Gardner and Finch butchers 170 Caledonian Road

Posted on October 31, 2006 by William Perrin

As retail on the Cally Road Gardner_and_finch_170_callystaggers along it is good to see some traditional local shops hanging on – thery really make a neighbourhood. Gardner and Finch are a good basic butchers shop on the Caledonian Road opposite the big HSS Hire depot (map here but you can’t miss the big traditional red awning) This sort of local butcher has largely died out – always helpful advice on cooking, some local gossip and good prices.  I have never failed to get a  good fresh cut steak or the basics for a stew.  On Saturday only open in the mornings.

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Container cock up

Posted on October 31, 2006 by William Perrin

Containers_ruff Somtimes you can’t win – working with Councillors the containers that were causing a safety hazard on Bingfield Park were moved.  United House and the Council officials were charged with finding a better location for them.  But we had not anticipated that they would be put in an even more stupid spot.  Now the containers have turned up on Rufford Street and Randell’s Road, stacked up to two stories high (photo to follow).  The Ward councillors are on the case to get them moved again – the containers need planning permission so they won’t stay.

Cont_ruff2 I am bothered by the underlying presumption here by Council officials – that it is ok to dump a public safety hazard and eyesore in an impoverished area without consulting local people.  They wouldn’t do this in Thornhill Square so why should we put up with it here ?   I also notice that the new lamppost next to which they have dumped the containers is no longer as upright as it once was.

Posted in Anti Social Behaviour, Crime etc | 1 Comment

Gerda gate a goner – Crumbles Castle

Posted on October 29, 2006 by William Perrin

Gate_brokenIn the summer the Council and HfI introduced some basic security in the Outram Estate area to keep vehicles out.  A lot of crime was happening due to uncontrolled access by people with cars to secluded areas where they would take drugs and carry on the sex trade (see reporting here).  Three new GERDA gates were fitted – they were supposed to be fairly indestructible (see company material here).  Two have survived well and have slashed drug and sex crime in the undercrofts of the Outram Estate. 

A third has not faired so well at the entrance to the Crumbles Castle playground and Bingfield Park – the locking post was smashed up about a month ago but it hasn’t been fixed- will raise with john eustace of HfI who is i think responsible for fixing it.

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CCTV comes to the Cally

Posted on October 29, 2006 by William Perrin

Cctv_cameraThe Islington Gazette reports that we shall get a new CCTV camera on the Caledonian Road at the junction with Bridgeman Road (approximate map here).  Hopefully this will tackle the street drinking and low level ASB that occurs there.  Or maybe it will move a bit further down the Cally…..

See also my reports of the police CCTV van visiting in the summer here.

I have lost track of the long running saga of sorely-needed CCTV within the Bemerton Estate – will see if i can find an update – perhaps from a reader ?

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Tipping, Bingfield Street

Posted on October 29, 2006 by William Perrin

Bing_stA bed divan and some trash have been tipped alongside the works to install new street lights on Bingfield Street at the junction with Caledonian Road.  WIll report by email as an experiment to see if Contact Islington have got their backlog cleared

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phone box broken, 170 caledonian road

Posted on October 29, 2006 by William Perrin

Phone_boxes_170_callyreported it to BT – can’t make calls and one window smashed

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2 AM pub opening ? Cross Kings Pub 126 York Way – the old Backpacker

Posted on October 25, 2006 by William Perrin

24_hour_party_peopleAs Kings Cross gets on its feet it is important to retain a balance between residential and leisure use.  Uncontrolled leisure use causes external costs that are born by the community – such as noise and litter.  If lanlords of pubs were made to carry these costs themselves, there would be less mess and noise. 

The old Backpacker on York Way had a very chequered history of noise, mess and out of control public drunkenness.  The pub has reopened as the Cross Kings under new management and applied for a licence to open until 0200 on thursday nights/Friday mornings. 
But the changes the new management described to residents are not readily visible.  We are not sure how many people will congregate drinking outside.  On a precautionary principle a local resident has objected to the 0200 licence – this is a sensible move until we are certain what this new pub is up to.  There is an emphasis on snack food but it is too early to tell how things will turn out.  See objection attached. Download backpacker_cross_kings.doc

Posted in Planning, Licensing and Regulation | 4 Comments

George King graffiti artist, 1984-2006

Posted on October 22, 2006 by William Perrin

Oldhatedub I reported here on the tragic death of a graffiti artist George King at Cally and Barnsbury rail station.  I was surprised when one of the dead man’s friends got in touch through the site and touchingly his now widowed partner (also here).  I see a lot of internet searches coming into this site as people try to find out what happened to George King – his tag was ‘hate’.  A tribue has been set up to George at this link.

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