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Pubs of the northern City of London / Farringdon
a perfectly no… 13 Nov 19 14:29
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I hope this will start a trend for pub threads based on different areas of London.

So, my trainee haunt was the Butcher’s Hook and Cleaver. Some cohorts preferred the Lord Raglan on St Martin’s le Grand but this has the drawback of not being in any way, shape or form a good pub; its main distinctions in my memory are (1) being host to our official new trainee welcome drinks when I was the babiest if baby lawyers and (2) I once met for a pint there a certain girthsome former ROFer renowned for his wedding dancing and exaggerated boasts of sexual prowess. I had actually driven my then-fiancee’s car in and parked it on Gresham street and had so many, MANY pints that I had to leave it. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t make it in for the crack of dawn to retrieve it the next morning, and incurred a parking fine.

Only the brave trainee went to the Bishop’s Finger, although it is the only pub I’ve ever been to that stocks Oranjeboom. I went to a spectacular ROF drinks there where I met SCT for the first time and accordingly left with surprise horn.

Back when I was a regular drinker in this area I seem to have overlooked the profusion of Proper Beer Pubs in the quiet streets between Weat Smithfield and Aldersgate Street, the best of which is the Hand and Shears, but the Rising Sun and Old Red Cow both meritorious.

Although the much missed Smithfield Tandoori fell into a Crossrail box, just near there on Charterhouse Street at the NE corner of Smithfield Market there has always been a small bar, which now is called Be At One but back in the noughties was vaguely japanese themed and had vintage arcade machines. It was always shit. Fox & Anchor round the corner - great for breakfast but not really a pub is it,

North of here on St. John St, one of the bars up here, I really can’t remember which for reasons which will follow - maybe Trader Vic’s - I once had a Very Bad Night as a trainee which featured me almost getting into fisticuffs with a partner from the litigation dept. I mean quite. youngish fittish relatively hard partner who would probably have chinned me, too. Reader, my career survived.

Happier times, the Hogshead in a hard of Cowcrosa Street just behind where Books Etc used to be is where I watched England win the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Hogshead briefly had another branch nearby on Aldersgate St, which opened at their peak just before they went under.

Opposite on Cowcross St has always been a consistently  undistinguished bar, now called the Fence, where an alcoholic former boss used to take me drinking. I’d have a bad pint of Greene King IPA while he nailed two bottles of white. The main advantage of this place is a quite attractive terrace out the back, above the retaining wall of the City Widened Lines to Moorgate.

Great view of the Barbican under construction. This is looking at the glasshouse of the Barbican Conservatory, and Cromwell Tower on Silk St, meaning the Linklaters site is just behind the big glass roof on the right. Two large buildings on the skyline in the background on the right - the leftmost one looks like Finsbury Tower, only just pulled down. No idea what the big slab to its right is - looks like it could also have been on Bunhill Row in which case it would have to have been on the modern day Slaughters site. Which brings me to the next and final piece for today...

Barbican

This absolute beast was somewhere on Chiswell St apparently. Described as "BP House" - they have occupied a lot of buildings in this area includinng Britannic House (now Citypoint), a building of the same name on Finsbury Circus, and the Linklaters buildings on Silk St in their former life. And this, which was new in 1957 and would, you would have thought, been enough in itself.

I've absolutely no idea where it was. There are not that many contenders for the site however since it's clearly enormous and on a corner. Likeliest options seem to be the Slaughters site and the Macquarie site on the south side of Chiswell St between Moor Lane and Finsbury St. Answers on a postcard please.

BP House

Again the Barbican video seems to show the answer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcso4wu1Fb8

At 13:12, this shot appears to show "BP House" immediately to the north of Britannic House/Citypoint. The southern (near flank of it would appear to cover both the Macquarie site and the Milton Gate (Addleshaws) site and run straight over what is now the top bit of Moor Lane. The front of the building seems to face Finsbury St and sit side on to Chiswell St.

The slab block on Bunhill Row is also visible in that shot as is the weird brutalist fire station/morgue complex on the junction of Milton St and Silk St (now the Heron).

That pub half way down Cheapside (half way from 200 Aldersgate to Bank anyway) was good. Forget the name, it was a venue for RoF drinks once. Down an alleyway..

I rarely went in the Raglan.

Found this view of British Petroleum House, described as being between Chiswell St and Ropemaker St.

I think this is from the Chiswell St. side. Note how on the side of the road nearest the camera, you can see the walls of the still bombed-out plot opposite.

According to the JLW brochure I posted above, this building was opened in 1958. Prior to moving in here, BP occupied Britannic House on Finsbury Circus, which still stands and was designed by Lutyens. Britannic House (now Citypoint) was completed in 1967; when BP moved in there, I don't know if they vacated their still-newish Chiswell St HQ or kept it. The Chiswell building must have been knocked down around 1990, as Milton Gate, the Addleshaws HQ which succeeded it, designed by Denys Lasdun, was opened in 1991. The City moves in cycles - there was lots of building in the late 50s and early 60s (some of it driven by a desire to avoid rights to light being grandfathered under the 1959 Act), another burst around 1990 (which also saw State House, a 50s modernist building which stood where 71 High Holborn now does, demolished) and then another from about 2008 onwards (the cycle shortening quite markedly). There are definitely marked "generations" among City buildings.

BPH

 

I was wrong actually, this is from Ropemaker St. The hole in the ground on the nearside of the road is where Citypoint and its plaza now are.

For the NRF heads out there, I thought I'd throw in a photo of former HQ Kempson House, which stood where the Heron on Bishopsgate now stands, although the address was Camomile St.

With its polygonal form roof arcade and creamy-white texture, as well as quite fine detailing around the entrance block at ground level, this was quite a good-looking building - those sympathetic to modernism, like me, might even say quite pretty - and aged well; the light coloured concrete preferred in the 50s and 60s generally aged better than the dark grey-browns preferred by the brutalists (who mostly did their work in the 70s, although they are usually referred to as "sixties"). If everything built in this era had looked like Kempson House then it would be somewhat better remembered.

Behind Kempson you can see the building that actually fronted Bishopsgate, a more overtly brutalist slab that houses, IIRC, a Thomas Cook and a Barclays in a small row of shops facing Bishopsgate. It was also occupied by Norton Rose and I think it had an indoor link to Kempson.

Kempson

And speaking, above, of Chiswell St and BP House, I just bet you were thinking "Aha! But if that lay to the west of Finsbury St, what the hot damn lay to the east, on the south side of Chiswell St., filling the block now occupied by the block with the only known surviving All Bar One in it, and the JPM Securities block behind with the bizarre postmodern clock tower outside it?

Wonder no more, dear reader:

city wall house

Venturing the other side of the Thames, this block near Lambeth North tube, called The Perspective and looking for all the world like a refitted local authority block of flats, was previously Century House, the home of MI6 for thirty years until they moved into their massive Vauxhall Cross complex in 1994. Difficult to sell, it stood empty until 2001 when the conversion to private flats was completed:

MI6

To assist in my grand project of charting the postwar architectural and social history of every street in the City, like a wandering neo-Pevsner armed with a digital camera, I have bought a new primary source for my armoury: the 1990 UK Business Finance Directory: The Guide to Sources of Corporate Finance in Britain.

This lists pretty much every investment bank and other finance advisor in the City and states their office address, as of a key time in the development of the City's built environment. I shall be procuring a legal industry guide from around the same time, too.

Opening shot: Church of St. Sepulchre, Newgate is centre of shot.

To its right, the cluster of low 19th century buildings around Cock Lane (heh) are mostly still standing.

Very bottom of shot is the 19th century frontage to Newgate St that still survives, behind which is the BAML groundscraper. White building lower right foreground is the corner of Bart's.

Curving roof behind is the poultry market at Smithfield. Behind that, you can see the two modernist slabs that used to be at the corner of Farringdon St and Cowcross St. These survived well into our memory and were demolished less than 10 yrs ago. The bigger, right hand one had the KFC outside Farringdon in its base. This was occupied until close to the end and had had a minor refurb. The lower one on the left was tattier but had a long parade of small shops in the bottom of it, facing Farringdon St., including Allford's sarnie shop where I sometimes used to meet my Lovellsm88s for some scran.

Speaking of Lovells, the square modern white block facing camera on the left, behind the church, is their 65 Holborn Viaduct, which mysteriously still stands even though Bath House, just visible behind, is long gone. 65HB is scheduled to be redeveloped shortly I think.

Let the camera pan left until about the 5s mark. The dome of the Old Bailey dominates. Just going out of shot on the right is WIlliams National House, opposite Bath House on Holborn Viaduct. This was where Fleet Place House is now. Top left you can see the massive Fleet Building, which dominated Farringdon St. near the viaduct until recently - I liked it in many respects as an example of its era, and very modern when new (packed with cutting edge telephone tech). But it presented a grim face to Farringdon St., and could have done with some shops and bars. The monster new building on the site has more or less repeated the mistake and is pretty fooking ugly tbh. Next to Fleet House in the shot is the squat brutalist tower 76 Shoe Lane, pulled down for the new Deloitte HQ.

The area behind this is a densely build up office quarter around New Fetter Lane which has seen a lot of turnover of sites and is now quite high rise.

Pause the camera again at 0:09. The building with the hole cut in its roof for the air conditioners is the Central Criminal Court extension block. It still has the hole in the roof. Behind it, side on to the camera, is the slab of Hillgate House. This stood until recently at the junction of Limeburner Lane and Old Bailey and was at one time the home of Deloitte.

As the camera moves further left, you can see a long low U-shaped modern block running down Old Bailey and around Ludgate Hill and Limeburner Lane - this is 50 Ludgate Hill, which was the CPS HQ until it was bulldozed fairly recently. More interestingly, in the background here you can see St. BRide's on fleet Street - the tall white building behind it is 85 Fleet Street, oddly prominent in this shot but quite low key from the street as it runs side on to Fleet Street down Salisbury Court. Likewise, somewhat to its left, Fleetbank House is the slab block with the strong horizontal grey bars. This is still in situ, opposite the back of Freshfields on Whitefriars St., and is of some legal significance as it houses the Competition Appeals Tribunal and some other specialist courts.

The old railway viaduct into what is now City Thameslink is then clearly visible along with buildings on the other side of New Bridge St. including modernist Fleet House (still there) and, just as the shot ends, the back of Unilever House.

Anyone knnow where the opening shot of this is taken from?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47XTyM2r5mI

It's clearly taken from the top of some new fangled modern office block, but, with the exception of Battersea power station on the horizon, there is literally nothing in this I can positively ID. The building with the renaissance dome in the very first shot should be recognisable, and it's hard to believe it would have been demolished, but what is it? It is not the Rosewood Hotel bldg on High Holborn (in which case this would be taken from State House) - I've checked. Looks like a brewery chimney behind. Further along to the left as the camera pans, there is a large tower block, brand new, which has v large octagonal windows. You'd think that would be recognisable but I can't place it. A lot of large towers have been built inn the distance but none is distinct. The busy arterial street curving away left - my only thought was High Holborn - but really not sure.

God I've finally placed it. The domed building is indeed famous - it's Harrods. So this is absolutely nowhere near where I thought it was, and nowhere near where the caption says. It's taken from the top of the building opposite. The modernist building that just hoves into view on the left at the very end is still there, between Knightsbridge and Raphael St., and has Zuma in the base of it. The building that looks like it has octagonal windows (the effect is actually created by small balconies) is now the Jumeirah Carlton - never heard of or seen it before. Large cluster of big buildings on the horizon to the left of it. Biggest of them, huge grey slab, could be Portland House. Maybe buildings on Victoria Street, a heartland of modernist commercial London architecture, behind.

The only thing that pointed me to check this area out was the very tall building on its own on the end of this shot which I thought might be the Hilton Park Lane, and I was right. The tall shadow in the smog on the horizon to its left would be Centre Point.

Paydirt! This shot contains, on the right behind the Barbican, a photo of the Linklaters Silk Street buildings before they were refitted for the firm. The shot is from 1980 and they are actually under construction. Smaller Shire House, further from camera, looks complete while taller Milton House is structurally incomplete. All I knew about these buildings was that they were clad in brownish mirrored glass. They look masculine and rather American, like something you'd see downtown in a 70s oil boom city in Texas.

Silk St from Drapers Gdns

Found this splendid photo of the City waterfront just west of the Tower, from 1991, along with a commentary from the photographer Alex Grant, at this link:https://alexgrant.me/2015/09/29/my-old-snapshot-from-1991-shows-how-the…

The red numbered buildings have been demolished and the black numbered ones are still there. Interesting what a playpark for celebrity architects this bit of the City has been. The building flagged red 2 (Sugar Quay - Tate & Lyle's HQ) and Red 1 (Bowring Tower) were by Terry Farrell and Basil Spence respectively. Both have been replaced by buildings by Foster & Partners.

Building flagged Red 5 was Memorial House, which stood on Fenchurch St where the AIG HQ now stands. It was an archetypal portland stone faced 1950s block and was the base of the Institute of Marine Engineers. This and the Tate & Lyle office illustrate how diverse the economic activity in the City used to be (maybe it still is). Building flagged Black 12 is New London House, right next to Fenchurch Street staton. Has a concrete pub/wine bar in its ground floor called The Windsor.

waterfront

Deutsche Bank's current London HQ, Winchester House, (which they'll shortly leave for New Moorfields) is a really underrated building isn't it. A properly lovely bit of neo-deco. I hope it is repurposed rather than bulldozed.

Winchester

Proving there is nothing truly new (or old) in architecture, the King George VI style has had a revival in the last 15 years or so, e.g. Capital House on Lombard St/King William St. near Bank:

Lombard

Wonderful painting - Out of the Ruins by David Ghilchi (1962) showing much that has been discussed - looking over the bombsite that would become the Barbican to St. Giles, the old fire station, Roman House, the London Wall towers, Fore St telephone exchange and, on the left, the stately and huge, but long forgotten, BP House.

Ghilchi

Basically, since this was allowed to drift down the board, the entire place has become a pit of prejudice and loathing and, worse, discussion of electoral politics. I’m bringing sexy back.

Great work, Laz. There's a British historian who has lived in Vietnam for over a decade. He wrote a great book (in its second edition now) detailing the history of Saigon and its buildings, organised as walks that you can do around the city.

The street names have changed numerous times over the last 150 years with the fall of regimes, but the street numbers stayed the same so he was able to look up a lot of info on them in the French overseas archives. He writes about the history of these various buildings, the different uses/guises they've had, the political intrigues that took place in them. You should do the same for London/London pubs.

That sounds excellent! And yeah that’s the kind of thing I’d aspire to chronicle in the City... plenty of stories under the foundations and behind the facades.

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