As someone who spent a great deal of my career working in locations near St Pauls and Moorgate I found this short documentary fascinating and full of scenes that took me back to an earlier time.
I started work in 1970 in this very area and never strayed very far for the next 43 years.
I was thinking (do a lot of that nowadays) about the change in London, not just the architecture and buildings, but the way people work, the hours they work, and the role that technology has had in that. I lived and worked through an extraordinary time. It seemed to me for the first 20 years that nothing really altered or was even likely to, and then quite suddenly technology erupted, the world went mad and the biggest change was having to get used to change itself.
I recall the old Moorgate telephone exchange, which was alive with engineers and operators. The large canteen on the 5th floor was buzzing with people and chat. Twenty years later the operators had gone, the engineers were few and the canteen closed and in darkness. (I would sometimes visit to work on a random circuit). The exchange was still operating, but pretty much on its own without human intervention . In my final years at work all the lines were moved to Queen Victoria Street and the building closed.
I took a walk around the area last year and took this photo of the exchange site from the highwalk (pedway) opposite. After lying dormant for a couple of years the building has now disappeared and a new one starting to emerge. From the photo you can see across to Moorgate and the solitary tree marks an entrance to Finsbury Circus, a City oasis that has been decimated by the construction of Crossrail. It will (we are promised) be fully restored on completion of the construction. I doubt that a military band will ever grace the bandstand again to entertain the lunchtime workers, the IRA put paid to that way back ... mores the pity. There is a new skyscaper emerging in the distance of the photo which is in the Houndsditch area, but I must confess I have little knowledge of it.
The City is in a constant state of flux I remember the Merrill Lynch building in Chiswell Street being demolished and rebuilt. Before I retired they demolished and rebuilt it again ... that made me feel really old!
As a complete aside the other thing I thought off on my nostalgic trip was the old Whitbread brewers drays that were a regular sight in the area as they delivered beer to the local pubs. The shire horses were stabled in Garrett Street EC1 - they left the city in 1991. Quite an interesting read here depicting their history.
Great posts just retired from the city myself worked in Salisbury house overlooking finsbury circus for most of my 39 years...one day I will write a book but it was the constant building and rebuilding that somehow demonstrates the futility of the individual...the closure of so many pubs .the rise of coffee shops sandwich bar chains seem to have depersonalised everything...
Minneapolis has a 'downtown' heated walkway system .. essential in the freezing cold winters otherwise no-one would venture out to go to work or do any shopping
Minneapolis has a 'downtown' heated walkway system .. essential in the freezing cold winters otherwise no-one would venture out to go to work or do any shopping
Great posts just retired from the city myself worked in Salisbury house overlooking finsbury circus for most of my 39 years...one day I will write a book but it was the constant building and rebuilding that somehow demonstrates the futility of the individual...the closure of so many pubs .the rise of coffee shops sandwich bar chains seem to have depersonalised everything...
Too right, I was gutted when Scott's in Cullum Street shut. Best bacon sandwiches ever.
Spent most of my working life around Finsbury Square before I moved to the US. I still go for a drink around there when I visit as our offices in London are still there. I have to say I prefer it the way it is now, as it was a bit of a ghost town after about 8pm. But we did know where to get lock-in’s for the afternoon and late at night.
Comments
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/oct/02/walkways-in-the-sky-the-return-of-londons-forgotten-pedways
I was thinking (do a lot of that nowadays) about the change in London, not just the architecture and buildings, but the way people work, the hours they work, and the role that technology has had in that. I lived and worked through an extraordinary time. It seemed to me for the first 20 years that nothing really altered or was even likely to, and then quite suddenly technology erupted, the world went mad and the biggest change was having to get used to change itself.
I recall the old Moorgate telephone exchange, which was alive with engineers and operators. The large canteen on the 5th floor was buzzing with people and chat. Twenty years later the operators had gone, the engineers were few and the canteen closed and in darkness. (I would sometimes visit to work on a random circuit). The exchange was still operating, but pretty much on its own without human intervention . In my final years at work all the lines were moved to Queen Victoria Street and the building closed.
I took a walk around the area last year and took this photo of the exchange site from the highwalk (pedway) opposite. After lying dormant for a couple of years the building has now disappeared and a new one starting to emerge. From the photo you can see across to Moorgate and the solitary tree marks an entrance to Finsbury Circus, a City oasis that has been decimated by the construction of Crossrail. It will (we are promised) be fully restored on completion of the construction. I doubt that a military band will ever grace the bandstand again to entertain the lunchtime workers, the IRA put paid to that way back ... mores the pity. There is a new skyscaper emerging in the distance of the photo which is in the Houndsditch area, but I must confess I have little knowledge of it.
The City is in a constant state of flux I remember the Merrill Lynch building in Chiswell Street being demolished and rebuilt. Before I retired they demolished and rebuilt it again ... that made me feel really old!
As a complete aside the other thing I thought off on my nostalgic trip was the old Whitbread brewers drays that were a regular sight in the area as they delivered beer to the local pubs. The shire horses were stabled in Garrett Street EC1 - they left the city in 1991. Quite an interesting read here depicting their history.
http://whitbreadshires.moonfruit.com/welcome/4582783516
Thanks for posting that @Red_in_SE8 I have so many memories of the area and the city in general.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneapolis_Skyway_System