Gray's Inn Road – strange backward-facing houses, a water trough and another laundry (with fancy tiles)

I was walking from Russell Square to Kings Cross today and, as I passed by these houses that end at Heathcote Street, I thought it was high time that I shared my idea that surely they face the wrong way. 

I mean to say, the front doors face Mecklenburgh Street, yet the walled back gardens abut Grays Inn Road here. I've only seen the like in two other London locations: off Liverpool Rd in N7 and near Kensington High Street station, but those aren't along big main roads. Explanations welcome.

On the Gray's Inn Rd side there's a nice old water trough planted with flowers. It's listed on Historic England's site but they make no mention of its inscriptions. 

The street side says 'DRINKING FOUNTAIN & WATER TROUGH' – the drinking fountain element (for humans) would have been that protrusion at end. The west-facing pavement side commemorates HTW and MWW, whoever they were back in 1885. 

The north-facing end is hard to decipher. It's degraded, and a circular stud has obliterated some of the letters – I can make out what looks like: ... RICHARD'S MA... / REGARDETH THE LIFE / ...ST HIS BEAST ...?! – see the comments section for more. 

I continued my journey northwards towards Kings Cross station and glanced across the street to check on Nos.332-336 at the corner of Britannia Street which sports the a bizarre mix of tiles which look like they belong in a 1960's kitchen, strangely affixed to a pair of buildings that are surely Victorian. Again, I thought, surely it's about time I looked into why this building sports this mad patchwork. 

As I took these snaps a man stopped to talk to me, intrigued that someone else was also interested in this façade. Jonathan told me works in the ENT Ear Institute next door and that this building was until recently part of their complex. Indeed, this is evident by the spayed out names on the door where only UCL is now visible. He said this corner site, which actually continues further along Britannia Street, through a series of later building extensions, was known to the as 'the cottage'. 

We looked at the mix of different building styles at street level. I pointed out the slabs of grey stone at low level below the large plate glass windows which include large ventilation panels. I suggested that this might have previously been a grocer shop or a butcher's. It wasn't until I was heading home on the bus that it occurred to me that it might have been a laundry.

Well, bash me over the head with a packet of Persil, it turns out this was an outlet for Western Laundries Ltd, a company I wrote about only a few days ago here (this Grays Inn location is shown the middle of the 1939 listing within that link). John Richard Western is here by 1910 and I suspect at that time the store sported the bright blue tiles we see at other locations. 

I'm guessing that these fancy repeat pattern tiles were added at a time when this branch was offering self-service coin-operated machines as well as a laundry collection service. I'd love to hear from anyone who recalls this shop when it functioned as a laundry.
As to what/who was here before the launderette, I'm thinking the pair of houses might have initially been associated with St Jude's church which was sited next door between this building and what was then called the Throat and Ear Hospital at 330-332. By 1882 the corner shop was Wellen & Co's fancy repository and in 1899 Joseph Thomas Roe is selling fruit from here.

Sir William Atherton at Kensal Green Cemetery – he's got plums!

I do love a wander in a cemetery. I visited all of London's 'Magnificent Seven' last year, some for the first time, others were repeat visits because there's always something new to see each time whether flora, fauna or man made monuments.

Kensal Green Cemetery as designed to resemble Paris's Père Lachaise, indeed some people have memorials at both sites (I say 'some' becausee I know of one, so it's likely there are others). Notable famous name graves at Kensal Green are the Brunels, Thackeray, Pinter, Babbage, Rattigan, Blondin and Pete Burns (who I hope isn't still spinning around).

Last time I was there I spotted an intriguing grave with fruit on it and took a few pics to find out more at a later date (that's now!).

The family vault of Sir William Atherton Knt – so he's a Sir and a Knight?!

I thought at first the motif was a pair of lemons, but when I got home and studied the photos, I decided they better resemble plums. Soft fruit at least. But why?

On closer inspection, it's evident that there is a bird (a cock bird?) at the very top standing on something that looks like an acorn (a nut!) which itself is balanced on two plums. The Latin phrase* underneath says 'NEC TEMERE, NEC TIMIDE' which translates to 'neither recklessly nor timidly' suggesting Mr Atherton was fearless – he had balls!

I mean, surely there a link to this symbolism – or am I simply being peurile? 

So, who was he? I decided he must have been a campaigner of sorts, or a politician, or a pugilist. I first checked the list of notable graves on KGC's Wikipedia page but Atherton is not there which seems odd, seeing as his monument is far from small and the man was a Sir, a Knight.

I then checked Find A Grave which lists his monument and describes it as 'a marble chest tomb with a cross' but there is no mention of the fruity design on the end. However, it does confirm my hunch that Atherton was a politician, also holding the position of Solicitor General and Attorney General. 

Further research, most of which can be found on Wikipedia here, shows he was indeed quite a force for good. He had tenacity. He had balls. Though I wonder what the whole family thought of the motif, if indeed they understood its meaning...?!

As regards Kensal Green Cemetery's own website, Atherton is listed in the Politicians section here but his titles of Sir, Knight and QC have been excluded. I wonder what he'd have to say about that?! 

*The motto's exact origin is unknown but it was recently adopted by this Dutch infantry brigade.

The blue tiled laundry shops of Sunlight, Westerns and Loud & Westerns

I've written a few times about shops that used to be laundries/dry cleaners, evident by blue tiled exteriors, often featuring and promoting Lever Bros' Sunlight Soap. Having spotted quite a few of these across London and written about them here I think it's time to share them as a collection. 

There are two companies here, Westerns Laundry in North London and Loud & Western in South and West London, both used and advertised Sunlight products – more info at the further down.

First, here are the London outlets that still retain blue tiled exteriors (please do let me know if you know of any others): 

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BRIXTON

100 Brixton Hill, SW2

Now split into tow shops, the corner section still retains its blue tiles:

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CAMDEN

62 Chetwynd Road, NW5
Still a laundry but, for some daft reason, the blue tiles have been overpainted with blue paint!

124 Fortess RD, NW5
Much of the exterior was still intact until 2015. Pic here is from Google 2009:

The shop's exterior was remodelled, keeping only the black and white floor tiles at the left side :

Today (2024), the laundry's blue tiles can be glimpsed under the grey paint at low level: 

Note also the loss of the little street sign that identified this as Fortess Mews:

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CHISWICK

19 Devonshire Rd, W4

This corner shop is still looking good in 2024

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CLAPHAM

14 Blandfield Road, SW12

A column of blue tiles is all that remains:

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CROUCH END

Middle Lane, N8

A superb example. It even has pained sign on the side:

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FULHAM

594 Fulham Road, SW6

I recalled seeing blue tiles either side of the door in the early 2000s but when I returned with my camera few years later they'd gone. Here's how it looked in 2008:

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HAMMERSMITH

47A Goldhawk Road, W12

Hot Pot's column of blue tiles, shown here, was gone by 2016:

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ISLINGTON

334-336 Grays Inn Road, Kings Cross

Click here for more

41 Essex Road, N1 

Corner of Gaskin Street: 

84 Holloway Road, N7
The first pic shows how it looked in early 2018 when the blue tiles were briefly revealed, having been covered in black and white paint for many years:

The low level panel at the bottom was also visible for a short while – I'm guessing it said something like 'Expert cleaning service':

But by mid-2019 the whole shopfront was again over-painted: 

276 St Paul's Road, Highbury & Islington, N1
See more here

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STREATHAM

111 Mitcham Lane, SW16

The tied pilasters are gradually becoming visible, hidden for at least 15 years under layers of paint: 

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WANDSWORTH

138 Northcote Road, Battersea, SW11
See more here

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WESTMINSTER

22 Pimlico Road, SW1
See more here

44 Churton Street, SW1
This is how it looked in 2024:

. 

In the 1950s it looked like this:

 This still taken from old movie footage on YouTube – 13:56 (as shown here) and an alternative view at 16:28. (Thanks to 'anonymous' for letting me know about this via the comments section here)

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GENERIC INFO about Westerns Laundry / Loud & Western
This is a work in progress – I will be updating and amending as and when I source more/better info.

It's proving hard to ascertain which came first, Westerns or Loud & Western – it's a chicken and egg conundrum. 

But it's fair to assume that John Richard Western is connected to both companies. By 1910, there were laundry outlets in his name at 160A and 674 Holloway Road with sixteen other outlets across North London, as shown in this snippet from Kelly's 1910 directory: 

It's interesting to note that this does not make clear which sites were laundries vs high street shops. 

Question is, who was Mr Western? Did he start the laundry as his own idea, or was it set up by Sunlight/LeverBros in his name. If so, what was their relationship? See more about him in the The Laundries section below. As regards Mr Loud of Loud & Western, he might have been a director on the board of Lever Bros, or perhaps Loud is an acronym or similar. 

It's worth noting that there is nothing listed in the name of Western within in Kelly's 1899 directory which also shows that there were no laundry outlets along the whole length of Holloway Rd at in that year. This is very strange seeing as ten years earlier there had been a choice of independent laundry services along the two mile street, as well as The Caledonian Laundry, a local company. Therefore, it's fair to assume that Westerns and Loud&Western began trading in 1900/1901.

THE LAUNDRIES

North London – Westerns, Drayton Park, N7

In the 1900s, certainly by 1910, John Western is living at No.12 Drayton Park, here at the corner of Horsell Rd, with The New River Laundry at the rear of his house and No.14. I can find no info about this business – it doesn't appear to be an official branch of the New River Company. 
Incidentally, further along the street there was also another laundry company, The Clissold Laundry, situated at the corner of Arvon Road here which in previous years been called The Drayton Park Laundry.  There are many natural springs and water courses in this area so, historically, this would have been the ideal location for this kind of business. 

By the early 1930s, Western's Laundry has moved to a large purpose-built facility, further along the street, at 34 Drayton Park. 

Here's a short video of me in Drayton Park back in 2020.

South and West London – Loud & Western, various locations:

63 Broughton Rd, Fulham

Peterborough Rd, Fulham

125 Acre Lane, Brixton

Grace's Guide tells us the Broughton Road site was secured in 1901, as confirmed by that year's Kelly's directory which lists the premises as 'Sunlight Laundry'.  

However, it's strange that this Broughton Road is excluded from the 1910 directory (snippet below) which shows Loud & Western at 490A, 91 and 327 Kings Road as well as twelve other outlets across South and West London:

 

As the businesses boomed, more outlets opened...

Westerns Laundries Ltd 1939:

Note that the first inclusion here is for 18 Drayton Park, indicating that this was the HQ/Head Office – Mr Western has evidently moved house again, to a larger property a few doors along from his previous house at No.12, and I suggest it would have looked like this house at No.30.  

These 1939 listings shows all their sites, although they are not identified as outlets/shops vs laundries. Having checked out these addresses, I've noticed that a couple of them are residential properties, specifically Green Street and Balls Pond Road – these might have been area manager's offices. Some of the other locations are not shopping streets (for instance, Barnsbury Rd, Ivor Place, Ferdinand St, Old Hill, Provost St and Weedington Rd) and these I think were probably laundries in addition to the Drayton Park site.

Loud & Western Ltd 1939:

It's interesting to see the order that the address are listed here – I suspect it's chronological, reflecting the order that the sites were added, Broughton Rd being the first in 1901. Note also that the Acre Lane (laundry) site is shown near the end, reflecting its recent construction. Then the Peterborough Road facility is next in the list (another Art Deco era building) – it is here specified as 'Float iron dept' and I wonder if this might be the 1934 (patent?) application for a laundry wringing machine – as advertised in the window of the Churton Street shop shown in the film still above.  

There are some lovely memories and images of Fulham's Loud & Western laundry sites here on Facebook 

1960s onwards

Sunlight Laundries (Loud & Western) Ltd was incorporated in 1963. By 1995, it was part of Sunlight Service Group Properties Ltd.

Further information is proving hard to source, hindered because online searches for Westerns Laundries, or similar, take me to the restaurant that now occupies less than half of the building in Drayton Park, which was founded here in May 2017. I'll keep searching. 

In the meantime, here's the 1958 price list from the outlet at 160 Holloway Road. This shop and the one at 84 Holloway Rd, shown above. Interesting to note that there is no mention of Sunlight Soap on this leaflet.

Sunlight Soap info here

I can find no listings in the Kelly's directories for Sunlight Laundries, or similar, except in the very early days at Broughton Road (see above) suggesting the laundry side of Lever Bros' company was franchised from the beginning. 

Ghostsigns – Sunlight Soap
– Conewood Road, Highbury Grove, N5 – see also my short YouTube video

– Millfields Rd / Chippendale St, Lower Clapton, E5

– 83 Upper Clapton Road

– Park Lane / Denmark Street, Tottenham E17.

– Chalford Rd / Clive Rd, SE21

Ghostsigns – Westerns

Crouch End, as shown above in the Haringey section

Finsbury Park – this sign 'SAME DAY CLEANERS' is at the rear of the bank building at the corner of St Thomas's Rd, opposite the station.  

The following ideas need further investigation:

Sunlight Square, Bethnal Green – I wonder if there was a factory/laundry here?

Ditto Sunlight Close in South Wimbledon

Who is removing the old metal Telephone and Telegraph signs?

Last week, as I wandered along the eastern section of Lillie Road, between North End Road and the vast open space where Earls Court Exhibition Centre used to be, I glanced up to my left to check on a couple of old bits of signage in this side alley adjacent to the man in the red shirt (this is a screen grab from Google streetview, as are the all the subsequent street views in this post):

The pic is from May 2023 and, if you look closely, you'll see a there's a dark street sign high up on the side wall telling us that this is/was TELEPHONE PLACE, SW8, part of the Borough of Fulham. I say 'was' because you won't find Telephone Place listed in today's directories. 

Here is my poor quality pic of how the sign looked back in 2011 (Maggie's photo here is better)

I like the idea that this probably led to the local telephone exchange where well-spoken ladies would have connected your calls.

Well, the metal sign has gone. Telephone Place is just a memory now; a ghost. See here for July 2024. I wonder who removed it, and why? Was it the council, was it the owner of that building, or did someone nick it? After all, enamel signs like these fetch a decent price these days. 

The hand-painted ghostsign for THE DAILY TELEGRAPH is still there though. I used to think this was happy accident as regards the name of the newspaper and the name of the little street:

The bottom line on the sign has been overpainted, but Stockcar Pete's pic here shows that one of the layers is easy to make out: ALL SATURDAY'S SPORTS & LATEST NEWS. 

I'm now reminded of another metal sign at 31 Turnpike Lane on the old Post Office. My pic below is from 2016, but it's since disappeared. A quick look at retrospective Google streetview shows it was removed some time 2018/19. 

Another telephone sign thats gone missing, was opposite Harlesden's clocktower, where there used to be a dark blue and white enamel sign above the Post Office (now Alishba Newsagent) – YOU MAY TELEPHONE FROM HERE. It's made an appearance on this blog a few times in the past, such as here.

Here's my pic from 2008 which shows this was probably two-sided and would have stuck out at 90 degrees to the wall visible from both directions:

It was still there in June 2016 as shown below, but gone by 2017.

Do you know of any others?

There's also Telegraph Street off Moorgate in The City of London, where telecommunications properly began. I took a few pics of some interesting architectural features back in Summer 2024 but I can't recall spotting any old metal signs. I'll leave you hanging (on the telephone) re that and I will update this if I find any more.