Coldharbour Lane is a road in south London, England, that leads south-westwards from

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th centu ...

. The road is over long with a mixture of residential, business and retail buildings - the stretch of Coldharbour Lane near Brixton Market contains shops, bars and restaurants. Between the junctions of Coldharbour Lane and

Denmark Hill Denmark Hill is an area and road in Camberwell, in the London Borough of Southwark. It is a sub-section of the western flank of the Norwood Ridge, centred on the long, curved Ruskin Park slope of the ridge. The road is part of the A215 which ...

SE5 and Coldharbour Lane and Denmark Road lies part of the boundary between

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

and

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

boroughs. The other end of Coldharbour Lane meets

Acre Lane List of A roads in zone 2 in Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European islands by ...

in central Brixton to form the A2217. The Loughborough Junction area, surrounding the railway station, marks the approximate centre point of Coldharbour Lane and the change in postcode from SE5 to SW9.

History

Coldharbour Lane was formerly known as Camberwell Lane. Former British Prime Minister John Major lived in a flat at 144 Coldharbour Lane when a child from 1955 to 1959. The lane close by Brixton Market became very derelict by the mid-1960s, when many drug houses flourished dealing mainly in cannabis. In 1981 the Brixton riots occurred in roads near Coldharbour Lane and some windows were broken on the street itself. With the support of community leaders and shop owners, plans were put in place to set up a mini-police station on Coldharbour Lane in the former premises of a drug dealer. Police Safer Neighborhoods Teams worked from number 411 with another base near Loughborough Junction at number 236. Both closed in 2019.

Origins of the name

A possible derivation of the name is Cool Arbour Lane, dating from the time Camberwell was in the country. This is cited in 'The Streets' by Anthony Quinn (2012) as the place the

Camberwell beauty ''Nymphalis antiopa'', known as the mourning cloak in North America and the Camberwell beauty in Britain, is a large butterfly native to Eurasia and North America. The immature form of this species is sometimes known as the spiny elm caterpillar ...

was first sighted. A "cold harbour" was an uninhabited shelter for travellers, often along a well-known route, somewhat similar to a modern

bothy A bothy is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge. It was also a term for basic accommodation, usually for gardeners or other workers on an estate. Bothies are found in remote mountainous areas of Sco ...

. Unlike an inn, there were no staff, food or drink to be had. There would be a roof, door and possibly a simple hearth, although it was the traveller's responsibility to gather fuel. They were generally little more than open-faced barns or animal shelters. J. C. Hahn, in ''

Notes and Queries ''Notes and Queries'', also styled ''Notes & Queries'', is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to "English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism".From the inner ...

'' Series 3, 7, 253–254 (1 April 1865) and later in Series 3, 8, 71–72 (22 July 1865) wrote an article entitled "Remarks on the Origin of 'Cold Harbour'". In this, the author remarks upon relatively early equivalent place names in Germany and traces back the origins of Coldharbour/Cold Harbour to the Old High German Kalte Herberge. There is a village in Germany and another in Austria called Kaltherberg. This etymology was accepted by the authors of the dictionary Merriam-Webster. Our author concludes that "our Cold Harbour was a name given to any cold abode, cold retreat, brought over to England by our Saxon ancestors—Cold Harbour = Cold Station, Cold House, Cold Lodge." And thus has a wider meaning than that attributed by the supporters of a basic type of lodgings. "Coldharbour" also survives as the name of a village in Surrey, and

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

has both a "Coldharbour Road" and a "Cold Harbour Lane". Coldharbour Lane also gives its name to Coldharbour ward in

although approximately one third of Coldharbour Lane is located in

Herne Hill ward Herne Hill is an administrative division of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. It is located in Herne Hill and contains Brockwell Park, Ruskin Park and Herne Hill railway station. Loughborough Junction railway station and King's College Hosp ...

Crime

April 1997 shooting

In April 1997, Devon Dawson, a 29-year-old Jamaican in the UK with a six-month visa, was shot dead with a sub-machine gun outside the Green Man pub on Coldharbour Lane.

June 1997 shooting

On 3 June 1997, Anthony Baker was shot in the head during a raid at the Control Tower takeaway in Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, where he worked. The shooting happened just a few hundred yards from

Lambeth Town Hall Lambeth Town Hall, also known as Brixton Town Hall, is a municipal building at the corner of Brixton Hill and Acre Lane, Brixton, London. The town hall, which is the headquarters of Lambeth London Borough Council, is a Grade II listed buildin ...

where, at the same time, Chief Inspector Alan O'Gorman was telling a packed meeting that gun crime in the area was becoming out of control.

2003 most dangerous street claim

In a 2003 London Evening Standard journalist David Cohen described Coldharbour Lane as the most dangerous street in the most dangerous borough in London. The headline asked whether the street is 'the most dangerous in Britain'.

2018 graffiti artists hit by train

On 18 June 2018, three graffiti artists died when they were hit by a train at Loughborough Junction station on Coldharbour Lane. The three men's deaths sparked controversy after a former Transport for London (TfL) board member Brian Cooke described the dead men as "common scum who cost the railway millions and keep fares high".

2014 Council Election

Coldharbour

- Rachel Heywood was elected as a Labour Councillor. Heywood resigned the party whip in April 2016 and now sits as an Independent councillor.

Pubs and bars

There are several pubs and bars on Coldharbour Lane: the Prince of Wales in Brixton which has been on the same site since 1800; the Prince Albert which has occasional live music and quiz nights; the Dogstar, a "three-floor DJ bar"; Living; Club 414, and the Plough. The Green Man, the Angel, the Enterprise and the Hero (alatterly the Junction) all ceased trading between 2000 and 2007 .

In popular culture

With a nod to The Rolling Stones' ''

Exile on Main St. ''Exile on Main St.'' is the 10th British and 12th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 12 May 1972 by Rolling Stones Records. Recording began in 1969 in England during sessions for '' Sticky Fingers'' ...

'', Brixton-based band

Alabama 3 Alabama 3 are a British/English musical group founded in Brixton, London in 1995. They are best known for their track "Woke Up This Morning", which was used for the opening credits of the TV series ''The Sopranos''. In the United States, the b ...

named their debut album ''

Exile on Coldharbour Lane ''Exile on Coldharbour Lane'' is the debut album by Alabama 3, released on 11 November 1997 on One Little Indian and Geffen Records, Geffen. The name and cover are references to ''Exile on Main St.'' by The Rolling Stones and Coldharbour Lane a ...

'' after the road. Although "

Woke Up This Morning "Woke Up This Morning" is a song by British band Alabama 3 from their 1997 album ''Exile on Coldharbour Lane.'' The song is best known as the opening theme music for the American television series ''The Sopranos'', which used a shortened version ...

" on this album mentions Coldharbour Lane, the mention is omitted from the "Chosen One Mix", used as the theme song for ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying his difficulties as he tries to balance ...

''. "Coldharbour Lane" — with the hook "So long / I've done my time / Coldharbour Lane / Goodbye" — is a single from

The Quireboys The Quireboys are an English rock band formed in 1984 in London, with strong ties to Newcastle. When the band formed they were originally known as The Queerboys and later as the London Quireboys in the United States and Canada, settling at ...

's 2001 '' This Is Rock'n'Roll'' release.

Markus Schulz Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobâr ...

named his own recording label "Coldharbour Recordings" in honour of the time when he lived in a flat in Coldharbour Lane. The area features in the 2008 novel ''The Room Of Lost Things'' by Stella Duffy, set in a dry cleaners on Coldharbour Lane. Oladipo Agboluaje set a play referencing the street in 2007 "The Christ of Coldharbour Lane", about the sudden reappearance of Jesus Christ in Brixton. Parts of ''Honeytrap'', a 2015 film directed by Rebecca Johnson and starring

Jessica Sula Jessica Bianca Sula (born 3 May 1994) is a Welsh actress known for her portrayal of the character Grace Blood in the third generation of the television series ''Skins'' and for her role in the M. Night Shyamalan-directed horror film ''Split'' ...

, were filmed on the street. In chapter 3 of

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...

's novella '' The Sign of Four'' (1890), Coldharbour Lane is the address of Thaddeus Sholto.

Joy Crookes Joy Elizabeth Akther Crookes (born 9 October 1998) is a British singer-songwriter. She incorporates details about relationships, self-reliance, her culture, her South London roots, and her identity in her music. Crookes has released three exten ...

refers to Coldharbour Lane in the pre-chorus of her 2021 single "When You Were Mine", as well as making a reference to Brixton in the chorus.

The Camberwell beauty

The rare migrant butterfly, the

(''Nymphalis antiopa'') was so named after the discovery of two specimens in Coldharbour Lane in 1748.Asher, Jim. ''The Atlas of Butterflies of Britain and Ireland'', Oxford University Press.Thomas, Jeremy, and Richard Lewington. ''The Butterflies of Britain and Ireland'', Dorling Kindersley. The butterflies had probably arrived as stowaways on ships delivering timber from Scandinavia to the Surrey Docks two miles to the north.Emmet, A. M. and Heath, J. (1989). ''The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland'', Harley Books, Colchester.

References

{{coord, 51.4659, -0.1024, type:landmark_region:GB-LBH, display=title Streets in the London Borough of Lambeth Streets in the London Borough of Southwark Camberwell Brixton