I just happened upon this YouTube video, LADMOB ‘Unseen London Walk’ which covers the streets we walked some 50+ years ago. Farringdon Road at Holborn Viaduct starts around 45 minutes in.
Philip Marriage adds: Thanks Reg for this link – very interesting though I hardly recognised anything in Farringdon Street itself apart from the Viaduct. However when he strolled up West Smithfield it all became more familiar – and some of his route duplicated mine of 39 years ago, as shown earlier in HMSOldies. Coincidentally my son, who lives and works in London, offered to take Barbara and I to one of his favourite restaurants next time we are in London – in Bleeding Heart Yard, near Atlantic House, just down Saffron Hill, one of my special places of times past though Google Street view shows a much smarter place now. Old Mr Lawrence used to sell exotic hand-made papers and wood engraving tools from an upstairs room in the far right corner – he became a legend, not letting anyone in who he didn’t like the look of! Time moves on . . .
Adrian Young adds: I think that shows how little the Tory Govt and developers care about history and people. They have turned an interesting area into a boring glass and steel museum which has become the last gasp of the 20thC and with some wheezes and coughs into the 21stC. In a way it was good that he didn’t comment over the images but when he did say something it was ‘I don’t know what this red bridge is’. Pity, but the walk itself was well done. Thanks for sending it on.
John Eason adds: Your photographs certainly bring back happy memories, Philip. Especially the one of Cowcross Street. I used to get my haircut in the barber’s whose pole is clearly shown.
And a few doors past that was The Cardinal Restaurant, where Anne and I had many a lunch and on Fridays an evening meal prior to a cinema or theatre trip. It was there I developed my lifelong love of Italian food. We were eating lasagne and cannelloni there when for many spaghetti still came out of tins from Heinz. Which reminds me that Frankie Dettori tells how when he first came to England the family with whom he lodged gave him Heinz spaghetti on his first night to make him feel at home! The Cardinal was deep, but quite narrow with windows along one side. The staff were very friendly. The manager was Tony Santini, who supported Fiorentina. He had blond hair. His assistant, Leno, was a Torino fan and made a lovely iced tea when summer came. The head waitress was Lucia and the chef was Luigi! There was another very pretty waitress whose name escapes me. Well I have not thought of her for years. Honest. The Cardinal was where I first ate Escallope Milanese, which is my favourite. But they did a good Chicken Cacciatore too. Anne often cooked that for me, and we used to buy veal from Harts for Anne to cook at home. It’s no wonder I’m the size I am.
Step aside, Leslie Welch (good Edmonton boy): we have a new Memory Man! Reg.
Rod Durkin adds: John, your description of the Cardinal experience read as if you were there a couple of days ago. Phenomenal!
Philip Marriage adds: I had my hair cut by a barber directly across the road from Atlantic House, a few doors along from Harts Sandwich shop, down some stairs to the salon below. Nice old boy – in fact after we all dispersed to Norwich if I had any official business in Atlantic House I’d try to get a lunchtime cut with him just for old times sake.
Adrian Young adds: One lunchtime I had my haircut at a barber just across the road from Farringdon Station. I was dubious about the look as I left the barbers and when I arrived in the Atlantic House studio there must have been some comments, probably very witty and I hastily returned to the barber and had him redo the cut, obviously much shorter. Unfortunately no photographic evidence seems to exist. The only time I have had two haircuts in one day.
Many years ago I was in a barber’s shop in Tooting when the haircutter asked the man in the chair ‘Anything for the weekend, sir?’ whereupon the man answered ‘Don’t suppose you have a lawn mower I could borrow?’ No wasting 3/9d for a packet of three for him. Reg
Nodge Carnegie adds: Many thanks for all this wonderful information and, of course, stirring memories. Lots more exploring for me to do: “something for the weekend”, perhaps, in that wonderful phrase of the barber. One memory came to mind. It’s of a lunchtime visit on a sunny day (maybe one summer) to an Italian restaurant at the top of Charterhouse Street. It might have been right on the corner with Aldersgate Street. Present were Philip, Bobbie Westaway, Dave Challis, possibly John Saville and perhaps one or two more. It was memorable for me as my first try of Osso Bucco, with its rich and delicious sauce/gravy. Somebody told me that osso bucco in English was “ox-tail”. Immediate memory then – revived now – of my Mother’s “Oxtail Soup”, a favourite during childhood.
Reading about the earlier emails in this group was really enjoyable. There are clear memories of Philip and a couple of colleagues and regular (so it seemed) strolls round to the famous “paper” shop. One of the first books I read after starting in the Studio (just over 55 – 55! – years ago) was Dickens’ Little Dorrit. Given Atlantic House’s location, the book could not have been a better choice. So many of the locations so vividly described were in easy walking distance of the Studio. You probably remember that lots of the story took place in and near Bleeding Heart Yard. I re-read the novel last year (for about the eighth time) and found it every bit as enjoyable as that first reading. It does help, though, being blessed with instant forgetfulness of books’ contents and stories once they are finished! Thanks again.
Lovely memories, Nodge. Immediately takes me back to the Saffron Hill area. The less intellectual among us spent lunchtimes hoping that one of the glamour models employed by a local magazine would sashay past us on the way to Hart’s! Reg.
Philip Marriage adds: When looking down from the Graphic Design Studio on E floor in Atlantic House, Saffron Hill still had that Dickensian look, cobbled, dark and narrow, with the sun hardly penetrating as this photo from 1974 testifies.
Rod Durkin adds: As you say, Reg, brings back a few memories, for me, of the time I spent in Atlantic house in the mid 60’s. I can remember old hands like George Redman visiting the pub in Smithfield at unusual times, The piece covering the Royal Courts of Justice, brought back the memories of the long meeting we had Reg in the private club opposite the Courts with Bob Nuttall and his hierarchy about . . . ? It was an interesting experience.
Just taken a look at your earlier HMSOldies item again, Philip – and memories of Supplies days with John and Rod. Addressograph-Multigraph, Bob Nuttall, The Wig and Pen Club – Italian restaurants (another bottle of Barolo please) with Messrs Atkins and Wood. Where did it all go? No suggestions, please, I want to remember it as it was. Reg