another one today
fairly sure i've posted other shots of the same location - top end of Effra Road, tram is heading south approaching the 'change pit' (where trams changed between the conduit electric supply and overhead wire)
So the Esso sign is for the garage which used to exist on Rushcroft Road, then briefly became an anarchist garden centre around 1995 before being evicted by the Environmental Services under their flamboyant Director Mr Paul Duffield.
I remember that garage, but don't remember the anarchist garden centre. What happened there?!So the Esso sign is for the garage which used to exist on Rushcroft Road, then briefly became an anarchist garden centre around 1995 before being evicted by the Environmental Services under their flamboyant Director Mr Paul Duffield.
The petrol station was just standing empty and derelict as it had been for years and some people decided to sell flowers and pot plants there. It got quite popular - a good site for passing trade. People popped in and bought stuff on the way home.I remember that garage, but don't remember the anarchist garden centre. What happened there?!
Welcome news:Oval Four: Black men jailed after being framed by racist police officer have convictions quashed almost 50 years later
(Source: as stated in image)
Lord Burnett said it was “clear that these convictions are unsafe”, adding: “We would wish only to note our regret that it has taken so long for this injustice to be remedied.”
Loads of detail in this Atlantic Road view!
I saw this picture somewhere else (FB), and it was suggested it was traveling up Brixton Hill past Sudbourne Road but is displaying Embankment as a destination. What's that all about?Brixton Hill, 1950/51 posted on tweeter by Lambeth Archives today
tired looking tram probably doesn't have much longer to run in London (although most of the 'Feltham' class trams, which were London's most modern, dating from 1930/1, got sold on to Leeds for further service) - tram 18 became bus 109 in April 1951
Isn't that the back of the tram?I saw this picture somewhere else (FB), and it was suggested it was traveling up Brixton Hill past Sudbourne Road but is displaying Embankment as a destination. What's that all about?
I saw this picture somewhere else (FB), and it was suggested it was traveling up Brixton Hill past Sudbourne Road but is displaying Embankment as a destination. What's that all about?
62 Railton Road, 1984. What the heck were these Speculative Mechanics?!
Yer right! Reckon it's heading down Brixton Hill past Water Lane. And looking at the track paints a different picture.Isn't that the back of the tram?
seems to be some sort of masonic / weird religious fusion, but can't trace them on the interwebs...
Here you go:something about them in the 'spectator' 19.1.85, but it's behind a paywall...
More: Outline - Read & annotate without distractionsIn a fruitless quest for my colleague Colin Welch's stolen briefcase, I paid a visit to Railton Road in Brixton not long ago, I had long been intrigued by a boarded-up shop there with Rastas hanging around the door. Once when a pair of them laughingly carried a crate of beer inside, I had caught a glimpse of an enchanting tropical landscape with palm trees, painted on one of the walls. So on this occasion I decided to knock and announce myself.
splendid sign above the door, in large ,Gothic lettering, declared the place to be the Grand Lodge of the 'Ancient Order of Melchiseder Speculative Mechanics'. I edged through the crowd, but to my disappointment, when the door was opened the place proved to be a pool hall! Not a Bingyman or a Speculative Mechanic was in sight, only a pool table and a bar at the rear of the battered room. The palm tree painting had gone, but another inferior mural remained. Two of the pool players in the crowded room had Rasta hair and bonnets, but none seemed to be serious members of anything more than a snooker club. My entrance was greeted with great alarm, and strong men flew to bar my way. Fear turned to relief when I said I was a writer looking for a Rasta temple.
`It's all changed here since there was a fire,' a young man told me in polite, helpful tones. 'That's when the picture got spoilt. You might find some Rastas at the Temple of the Twelve Tribes just up the road. There's a sign on the door, you can't miss it.'
However, when I found the address, it seemed to be empty, and locked up. Where had the Rastas gone? Would the cry `A right man, I sight you again' be no longer heard in the land? A door opened in a church hall and a dignified West Indian woman in a hat emerged and looked down on me from a railing above some steps.
`Excuse me, do you know of a Rasta temple round here?' I asked her.
`No. Are you a Rasta?'
`Do I look like one?'
`No, but that means nothing. You might be one inside.'
`Well, are you one, then?'
`I am a Christian.'
Silently, I reached up and shook her hand. 'There were some Rastas round the corner, but they've moved away,' she told me. 'I know the true Lord is Jesus Christ, but if them wants to die in their sins believing in Haile Selassie, I cannot stop them. All I can do is tell them what I believe.'
At the top of Coldharbour Lane nearby, I met Carlton, a reggae musician of faintly Rasta-like appearance. His expressive face was a study of humorous woe, and he was not remotely interested in the Rastafarian creed.
`Me and these three guys got a group together, we made a record, but when it was time to be paid royalties the other guys Collected my money from the manager and said they'd give it to me. But instead they spent the lot on buying herb to sell at a Profit and get rich. Only they made a mistake an' fled with the police after them, so I've lost all my pay!' he complained loudly.
For information - the case will be subject to discussion later today:
Looks like Pope's Road may have formerly been the Midland Depot?Some interesting businesses listed in this Brixton Theatre programme from 1925
View attachment 197562
Documented in detail hereLooks like Pope's Road may have formerly been the Midland Depot?