February 2020 Group Meeting Media Report
The Monopoly board game sits in the cupboards of many of us, coming out at family gatherings and rainy days. The Old Kent Road is the least desirable on the board, having the lowest rental value of all the properties (and a couple of non-streets). At our February meeting speaker and tour guide Alan Payne took us on a virtual stroll along this famous road, once an ancient trackway, later paved by the Romans, where interesting nuggets hide amongst today’s bland shop fronts and eateries. Alan projected a black and white photograph, taken in 1880, of a bustling street scene with costermongers and their barrows, a haywain from the Kent countryside and a horse drawn tram, fighting for space. The same view taken recently is dominated by traffic cones and rows of modern street lights.
Starting at the New Cross Road end we take a detour to visit East Street Market where the antics of Del Boy and his mates in Only Fools and Horses were filmed. Further on we admire some elegant semi- detached villas built in 1814 by architect Giles Amon displaying his ammonite trademark. There are only two public houses remaining in the Old Kent Road, one of which is impressive Victorian red brick ‘Windsor Arms’ originally called ‘The Prince of Saxe- Coburg Tavern. We reach the railway bridge and Alan showed a railway ticket clipped for third class travel. Dominating the skyline are the gasholders, erected by South Metropolitan Gasworks, which have listed building status. A planning application was once submitted for them to house alligators and crocodiles! We admire the impressive expanse of Caroline Gardens in nearby Asylum Road built in the 1850’s by The Licenced Victuallers’ Association to house retired publicans (called inmates). The chapel has fine stained glass windows and is an occasional wedding venue.
The story of the area, told in a charming mural of farms, fields with cows, a windmill and an orchard of ‘Costered’ apples, is easy to miss above a Vietnamese restaurant which was once ‘The Kentish Drovers’. MacDonald’s is supposed to be in the style of a Roman villa, the link being that part of the Roman road was unearthed on the site. It is worth pausing at the nondescript Evangelical Church (once North Peckham Civic Centre) to admire the mosaic mural of historical and notable events. Created by Adam Kossowski in 1965, pearly kings and queens and Albert Chevalier (who wrote the song ‘Knocked ‘em in The Old Kent Road’ sung by Shirley Temple in a Hollywood movie) are included in this work of art. A surprise awaits through the ornate entrance to Burgess Park – a beautiful lake that could be in deep countryside. We approach ‘The Thomas A ’Becket’ where Henry Cooper trained in the first floor boxing gym, now turned into flats. Shorncliffe Road nearby looks featureless today contrasted with a vibrant street scene packed with cheering residents to welcome home war hero young Albert McKenzie in 1917. Sadly he died in Chatham Hospital of Tuberculosis. We agree that the handsome mid Victorian terraces in Marcia Road, restored and rebuilt in the 1950’s, do not look quite right without chimneys.
Alan told us a grim anecdote relating to Edgington’s (now a Travelodge) which once sold equipment for adventure travel and also manufactured flags. Apparently there was a secret room for the manufacture of bespoke nooses for the Hangman. Near the flyover we see that ‘The Dun Cow’ is now a medical centre and pizzas are sold at former ‘The World Turned Upside Down’. On a patch of land in nearby Mandela Way stands a Soviet tank painted pink with the turret pointing at the local planning department!
Christina Tyler, Programme Organiser
The Monopoly board game sits in the cupboards of many of us, coming out at family gatherings and rainy days. The Old Kent Road is the least desirable on the board, having the lowest rental value of all the properties (and a couple of non-streets). At our February meeting speaker and tour guide Alan Payne took us on a virtual stroll along this famous road, once an ancient trackway, later paved by the Romans, where interesting nuggets hide amongst today’s bland shop fronts and eateries. Alan projected a black and white photograph, taken in 1880, of a bustling street scene with costermongers and their barrows, a haywain from the Kent countryside and a horse drawn tram, fighting for space. The same view taken recently is dominated by traffic cones and rows of modern street lights.
Starting at the New Cross Road end we take a detour to visit East Street Market where the antics of Del Boy and his mates in Only Fools and Horses were filmed. Further on we admire some elegant semi- detached villas built in 1814 by architect Giles Amon displaying his ammonite trademark. There are only two public houses remaining in the Old Kent Road, one of which is impressive Victorian red brick ‘Windsor Arms’ originally called ‘The Prince of Saxe- Coburg Tavern. We reach the railway bridge and Alan showed a railway ticket clipped for third class travel. Dominating the skyline are the gasholders, erected by South Metropolitan Gasworks, which have listed building status. A planning application was once submitted for them to house alligators and crocodiles! We admire the impressive expanse of Caroline Gardens in nearby Asylum Road built in the 1850’s by The Licenced Victuallers’ Association to house retired publicans (called inmates). The chapel has fine stained glass windows and is an occasional wedding venue.
The story of the area, told in a charming mural of farms, fields with cows, a windmill and an orchard of ‘Costered’ apples, is easy to miss above a Vietnamese restaurant which was once ‘The Kentish Drovers’. MacDonald’s is supposed to be in the style of a Roman villa, the link being that part of the Roman road was unearthed on the site. It is worth pausing at the nondescript Evangelical Church (once North Peckham Civic Centre) to admire the mosaic mural of historical and notable events. Created by Adam Kossowski in 1965, pearly kings and queens and Albert Chevalier (who wrote the song ‘Knocked ‘em in The Old Kent Road’ sung by Shirley Temple in a Hollywood movie) are included in this work of art. A surprise awaits through the ornate entrance to Burgess Park – a beautiful lake that could be in deep countryside. We approach ‘The Thomas A ’Becket’ where Henry Cooper trained in the first floor boxing gym, now turned into flats. Shorncliffe Road nearby looks featureless today contrasted with a vibrant street scene packed with cheering residents to welcome home war hero young Albert McKenzie in 1917. Sadly he died in Chatham Hospital of Tuberculosis. We agree that the handsome mid Victorian terraces in Marcia Road, restored and rebuilt in the 1950’s, do not look quite right without chimneys.
Alan told us a grim anecdote relating to Edgington’s (now a Travelodge) which once sold equipment for adventure travel and also manufactured flags. Apparently there was a secret room for the manufacture of bespoke nooses for the Hangman. Near the flyover we see that ‘The Dun Cow’ is now a medical centre and pizzas are sold at former ‘The World Turned Upside Down’. On a patch of land in nearby Mandela Way stands a Soviet tank painted pink with the turret pointing at the local planning department!
Christina Tyler, Programme Organiser