Finchley Central

Avenue House

We drove down to London to visit Nick and Gabby in their new home.

It was quite a nice surprise to find a pleasant little public park and gardens, very close to their house. A large town house, which belonged to the Stephen's Ink people, had been bequeathed to the town and so the gardens became a park and the house became a venue, cafe and exhibition space. Some of the property was developed as flats to bring in an income. You can find out more at  The Stephens Collection - ink inventor museum in Finchley . I'd love to go back and learn all about the life of "Inky" Stephens and the history of writing.

Emerging from the back of the site we found some brick and glass offices where Gabby has started to work for a property management company.  We are so proud of her finding a good job within four days of being in London, and in a handy location too. She sometimes stops off with Nick for breakfast in the park.

Finchley Central is the only railway station on the Underground that has inspired a hit record (but see below!)  I'd forgotten all about it until I was on the platform and started humming "Finchley Central, two and sixpence, from Golder's Green on the Northern Line." It was a hit for the New Vaudeville band back in 1967, as a follow up to their "Winchester Cathedral" which sold 3 million copies. The song contains the immortal line "Well I'll be blowed; she never showed!" which just about sums up the plot for the song and explains the loneliness everyone feels on the exposed platform, which is above ground, not like a proper tube station.

I checked out the details of this old song and the New Vaudeville Band and discovered they were founded by local boy, Geoff Stephens who wrote "Winchester Cathedral" and a load of famous songs, but not "Finchley Central". But is he a descendant of Inky?

Still humming the tune, (once you've heard it on You Tube, it will never leave you), we traveled the underground to Camden and its famous market at Camden Lock.

I hadn't been to Camden for some years and remembered quite a sprawling indoor market selling studded belts and saris, and not much else. It's a lot bigger and better than that now and is, for my money, much more interesting than Covent Garden. It's so big that you could spend a day there and still miss the best bits which I think are in the old horse stables by the lock on the Regent's Canal. A lot of money has been spent here recently to improve the site. Boutiques are housed in arched tunnels under the railway, and in a new building alongside. This is the best area for street-food, especially Oriental dishes and it's where the more upmarket antique stalls are to be found.

Dan thoroughly enjoyed the day, so we will have to do it again soon.

There are photos on Photobucket. Click on the link to go there.

SINCE WRITING THIS my friends have laid into me. What about "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty, with that iconic sax solo? What about Buffy singing Warwick Avenue? ('Haven't a clue on that one!). They also came up with a few more, but I wasn't convinced that they applied to the tube station rather than the borough. Mornington Crescent is a game on Radio 4's series "I'm sorry I Haven't a Clue". Sunny Goodge Street was recorded by Donovan, but was it about the tube station? (Yes, what was it about again?)