Any comments?
Google: "the hornsey road baths and laundry" to see this old skool illuminated sign.
I like the woman diving into the pool lit up in lights. It looks good.
Talking about old fashioned tings I like frontage of the Holloway Rd tube station,it's got all the old fashioned lettering reading "Holloway Rd" above the entrance to the tube station and the red colour tiles.
Is it called art deco or something? I wouldn't know.
Oh yes,and at Arsenal tube station deep down in the tunnel on the station platform as you get off the train they have the previous name of Arsenal tube station there written on the tiles on the platform left there from years ago ,I think it might be called Gillespe Rd,not sure,gooners will put me right.
I thought someone would put their foot in at the weekend,I thought it would be on CFC shame it was on Arsenal...
Anyone jumped into a london taxi on sg rd with a football and jumpers for goalposts and gone to the old Arsenal stadium the old highbury stadium now flats and played football on the grass that used to be the football pitch after a few sherberts of an afternoon?
Comments
Hornsey Road baths was/were used by SG school in the early fifties for swimming lessons. We walked there and back in all weathers, two abreast with our swimming trunks wrapped up in a towel the bundle remaining a soggy wet lump until we got back home in the lunch break or in the evening.
The water wasn't heated, there were no warm showers and no hair-dryers - but none of us complained and as far as I can remember we didn't get colds. Nor do I suffer from rheumatism today...
At some time, and I can't remember when, we moved onto going by coach to a school baths off of Wightmann Road. What I do remember is once returning to school after the summer holidays to find that swimming was the first activity of the new term. Non of us (boys) had our swimming things with us. The teacher (Mrs xxxxxxxx) said we should go any way and we did, while she supervised from the side, after coming out of the water we just hung around until we were dry. Imagine that today.
Before we moved to Florence Road we lived in Newcastle, I was a small United fan. At that time the cheapest places were down by the touchline at St. James's Park. So that's where we were. Sometimes we had to jump out of the way of the players. Later, when I went to N. to visit relatives and so on we always went to the Saturday football, at that time the real hero was Jackie Milburn who scored a stunning goal at Wembley in the Cup Final.
Naturally in SG my interest turned to Arsenal and I vaguely remember sitting there on the touchline too.
I can't remember any hooligans but I know that there were crowds outside the pubs.
<img src="http://stuartfree.com/uploads/images/image_category_image/150/original/Hornsey Baths V.jpg" alt="Stuart Free" width="400" border="0" />
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The war damage itself was mainly behind the left of Hornsey Road - Mitford Road, Sussex Way and thereabouts. But Hornsey Road itself remained fairly intact. This new 'architecture' can't really be called post-war because it must have taken place later than 1970 to replace terraced rows of houses that weren't exactly presentable but ten times better than the terrible things standing there now.
We moved from Florence Road into Sussex Close in 1953, the flats were then new and had quite decent tenants although there wasn't much to be said for the 'facilities', for instance we all had our bikes in the flat and/or on the balconies. There was one good thing, they had a superb view from the higher floors - on a really good day the whole of London could be seen.
[blockquote] Renaming of Gillespie Road station: This is largely down to foresight of Herbert Chapman, who pushed hard for the Tube stop just behind the North Bank to be re-christened. “Whoever heard of Gillespie Road,” he said at one point in the talks. “It is Arsenal around here!”
The idea had first occurred to Chapman when he visited the newly-relegated Arsenal in 1913 as manager of Leeds City. It took months of lobbying and the change meant that thousands of tickets, maps and signs had to be replaced. Even machinery had to be re-configured.[/blockquote]
No doubt Mr. Chapman gave someone on the council a massive backhander to do his bidding. He was banned from the game for his part in an embezzlement scam at Leeds City (and did some club not go bust after he paid the league to ensure Arsenal promotion? Sorry, bit vague on that).
I guess there's not much appetite in the current climate to pay for it to be renamed (though Wenger did sign a petition to have Gillespie Road reinstated), and maybe Arsenal fans would then push to get Holloway Road renamed in their honour.
For those of you who are are unaware Asenal dominated English football in the 1930's and only the war prevented them from continuing this. They pulled out all the stops to remain in Islington, their spiritual home when the new stadium was built.
No other London Club has had such an impact on the football landscape.
Arsenal tube station is the only one on the underground network that isn't named after a place. I think it should go back to its original geographical name
As for Bigger and Better support? Can you please define your criteria for this statement.
Arsenal get 60,00 at every home game thats why they had to build a bigger ground. Spurs get 40,000.
When Arsenal won the league in 2004, 250,000 people turned out in Upper Street.
I dont think many of you would have been alive the last time Spurs won the league in 1961!