Pupils and teachers at Copenhagen School and the Elizabeth Garret Anderson School will be celebrating big stylee this week as one-time pupil Alexandra Burke took the X-Factor crown last night.
The big ugly brick building on the Cally Road has recently become even uglier with the installation of some giant ashtrays along the pavement. Lisa has sent in pictures of these new steel planters that have mysteriously appeared outside the cash handling building on the Cally hear Killick Street. Lisa who lives nearby says:
'That's all we need is more street clutter, with convenient places to hide behind as lone women walk by at night!'
Planters like this often suffer from having their planting budget cut in later years – and they become forlorn grassy islands full of rubbish. I wonder how much they cost?
The ugly big brick building is a rare thing – a purpose designed cash handling centre where they sort and repack cash for cash machines etc. It is a modern fortress with no windows an anti climb roof presumably handling millions of pounds a day. It is on the site of the old All Saints church, opposite a lovely, intact Victorian terrace. It belongs to another era of urban regeneration but probably provides local jobs – does anyone know anything about it – do you work there perhaps – leave a comment and let us know what it is like inside.
The past few weeks have seen the new restaurant upstairs at the Central Station go from strength to strength. The owners have taken on board suggestions from local residents who took part in the experimental first night. This is now a bar/restaurant that is really working at being a part of our community. It fills a niche that so many of us want – very good food but not too pretentious, affordable and all in a relaxed, layed back atmosphere with the most lovely chef ever! The Christmas Menu is looking great, and gets better when you consider it's all for only £27.50 per head:
This is the beautiful House Sparrow, also known as the Cockney Sparra. It is an endangered species in our cities, particularly in London where it used to be so common. It's a lovely bird to watch, full of fun and chatter. It's very sociable – you won't see just one – you'll always see a flock. You don't put up a nesting box for the Sparras, you put up a row of terraced nesting boxes cos they like to be together!
The Council has delivered a couple of dozen of food hygiene reports for restaurants etc on the Caledonian Road. You can see them for yourself in a long page here – I haven't had time to organise them. Thanks to the wonderfully easy to use www.whatdotheyknow.com.
Flicking through the reports revealed no great shockers I thought – in the sense that places you would expect to be a bit grubby are, but a handy reference. There is a part of me relieved that the Flying Scotsman only serves peanuts and hasn't gone gastro yet. Worth adding that these reports do not necessarily mean that the establishments have these problems now – they are supposed to tackle the problems and learn.
Many readers will have noticed an increase in the number of people streaming up York Way this week or emerging cold and blinking onto York Way from the end of Platform One. The Guardian newspaper is now in Kings Place on York Way at the junction with Goods Way. About 2,000 people i think. They have been merrily taking pics of the offices – have a look here. Several locals contributed to a Guardian Guide to Kings Cross to help them settle in. It is a handy guide but I can't get an electronic copy to post here.
Guardian commuters are finding the wonderfully convenient exit from Kings Cross at the end of platform one. When this entrance is closed, no doubt the Guardianistas will remember the role of their own. The critical factor in residents losing the planning case was the Guardian (Luke the guy who did the Guardian move) formally writing to Camden Council to say they didn't care about the entrance – we suspect under pressure from their property developer. This was read out at the meeting while residents weren't allowed a say.
Guardian folk are very welcome to Kings Cross although rumour has it that there is staff grumbling as the contrasts between Kings Cross and Clerkenwell become apparent. There aren't quite as many places to buy marinated olives for lunch here but Kings Cross is better for the social realist and might help the Guardian get back to its roots….
2009 marks the 150th anniversary of the demonstration on Copenhagen Fields when between 35,000 to 100,000 people marched on 21 April 1834 to show their support for the Tolpuddle Martyrs, a small group from Dorset who were sentenced with transportation for having taken an illegal oath. But their real crime in the eyes of the establishment was to have formed a trade union to protest about their meagre pay of six shillings a week – the equivalent of 30p in today's money and the third wage cut in as many years. (Pictured left the mural on Copenhagen Street celebrating the Tolpuddle Martyrs, recently joined by Lisa Pontecorvo). | William Pitt-Jones on Rufford Street local hist… |
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Pollution levels on Euston Road King’s Cross weather (BBC)
Kings Cross Environment 