Much enjoyed reading this as it took me back over fifty years to my first days in London having left my native northeast England. I lived at 46 Leinster Gardens for some 9 months and have sunk many a pint in the Leinster Arms. The accomodation wasn't what I suspect it is today. Number 46 was a 'hostel'. Four of us to a room and three rooms sharing a bathroom and toilet. Being teenagers we didn't care and I eventually moved to the more 'salubrious' Edmonton and rented a house with three others.
Yes, I did venture back a few years ago and I can't imagine what one of those properties would go for now. Did pop into the LA for old times sake and it seemed pretty much unchanged although I suspect the clientele are somewhat different. I wrote of those early days in London on a Substack piece five years ago and my adventures in the hostel, Hyde Park and on one memorable occasion Buckingham Palace - well Constitution Hill...
I lived in Hereford Road, just off Westbourne Grove for the first ten years of my life. I used to go to an infants and then junior school on Edge St. off Kensington Church St. The junior school, then called St. George's, had etched in stone on its walls, built in 1837 (if I remember exactly) on the site of the Kensington Gravel Pits. Now it's a fancy prep school. My mother worked in a chemist shop on Queensway and I used to go to the ice rink on Saturdays and take a class from Miss Hogg. We used to go to Whiteley's when it was a department store.
I loved exploring this area recently, and it’s fascinating to learn more about its history here. Incredible to think of how bucolic it was, not that long ago in the grand scheme of things.
I would have loved to have had a drink around 1830 beside the babbling Westbourne at the Swan Inn and watched the traffic along the Bayswater Road! (I wonder what grammatical construct "I would have loved to have had" is!)
Much enjoyed reading this as it took me back over fifty years to my first days in London having left my native northeast England. I lived at 46 Leinster Gardens for some 9 months and have sunk many a pint in the Leinster Arms. The accomodation wasn't what I suspect it is today. Number 46 was a 'hostel'. Four of us to a room and three rooms sharing a bathroom and toilet. Being teenagers we didn't care and I eventually moved to the more 'salubrious' Edmonton and rented a house with three others.
Having strolled along Leinster Gardens I can say that it is now no longer 'hostel territory'!
Yes, I did venture back a few years ago and I can't imagine what one of those properties would go for now. Did pop into the LA for old times sake and it seemed pretty much unchanged although I suspect the clientele are somewhat different. I wrote of those early days in London on a Substack piece five years ago and my adventures in the hostel, Hyde Park and on one memorable occasion Buckingham Palace - well Constitution Hill...
Could you add a link to your piece?
Here you go, I didn't want to be impertinent and add it to my reply … https://open.substack.com/pub/harrywatson/p/london-reflections-9609285bb559?r=1v4z4o&utm_medium=ios
I lived in Hereford Road, just off Westbourne Grove for the first ten years of my life. I used to go to an infants and then junior school on Edge St. off Kensington Church St. The junior school, then called St. George's, had etched in stone on its walls, built in 1837 (if I remember exactly) on the site of the Kensington Gravel Pits. Now it's a fancy prep school. My mother worked in a chemist shop on Queensway and I used to go to the ice rink on Saturdays and take a class from Miss Hogg. We used to go to Whiteley's when it was a department store.
The builders who come next must have filled in the gravel pits with something like ballast to make the area level again!
Striking to think that all that prime real estate is sitting on the site of an old gravel pit!
I loved exploring this area recently, and it’s fascinating to learn more about its history here. Incredible to think of how bucolic it was, not that long ago in the grand scheme of things.
I would have loved to have had a drink around 1830 beside the babbling Westbourne at the Swan Inn and watched the traffic along the Bayswater Road! (I wonder what grammatical construct "I would have loved to have had" is!)
Perfect conditional and perfect infinitive??? Oh, I don’t know! But having a drink at the Swan Inn in 1830 would definitely have been perfect!