Circus Street, SE10
In another of my occasional focuses on Greenwich streets I thought I'd take a peek at an estate-agent-favourite West Greenwich byway today.
Circus Street links Royal Hill and Greenwich South Street in a gentle sweeping curve which doesn't quite meet Gloucester Circus at the Royal Hill end. It's clearly Georgian /early Victorian and has kept that old feel despite one or two more modern places along it. A few houses were obviously built together as pairs or rows; others have been built as little terraces but don't all look the same. It's a delightful mixture of very large, stucco-front houses with splendid front doors, wrought iron railings and imposing windows, and tiny little flat-front terraces opening directly onto the street with interesting features and jolly window boxes. There is what looks like a converted chapel about half-way down it. Judging from the amount of converted chapels in the area, Greenwich must have been some religious place. It would seem to be less so now.
Near the Royal Hill end, there is an interesting place with a discreet plaque which says "Zero" - but my (albeit imperfect) searches have bowled up nothing about it. Can anyone enlighten me?
At number 42 lives Circus Street Ltd. I had a spot of trouble wading through the jargon to find out what they actually do - it seems to be a sort of digital media consultancy - though whether this is PR, website design, some sort of data analysis or a mixture of all of them beats me. I guess that's what comes of not actually working in this field. They seem to have some big clients, judging from the list. The blog's fun - I enjoyed "Can brands control bloggers":
http://www.circusstreet.com/index.php?q=node/blog#42
Hmm - wonder what would happen if I typed in "The Greenwich Phantom Sucks," as recommended. Phew. Nothing. Yet...
On the corner of Brand St is The Pub With No Name. Sadly, it's lost its sign, and there's no name on the board above it, but luckily its real name is carved into the very stone of the building - thank heavens for the supreme Victorian confidence that presumed that this pub would always be called The Morden Arms, presumably named for Sir John Morden who founded Morden College in Blackheath in 1695. It's nice enough and has the occasional jazz night (it gets involved with the Riverfront Jazz Festival,) but it's not what I'd call a destination pub - more a local boozer for local drinkers (no food.)
Does anyone here live in Circus Street or know anyone who does? I'd love to know more about it.
Circus Street links Royal Hill and Greenwich South Street in a gentle sweeping curve which doesn't quite meet Gloucester Circus at the Royal Hill end. It's clearly Georgian /early Victorian and has kept that old feel despite one or two more modern places along it. A few houses were obviously built together as pairs or rows; others have been built as little terraces but don't all look the same. It's a delightful mixture of very large, stucco-front houses with splendid front doors, wrought iron railings and imposing windows, and tiny little flat-front terraces opening directly onto the street with interesting features and jolly window boxes. There is what looks like a converted chapel about half-way down it. Judging from the amount of converted chapels in the area, Greenwich must have been some religious place. It would seem to be less so now.
Near the Royal Hill end, there is an interesting place with a discreet plaque which says "Zero" - but my (albeit imperfect) searches have bowled up nothing about it. Can anyone enlighten me?
At number 42 lives Circus Street Ltd. I had a spot of trouble wading through the jargon to find out what they actually do - it seems to be a sort of digital media consultancy - though whether this is PR, website design, some sort of data analysis or a mixture of all of them beats me. I guess that's what comes of not actually working in this field. They seem to have some big clients, judging from the list. The blog's fun - I enjoyed "Can brands control bloggers":
http://www.circusstreet.com/index.php?q=node/blog#42
Hmm - wonder what would happen if I typed in "The Greenwich Phantom Sucks," as recommended. Phew. Nothing. Yet...
On the corner of Brand St is The Pub With No Name. Sadly, it's lost its sign, and there's no name on the board above it, but luckily its real name is carved into the very stone of the building - thank heavens for the supreme Victorian confidence that presumed that this pub would always be called The Morden Arms, presumably named for Sir John Morden who founded Morden College in Blackheath in 1695. It's nice enough and has the occasional jazz night (it gets involved with the Riverfront Jazz Festival,) but it's not what I'd call a destination pub - more a local boozer for local drinkers (no food.)
Does anyone here live in Circus Street or know anyone who does? I'd love to know more about it.
Labels: Regional Greenwich, Streets
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
09:27
14 Comments:
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No 26 must be the smallest house in Greenwich.
I don't know anyone who lives on Circus Street personally, but I too find it intriguing in name as well as mysterious residences of nought address...
In case anyone is interested, a few years ago I discovered that the (vine-covered at rear) house on the corner of Circus Street and Royal Hill is a very decent bed & breakfast. I booked a room there for my mother a few years ago, as it was much nicer and notably cheaper than someplace like the Ibis. She was quite comfortable there, and the proprietors were friendly and professional.
Kori - what's the name and/or address of the B&B? Sounds like a good place for people to stay...
Zero Circus Street is a family home
Ah - so a house fitted in between Number one and - well - infinity? Now I get it. Thank you for clearing that one up for me!
Some friends of mine used to live on Circus Street - one of the four-storey houses on the right as you walk up from the park. The houses are deceptively large inside, which may account for the very high prices they command. Incidentally, on my first visit I had not accurately remembered the number so knocked on a few wrong doors - everyone who answered was unfailingly polite in their re-directions or in accepting my apologies for disturbance.
So Circus St is the Tardis of Greenwich, eh...
And full of very polite Doctors...
Cheers Charltonista!
The Morden Arms pub - we live up the road from it but haven't been inside it for a while. It went through a bit of a rough patch with the local dealers moving on from the old Barley Mow (now The Hill) into it but from the looks of things, it's cleaned itself up a fair bit so we may try it out again. It used to do really good jazz afternoons and I'm glad to see that it seems to have got some acts lined up again. Definitely a locals boozer.
hello
I lived in Circus Street as a child. I lived at number 18 from 1960-1971. I have very fond memories of that house. We shared with another family, the Coopers, - they had the top 2 floors and we had the ground floor and basement. It was a huge place - or was I just very small?? Looking back I don't know how we managed without all the mod-cons we now take for granted - we shared the one toilet with the family upstairs, had no hot water and a tin bath that came into the kitchen every saturday, until my brilliant Dad invented our shower! He used a large spray bottle designed for de-bugging the garden attached a shower head and built a shower tray in the corner of the kitchen so we just had to fill the bottle with hot water get in and call for someone to "pump me up!" My Dad also made one of the earliest baby monitors for me - that consisted of a coathanger, half a telephone receiver and a radio down in the sitting room - it worked fine!
Young as I was I do remember some of the people in the street. The Rayners lived at number 24 until they moved to Bexleyheath. There was an Irish family called Feeney next door to us one way and posh people the other side. I don't recall their family name but the kids were Daisy, Lucy & Hugo and they had a dalmation called Pongo. There was a Mrs Reynolds over the road in the flats and a lad called Christopher who my Dad always referred to as "soapy" I think he had mild learning difficulties but back then he was just a bit "odd" I remember the local shops too, one little shop in Circus Street and a small parade on Royal Hill, with Drings on the corner.
Oh happy memories - I could go on and on and on.......
Thank so much for that, June. It's always fascinating to read about how places used to be - and this is very personal. Lovely...
I used to know someone who lived at 28. It is a tardis. Basically at the front its a small 2 up 2 down (the downstairs rooms have now been joined which is a great improvement), then the middle section is a conservatory which also houses the bathroom, this leads into the piece d'resistance of the residence which is the converted stables at the back which houses a lovely handmade kitchen and an large low ceiling living room above it. You'd never imagine all that existed behind the front facade. The property is only let down by the pokey yard at the back which was due to a neglectful owner in the 1960s who allowed the rear garden to be taken over by the property behind by adverse possession. Apparently several court hearings later the position remained that 28 was left with a tiny yard space not big enough to swing a cat.
Number 26 is the same i.e. a very long house with a small facade! All the residents I've met on that street are lovely (not all are yuppies either) the old couple near the pub spend their time removing graffitti from all over Greenwich (East and West)!
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