Running City London 2019

Historical background

In the early 1875 Sir George Armstrong, the editor of The Globe, couldn’t find a cab — the weather was nasty, and cabmen were all hiding in a pub nearby, drinking and not ready to drive. This motivated him to set up a charity to open a chain of establishments for cab drivers, in which they could find shelter from the rain, eat hot food, and drink hot (non-alcoholic!) drinks.

These shelters were supposed to be located by the road (so cabmen could safely leave their cabs), so Metropolitan Police imposed restrictions — shelters should not be larger than a horse carriage. Despite such strict restrictions, there was enough space inside for a small kitchen and up to 13 visitors.

Like pretty much everything else in Victorian Britain, these shelters were not just a convenient utilitarian establishment, but also raised the social status of the cabmen: they could not drink alcohol, gamble, and, in some cases, even discuss politics in these shelters.

People of other professions were allowed in as well — and enjoyed it quite often (where else could you have breakfast at 3am?). Edward Dawson, decadent poet, used to have breakfast there in the middle of the night, not because he was hungry, but simply for the sake of nonconformism. In September 1888 one of the shelter visitors, who introduced himself as Dr Duncan, insisted that he was in fact Jack the Reaper (nobody paid attention to him though).

Today there are 13 of these shelters left in London. Like in the old days, they’re welcoming cabmen, however now it’s exclusive for licensed black cab drivers — general public and Uber drivers are left with a takeaway menu.

Besides the cab drivers’ membership fees and revenue from selling coffee, a significant amount of profit comes from Universal Studios — the company bought the rights to replicate the shelters in the Harry Potter theme park in Orlando to create “London-like” vibe in one of the park areas.

Historical background

Unlike many other areas of North London, Primrose Hill was not a yet another village swallowed up by rapidly growing Victorian London. In 1840, the only large building here was the Chalk Farm Tavern (which, due to its distance from the city centre, was often used as a duelling ground). In 1842, by an Act of Parliament, the neighbouring hill was announced to become a park, and so development started in the nearby triangle formed by the Regent’s Сanal from the southeast, railway tracks from the northeast, and the future park from the west. The original plan included luxurious villas surrounded by large gardens, but the pollution from the railways, and the demand for housing near the traffic arteries did their job. So now instead of the villas, terraced houses were rising, only to be split further into apartments and rooms to be rented out to workers and their families.

All the more surprising that after going through the twentieth century without much drastic changes and remaining reasonably quiet, Primrose Hill started attracting British celebrities in the Nineties. Of course, famous people have called Primrose Hill their home before — take, for example, Sylvia Plath or Friedrich Engels — but none of them are associated with Primrose Hill as strongly as the so-called Primrose Hill Set. Jude Law, Sadie Frost, Kate Moss, Noel and Liam Gallagher, and many others lived and partied here. Over the past 25 years, many of them have moved out, but it seems that the star appeal of Primrose Hill won’t subside any time soon — the latest addition has been Stefano Gabbana, who bought a house in Primrose Hill a few years ago.

Historical background

Until the 18th century King’s Cross was a quiet countryside location popular among the Londoners who sought an escape from the bustling city. It all began to change in 1756, when a new road appeared on the northern border of London (New Road, now Euston Road), which kickstarted the development of adjacent areas.

King’s Cross became an important transportation hub in 1820, when the newly built Regent's Canal connected it to major industrial cities of the north of England. Easy access to transport has attracted many industrial companies to the area — in 1824, the Imperial Gas Light and Coke Company opened gasworks to the south of the canal. Ecologically questionable industrial enterprises created a bad reputation for the area, and in an attempt to improve its reputation, a statue of King George IV was opened at one of the crossroads in 1830. The statue became a subject of ridicule and did not take root — it was demolished in 1842, but the name, King’s Cross, stuck.

The importance of King’s Cross as a transportation hub increased with the arrival of railways to London in the second half of the 19th century. The Great Northern Railway built a passenger terminal, gasholders, good yards and coal drops — the proximity of the canal made it possible to transfer goods directly from the trains to the barges. Constant growth of London population lead to multiple expansions of the station and warehouses and a rival railway company, Midland Railway, has built another station (St Pancras) literally twenty meters away from the existing one.

Despite the fact that the gasholders continued to work until 2000, after the WW2 King’s Cross lost its status as a poor but busy industrial area, and was half abandoned. In the Eighties, prostitution and drug trade flourished here, and politicians tried their best to pretend that King’s Cross didn’t exist. In the late Nineties some former warehouses became home to club nights and raves, but the gentrification was still far away.

The railways came to the rescue again. At the beginning of the millennium, HS1 project was started, connecting London and the Channel Tunnel with a high speed railway track, and in 2007 the Eurostar terminal was moved to St Pancras station. Office buildings began to grow in the wastelands, warehouses were reconstructed — and now the world-renowned design school Central Saint Martins is based in a former grain warehouse, canal towpath is a nice place to have an Aperol-Spritz while watching Wimbledon on a big screen, a new Google office is being built on the last empty bits near the railway tracks, and all of these are connected by an urban space somewhat akin to the High Line park in New York. Gasholders also came back after having been dismantled in 2011, and are now a beautiful industrial framing for apartments buildings and a park.

Historical background

The small St Pancras Old Church has seen a lot in its lifetime.

The first written mention of this church dates back to 1170, and it is thought (although there is no proof for that) that there’s been a church on this spot since 313 AD, which would make St Pancras Old Church the oldest Christian church on the British Isles.

In the Middle Ages, there was a small settlement around the church, but by the 14th century, the majority of the population had moved to the nearby Kentish Town, and the church was not really used: there was just a monthly Sunday service, and in the 17th century during the Cromwell uprising it was used as barracks for soldiers.

As time went on, London moved closer and closer. Even though in the 18th century the church was far enough from the city that medical students frequented it to dig up bodies from the cemetery for research, in the 19th century the railway got here, and everything changed. Part of the park around the church was used to build the railway tracks, and since people were moving back to the neighbourhood, the church came to life again. It was restored, and during the restoration church silver that had disappeared two hundred years ago (which apparently was buried until better times) was found, along with Norman and Roman structures used in the construction of the church, and a stone altar dating 625 AD.

Like many other places around Camden, this church also had something to do with music. In 1968, The Beatles held a photoshoot here while working on The White Album — one of the photos taken here became the gatefold cover of The Red & The Blue Albums. Since 2011, there are music performances happening in the church regularly. Sometimes well-known artists, like Sinead O’Connor or Laura Marling, pay a visit, but usually these are smaller, local performers. You never know who’ll become famous though: one of those uprising stars starting in St Pancras Old Church was none other than Sam Smith.

Historical background

Those who took part in last year’s Running City London might remember point #144 located near the finish — a vintage advertising sign depicting a black cat. This actually was an advertisement for Carreras Black Cat cigarettes, which were extremely popular in the first half of the 20th century thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign: cigarettes started to come with gifts in the pack such as short stories and coupons, and in 1913 salesmen were giving out money to those who could present a pack of Black Cat in their pocket. During the early 1920s enthusiasm for the Black Cat was at its peak, with many people wearing badges and stickers featuring the cat and even going to fancy dress parties in black cat costumes.

To meet the demand, the Carreras factory had to expand production several times. In 1928, production moved from a small factory on City Road to a building on Mornington Crescent in Camden. The architects designed the factory building in the style of Egyptian Art Deco: just six years before that, Howard Carter’s expedition had found the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, so the Egyptian style was wildly popular, and the huge bronze black cats in front of the building would not let people forget what brand of cigarettes they should keep buying. Influenced by the Hollywood movies of those years, the opening of the factory turned out to be quite an extravagant event: the pavement around the building was covered with sand during the opening ceremony, there was a procession of cast members from a contemporary London production of Verdi's opera Aida, and then a chariot race was held on the Hampstead Road.

Black cats in the decor of this building lasted until 1959, when the factory moved to a new building in Essex, and this building was converted into offices. Cats was removed from the building, with one being moved to the new factory, and the other — to Carreras factory in Jamaica.

In 1996, the building was sold once again, and the new owners decided to restore the architectural heritage. Copies of the original cat statues were installed in front of the entrance, and columns with lotus flowers decor came back. Now this building houses offices of many companies, including British Heart Foundation and Asos.

Historical background

London Zoo is the world’s oldest scientific zoo. Since its opening 190 years ago, many of the resident animals became surprisingly famous.

In 1865 the world’s largest known elephant was brought to the London Zoo for permanent residency, enjoying an enormous success among visitors, especially children, as elephant rides were offered. The elephant was named Jumbo by one of the zookeepers, and in years, this word entered the English dictionary as a synonym for something very big (for example, Boeing 747 aeroplane bears this nickname).

In 1914 a black bear called Winnipeg — or Winnie for short — joined the zoo. Winnie struck the imagination of a boy named Christopher who visited the zoo with his father, Alexander Milne. After getting back home from the zoo, Christopher renamed his teddy bear Winnie, and the world soon got one of the most famous children's stories.

Many of you have probably seen some of the zoo’s pavilions depicted in cinema. The most famous appearance was in the first Harry Potter film: the scene where Harry talks to a python was filmed at the zoo’s Reptile House, however, in reality the depicted tank is home to a black mamba rather than a python.