The North Circular Road at Brent Cross (Pentax 645 + Kodak Velvia roll film)
Kentish Town
In considering the barriers to ordinary people moving into London I considered "could I move back, to London, to the tiny one bedroomed top floor flat in Kentish Town where me and my wife first lived together?" The answer was plainly no, I could not swap our four bedroomed, two bathroomed (count them) house in Brighton with garden for this cramped uninviting accommodation.
Much more at my original Kentish Town blog article.
The top floor flat I lived in, now with tiny added room in loft (Pentax MX loaded with 35mm Tri X film)
The Junction Tavern, at the end of our street, now an up-market gastro-pub. Back in 1988 a regulation Kentish Town pub where Irish accents were much in evidence. (Pentax MX loaded with 35mm Tri X film)
Highgate Studios. Within 100 yards of the flat. A sure sign of gentrification in NW5. (Pentax MX loaded with 35mm Tri X film)
Canteens used to mean works canteen. Now they are a gentrification test. (Pentax MX loaded with 35mm Tri X film)
Chingford and Woodford Green
I next took off to North East London, almost in Epping Forest, a rock solid Conservative constituency, the domain of Ian Duncan Smith. But also this constituency has the biggest concentration of people being paid under the living wage in London, at 43% the second worst such 'blackspot' for low pay in the whole of the UK. How does that make any sense?
In a nutshell, it seems that Chingford is the natural home of the 'hard working family' beloved by Ian Duncan Smith, and the feeling is mutual. Perhaps, just as over the years the LGBT community and assorted slackers (like myself) have congregated in Brighton, people who want to own their own homes and are prepared to work long hours at low wages to achieve that end have assembled in Chingford.
A deeper analysis is at the North Circular Wall blog.
Woodford Green Broadway (Pentax MX + Ilford FP4 35mm film)
The picturesque-in-all-but-name Potato Pond (Pentax MX + Ilford FP4 35mm film)
A fondness for mock tudor, BMWs and Bentleys in this street (Pentax MX + Ilford FP4 35mm film)
Chingford Assembly Hall. Winston Churchill, bottom left. He was MP for Epping when Chingford was part of that constituency. (Pentax MX + Ilford FP4 35mm film)
End of the line - Chingford Railway Station (Pentax MX + Ilford FP4 35mm film)
