Eight months is actually the longest single span of time that I've been away from England; all the other times I lived outre-mer I managed to get home every few months or so. So naturally, many things have changed - I was up in Edgware the other day, which used to sit fairly comfortably above Burnt Oak in the scummy area standings, but has now not only gone to the dogs, but gone for a curry and puked up in the taxi home afterwards too. It's awful up there now, and I base this mostly on the fact that my favourite record store in the world, Loppylugs, has closed down. I walked down to the corner of Station Road, hoping to pop into the little store for old time's sake, but was greeted with a postered-over shopfront and the peeling paint of an old Loppylugs sign. Admittedly, they hadn't really had my business much over the past few years, nor anyone else's by the sound of it, but it was still a shock to find a gravestone in place of a record shop. It had been there my whole life. I'd bought my first David Devant record there ('Ginger'; I stupidly only got the CD, and not the ginger vinyl as well, oh how I wish I had that now). I still remember the old 'Loppylugs Records' adverts that were announced in a faux-US accent in the long-gone ABC cinema that used to be the focal point of Edgware (replaced by flats and a gym). Also gone was Music Stop, a guitar shop at the other end of Station Road. I wasn't sure, as it was not yet decorated by the wanted felon Bill Posters, but on closer inspection not an e-string was left in the store. While my nose was pressed sadly against the window looking for ghosts of basses I never bought, the guy who used to work in there told me that it was forced out of business a couple of weeks ago. Everything in Edgware is going, he said. Around the corner, the old second-hand bookstore where I bought scores of Jackson/Livingstone gamebooks as a teenager, had vanished into history. Just across the road, the venerable (and supposedly listed) mock-Tudor Railway Tavern, one of the few proper pubs left in Edgware, lay empty, ready for conversion into - you got it - more flats. It's incredible that a place sliding so far downhill it could end up in the English Channel is suddenly destination number one for new apartment buildings. As if anyone would really want to live there any more. A few years ago this young film-maker made a short called 'The Edgware Walker', which is often shown late at night on ITV or one of them channels. It's about this guy, reputedly a doctor in a past existence, who we used to see wandering about Edgware in little more than shorts, his grizzled body hunched and bent over, marching up and down Station Road, day and night. I forget his right name now, but I remember him, and I remember when he died. Anyway, this short film spoke to people all over Edgware, from Broadfields to Whitchurch, who knew of the guy, a permanent fixture in Edgware life, before depressing them with news of his death. He summarised by saying that when the Edgware Walker died, Edgware died with him, 'a shit town'. And he's right; behind the Ben Sherman shirts and flags of St George, the soul of this frontier suburb has been diluted to trace. It's a sad tale.
the suburb formerly known as edgware
2.6.06 14:41
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pog (9.6.06 10:56) Excellent post, Mr Scully - and very sad. |
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petescully / Website (9.6.06 15:16) it really is very sad. I don't think I can ever go back. |
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dcs234 / Website (11.6.06 17:33) I'm sorry to hear about Loppylugs. I remember buying Come on Eileen on 7" there after I saw Dexy's on TOTP. The following week the single went to No. 1 and I felt proud. I've long since mourned the loss of the Edgware ABC where I had my first snog in the back row watching Blade Runner. As for the Edgware walker, I spoke to him more than a couple of times. He used to often stop and asked me questions when he saw my skullcap. He used to walk all the way up to the Orthopedic hospital and clean all the ashtrays in the staff canteen. That was probably the source of the rumours about him being a former doctor. Edgware is not the same without him. I left 10 years ago. |
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petescully / Website (15.6.06 22:43) The name people in Burnt Oak knew him by was 'monkey man', because of his hunched posture. |
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Josh Holzman (4.8.06 11:13) So many memories sad to say it Edgware is dead. I remember Loppylugs what happened to Azar and his merry crew (especially when Azar was having his moments). As to the Edgware walker one of the nicest men you could come across probably the only person who could get away with looking like that and, living on Canons Drive especially given what their resident association was like. What about the ducks definitly had some attitude and did'nt half take their time crossing the road thought they owned it. |
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petescully / Website (5.8.06 02:01) The ducks around here really do own the road, loads of them in Davis. I am still gutted about Loppylugs. Many a rainy Sunday afternoon was spent in there flicking through records and (eventually) CDs. |
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Rakib Ahmed (31.10.06 06:23) Hi. Strangely enjoyable to find something about my home town on the net so many thanks for this blog-post-thingummy. And 'right on' you are in your comments,too. Though I think what you've said about Edgware goes for most of London and most places in England and who knows maybe the whole world! However, there's still a bookshop -2jays and a nice pub -the blacking bottle- on the high street, the ducks and geese still own that section of canon's drive - so there's plenty of time for things to get worse! And indeed, there seem to be more Orthodox Jews than previously - edgware is now part of an eruv like golders green - and they give the place some badly needed character. The chief horror is still the Broadwalk but the McDonald's has mysteriously disappeared. Concerning the old man, whom i can still in my mind's eye see rummaging through the bins of station road (!), I have it on good authority that he was a surgeon and the cause of his madness was that he had to operate on his son whom he was unable to save. Very sad but true. |
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Rob Henry (13.12.06 21:48) I was brought up in Edgware until I left in the late 90`s. Sad that Loppylugs has gone and I was shocked to see Music Stop gone as well when I was back recently. Place has gone downhill - it used to have character and atmosphere. I remember Dinos Coffee Bar in the station - always the place to go after the bus got in from school. Memories - thats all I have now. |
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Laura (8.3.07 09:35) Hi.......used to live in Edgware too....remember Loppy lugs well!! I hear there is still a good record store (small)one in the area called rockmem..anyone out there know where abouts it is? I have been recommended it as a place to buy great rock.music stuff..help! cannot find it! |
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best / Website (15.7.07 06:13) You're rocks guys |
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Michael K. (24.7.07 17:07) Hi: I used to live in Edgware. Left in 1982 to pursue graduate studies in the US, where I have remained. I return from time to time and find Edgware High Street area somewhat depressing nowadays but the area where I used to live - Broadfields estate, is fairly much the same. I remember when Loppylugs opened (I am older). I liked that shop and also Siegers down on the corner of the High Street and Edgware Road. I used to have a Saturday job in the toy shop (then called Brookfields), a couple of doors down from Siegers. I learned recently that Edgware Town FC have been forced to leave their White Lion ground - flats are being built there. Sad about the Railway Inn but it was getting really run down - it's really too bad. M. |
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petescully / Website (25.7.07 05:04) thanks for commenting1 i remember steven siegers place, it moved to mill hill in the end i remember. that's bad news about edgware town, but typical i suppose. i'm still gutted they knocked down the white lion pub years ago. even edgware school is now 'london academy'. still, the best curries in the world are still found in that little indian place on manor park crescent. If that ever goes, then everything is lost. |
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Shadow (16.10.07 23:35) Rakib Ahmed Im afraid your comments on the edgware walker are incorrect this link has correct information about him and how he died hxxp://shootingpeople.org/shooterfilms/interview.php?int_id=59 I agree with you edgware has got to pot. Its just another dingy hole now . |
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Rob Henry (24.10.07 13:31) Stephen Siger store also vanished from Mill Hill - I guess the internet sealed his demise but when he was in Edgware, he was a diamond source of "Old Gold 12" singles where you coud find tracks you lost years before. The walking man died and with him, also died some of the history of Edgware. Loppylugs is now a cafe, although others have opened and closed very quickly in the last year or so. There was also a shop where you could buy car stuff- I think it was opposite Blockbuster. Anyone recall when Sainsburys was where Blockbuster is now (pre-Broadwalk days) and when Bejam and Breaker one-four ruled the High Street. By the way, Edgware Town have regained licence for White Lion ground so are there for another year or 2. |
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petescully / Website (25.10.07 17:39) that's good news about edgware town. yes, i think a sainsbury's where blockbusters was, i think i do remember, very vaguely, and wasn't there a scrapyard where the broadwalk carpark is? loppylugs is now a cafe? jeez. funny how edgware library doesn't ever change though, still exactly as it's always been (at least, last time i was there) |
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Miles (3.1.08 11:43) Superb. Worked in Edgware for a year and hated it, still filled with dread when I drive through it but mainly because the job itself was so shitty. My favourite thing about Edgware now is the tiny little afro-carribean shops where I'd spend many a lunch break talking carribean cooking with the shop vendors, encouraging me to throw this and that, ocre, plantain etc into my cooking. I heard viscious rumours that McDonalds closed due to the semen content of their milkshakes... I miss the walker. |
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DanielB (8.1.08 21:07) And now the local shop 'Trustin Fairbag' has shut down! Woe is us! |
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Jon G. (13.1.08 18:35) I was born in Edware in 1962 and liver there until 1998 when I moved out to Hertfordshire. On the odd occassion when I have gone back to Edgware, I cannot believe how its changed, and certainly not for the better. It now looks like a run down North London town, it used to be quite exclusive and almost 'Posh' ! I too remember when Loppylugs opened their doors for the first time, I was there every Sat morning buying myself a 45rpm single ! I also remember the 'Edgware Walker', he often used to pass the electrical shop I owned on Station Rd during the 1980's and we would often have a brief chat. about all things general. My old school, Edgware Comp, has changed beyond recognition and to be honest, There was indeed a car breakers yard where the Broadwalk shopping centre now stands and this was on the old Edgware Station steam train line. Does anyone remember 'Seabrooks' whch was an old junk shop in the High Street run by an old Polish/German man ? I think the best thing I ever did was to move out to Hertfordshire as its all changed so much, I dont miss Edgware one bit, which is a great shame as it was such a great place to be brought up...Hey Ho, aint memories and poss rose tinted specs great !! |
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Jon G. (13.1.08 18:37) P.S I also remember Stephen Sieger Records...I used to go to school with one of his daughters and fancied her like mad, just like most of the other 10-12 year old boys !! Sorry Jackie !! |
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petescully / Website (13.1.08 21:44) Yeah, i used to go to Edgware school, i remember when they wouldn't let us use the field at break times, now they've built a while new school on it. Not even mr blindt is there now. Trustin Fairbag has closed? Blimey. I remember when edgware was considered posh. But then i'm a burnt oaker, so i still do... |
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lw (20.1.08 01:48) i love someone in edgware... |
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Raquib Acmed (3.2.08 14:04) Thanks. I very much appreciate being set right, especially by someone called 'shadow'! By the way can a site which spells Edgware as 'Edgeware' -perhaps the ultimate crime for an Edgwarian (ok, it only does this once but at the first mention) - I repeat, can such a site be trusted? P.S. Loppylugs may have gone but Luvabitch is still there, thank God. |
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Rob Henry (11.2.08 21:25) I drove through Edgware last week and was amazed to see that Blockbuster had gone as well. I wonder how long it will be before that site is sold to developers for flats?? |
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Nicky (26.4.08 15:17) No, strangely enough. Blockbuster that used to be Sainsbury's is going to become Tesco |
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Morris Mosart / Website (30.6.08 00:52) Who was at a one-off event, held upstairs in the Railway, in about '67 that I organised? It was called 'Turn on Suburbia'! It seemed to turn on the people who were there but doesn't seem to have had any long term benefit! You might find this Edgware-centric investigation stimulating. - If the link doesn't work, go to www.scribd.com and enter 'Sulloniacis' in the search box. "Sparked by a discovery that evidence of a Roman ‘Tilery’ had been found in Canons Park near the bottom of my father’s garden, in the area where I grew up and know intimately, I found myself compulsively engaged in an historical detective hunt." Follow the trail and discover 2,000 year old refreshing waters, a healing goddess, the 'Lesson of the Leaves' and a slice of Roman history in "The Waters of Sulloniacis" by Morris Mosart with over 30 photos, illustrations and maps It's completely free to read, or download. Click on full screen box at the top right of the window- much easier on the eyes :- http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/1446769/49n9zzg2iqbuuam6ibj |
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Richard Hart (10.7.08 11:51) Hi, I lived in Edgware until from 1964 to 191=81, came back after uni and stayed until 1986, when mum and dad went up to Luton, and I moved in with my girlfriend in Barnet. I worked in Sainsbury's, and before that in the Coop butchers across the road. i was in the 2nd Edgware Scout group from cubs right up until about 1988, when I left afetr being Scout Leader for about a year. I spent the first 8 years of my life in Edgware living on the 10th floor of Stamford Court on the Spur Road estate (sadly I hear a lad was stabbed to death outside it-what an indicator of current times), until we moved into a house in Kings Drive. I can remember the Stonegrove estate being built. I also went to Edgware Comprehensive. My favourite teachers were Mr lewishon (English), Miss Robertson (English) and Dr. Oliver. Mr Laniado was my maths teacher, and we REALLY did not have a good relationship. I passed the Edgware Walker several times when i used to walk into town, and I remember the legend that he used to be a doctor. Does anyone remember Smokey Joe, the tramp who lived up on Brockley Hill/Pear Wood? He used to come into town pushing his wheel barrow, forage for the day, then go back up the hill. Must have taken him ages.my mum popped back down into Edgware and Stanmore last year to see an old friend, and she was horrified at what had happened to the place.Oh, and I bought one LP from Loppylugs, which was damaged. When I took it back to replace it, the person behind the counter got really stroppy, said there was nothing wrong with it, and refused to give me my money back or a replacement.Needless to say that was the last time I shopped there, and I am not surprised they have gone. No tears shed here for that. |
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