Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

When did the term 'Harringay Ladder' Become Common Parlance

Chatting with a former resident of St Ann's Road in the Post Office queue today, I learned that the Ladder has not always been the Ladder.

My interlocutor moved out of Harringay 40 years ago. She said, "They call it the Harringay Ladder now, don't they" and assured me that at the time she moved out, Harringay was just Harringay. She never used to hear the term Harringay Ladder, she told me. I suppose it's likely that the Ladder epithet was not always in place, but it got me wondering about when it first became common parlance.

Any ideas?

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Permalink Reply by Richard Woods on July 23, 2017 at 13:42

Back when the debate raged about what to call the new London borough combining Hornsey, Tottenham and wood green someone enlisted a Professor to argue for the Harringay spelling but actual Harringay-ites did not like the idea of a Harringay Borough Council and they may have as the Haringey spelling was adopted. It has logic since the area is close to the centre of the three combined borough.

The perversity of the council in using Green Lanes is more than daft since Green Lanes is a road not a place and extends way to the south and far into injun territory to the north. And it covers more post codes than the essential N4/N8 that is the core of Harringay.

As with Geraldine, in my day it was always the Alley (although my Sussex mum liked twitten) but I was aware it was Harringay (ey) Passage - and that trumps the council's Green Lanes hocum anyway!

Permalink Reply by Hugh on July 23, 2017 at 14:12