrasts the supermarket with the famous street markets of London and highlights the changes in peoples shopping habits as affluence and tastes changed
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Woo Hoo Steve! Here's why the almshouses that were on the Burgess's site were called Sanchez:
Other almshouses were also erected on Tottenham High Road during the 16thCentury, including the Sanchez Charity Almshouses on the eastern side of the HighRoad. The Almshouses were built for local elderly people by Balthasar Sanchez, a Spaniard who was formerly Court Confectioner to Philip II of Spain. When Philip married Mary Tudor, Sanchez accompanied his master to England and inhabited a mansion on Tottenham High Road, close to the current junction with Bruce Grove. The property later became the ‘George and Vulture’ Inn, which is now demolished. Sanchez Charity Almshouses survived until the 19th Century.
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Comment by Lesley Ramm on February 13, 2011 at 20:04
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Anyone interested in Sanchez can read all about him here http://www.mickbruff.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/highroad/howitwas/sanchez...
Website has more on Tottenham history
Photo i took last year in grounds of Bruce Castle of the Baltazar Sanchez memorial plaque
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In morning i sat next to a couple originally from Tottenham who now live in Hampshire and travel up each year for the History Fair. In afternoon an older lady who has lived 50 years on Noel Park estate whose knowledge rivalled Albert Pinchings - i had history in stereo!
Also glad to see report on Bowes+Bounds Connected that local websites are a great way to communicate local events and info.
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Nice link Lesley. Rather like this commentary (which also fills in a little more of the detail,)
Burgesses’ was taken over by the Co-Op in the late ’60s/early ’70s, and in the 1980s the store was demolished and replaced by the unutterably hideous Tottenham Enterprise Centre.
This is that row of boxes next to the Aldi, I think which was rebranded the Grove Business Centre. I wonder if the Co-op still own the land. Odd how keen so many businesses are to tear down our old facades and replace them with unspeakable mediocrity, cf the 'Coliseum' on Green Lanes
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Liz, you might be interested in The Drapers Record of 19th April 1924 that was handed around - don't know if you got one
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Yes I did get a copy of it but thanks for scanning it and posting it.
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In a way the building is reminiscent of the almshouses. If you cut out the ground floor frontages! :o)
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Hmm, well the Aldi isn't that hideous actually, looks quite open and airy but squatting next to it is, I think, the Grove Business Centre. If you do a search for images of it, you will notice that the owners are very careful not to photograph it from the front while the header repeatedly shows a gorgeous Georgian front from one of their other properties.
Tottenham, of course, isn't short of gorgeous Georgian, but sadly it is often neglected
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