![Upper Street, Islington](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Upper_Street%2C_Islington.JPG)
Upper Street is the main street of the
Islington
Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...
district of inner north
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, and carries the
A1 road. It begins at the junction of the A1 and
Liverpool Road
Liverpool Road is a street in Islington, North London. It covers a distance of between Islington High Street and Holloway Road, running roughly parallel to Upper Street through the area of Barnsbury. It contains several attractive terraces o ...
, continuing on from Islington High Street which runs from the crossroads at Pentonville Road/City Road and runs roughly northwards from outside the main entrance to
Angel Underground station, then past the
Business Design Centre
The Business Design Centre is a Grade II listed building located between Upper Street and Liverpool Road in the district of Islington in London, England. It was opened in 1862, originally named the Agricultural Hall and from 1884 the Royal Agric ...
, then splits at Islington Green (where Essex Road, formerly named Lower Street, branches off), then past
The Screen On The Green cinema, past
Islington Town Hall
Islington Town Hall is a municipal facility in Upper Street, Islington, London. The town hall, which is the headquarters for Islington London Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building.
History
The building was commissioned to replace the ...
, ending at
Highbury & Islington tube station on Highbury corner, where the A1 carries on as
Holloway Road
Holloway Road is a road in London, in length. It is one of the main shopping streets in North London, and carries the A1 road as it passes through Holloway, in the London Borough of Islington. The road starts in Archway, near Archway Under ...
.
It contains many fashionable shops, pubs, restaurants and theatres.
History
![Upper Street high pavement](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Upper_Street_high_pavement.JPG)
The hilltop village of Islington originally consisted of two streets in addition to the High Street: Upper Street and Lower Street, which diverged from the High Street at
Islington Green
Islington Green is a small triangle of open land at the convergence of Upper Street and Essex Road (once called Lower Street) in the London Borough of Islington. It roughly marks the northern boundary between the modern district of Angel and Isl ...
. Both date back to at least the 12th century.
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
hunted duck in the ponds off Upper Street, while
Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion ...
lived in Upper Street and owned a pub in Lower Street. Lower Street has since been renamed Essex Road.
The fields around Upper Street, with their close proximity to the growing city of London, were a major farming area. Islington was the home of the
Royal Agricultural Hall
The Business Design Centre is a Grade II listed building located between Upper Street and Liverpool Road in the district of Islington in London, England. It was opened in 1862, originally named the Agricultural Hall and from 1884 the Royal Agri ...
, and a number of pubs and shops existed along the street to serve farmers and visitors to the hall.
![The Old Parr's Head, Upper Street, Islington](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/The_Old_Parr%27s_Head%2C_Upper_Street%2C_Islington.JPG)
In the 18th century Upper Street began to be redeveloped from an agricultural to a residential area. Ten houses were built in 1768 (later named Hornsey Row), and a further group built immediately south of Hornsey Row in 1792. A William Beverley (identified with
William Roxby Beverley
William Roxby Beverly or Beverley (c.1810–1889) was an English theatrical scene painter, known also as an artist in oils and watercolour. William John Lawrence, writing in the '' Dictionary of National Biography'', considered him second only ...
), the first to solve the problem of a "magic knight's tour" in chess (a variant on the
knight's tour
A knight's tour is a sequence of moves of a knight on a chessboard such that the knight visits every square exactly once. If the knight ends on a square that is one knight's move from the beginning square (so that it could tour the board again im ...
in which the numbered steps form a
magic square
In recreational mathematics, a square array of numbers, usually positive integers, is called a magic square if the sums of the numbers in each row, each column, and both main diagonals are the same. The 'order' of the magic square is the number ...
) resided in these buildings, now replaced by
Islington Town Hall
Islington Town Hall is a municipal facility in Upper Street, Islington, London. The town hall, which is the headquarters for Islington London Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building.
History
The building was commissioned to replace the ...
.
In the late nineteenth century, the Upper Street area became notorious for its night-time entertainments. In 1870,
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
described the area as "amongst the noisiest and most disagreeable thoroughfares in London." and in 1885, it was widely known as "The Devil's Mile" on account of its prostitution, crime and the level of drunkenness.
Between 1936 and 1939, the former Methodist chapel in Providence Place, just off Upper Street, was the home of a drama school, the
London Theatre Studio
The London Theatre Studio was a drama school, drama and design school in Upper Street, Islington, London, from 1936 to 1939. It was directed by the French actor and director Michel Saint-Denis.
The school was the first in England to teach theatr ...
, directed by
Michel Saint-Denis
Michel Jacques Saint-Denis (13 September 1897 – 31 July 1971), ''dit'' Jacques Duchesne, was a French actor, theatre director, and drama theorist whose ideas on actor training have had a profound influence on the development of European the ...
, with a conversion of the building designed by
Marcel Breuer
Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981), was a Hungarian-born modernist architect and furniture designer.
At the Bauhaus he designed the Wassily Chair and the Cesca Chair, which ''The New York Times'' have called some of the most im ...
and
F. R. S. Yorke
Francis Reginald Stevens Yorke (3 December 1906 – 10 June 1962), known professionally as F. R. S. Yorke and informally as Kay or K, was an English architect and author.
One of the first native British architects to design in a modernist style, h ...
. The students taught there included
Peter Ustinov
Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov ; 16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, filmmaker and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits ...
.
Upper Street is unusual in being one of the few streets in London to have a "high
pavement". This was constructed in the 1860s to protect pedestrians from being splashed by the large numbers of animals using the road to reach the rear of the new
Royal Agricultural Hall
The Business Design Centre is a Grade II listed building located between Upper Street and Liverpool Road in the district of Islington in London, England. It was opened in 1862, originally named the Agricultural Hall and from 1884 the Royal Agri ...
(repurposed in 1986 as the present Business Design Centre); as a consequence, the pavement is approximately 1 m above the road surface for some of the length of the street. One of the few other London streets with a high pavement,
Liverpool Road
Liverpool Road is a street in Islington, North London. It covers a distance of between Islington High Street and Holloway Road, running roughly parallel to Upper Street through the area of Barnsbury. It contains several attractive terraces o ...
, is the next road west of Upper Street and also serviced the Royal Agricultural Hall.
Places of interest
In recent years Upper Street has become extremely fashionable, and contains numerous pubs and restaurants, The pubs along the street are also popular meeting places for supporters going to the nearby Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal Football Club.
Starting from the south, the first significant venue is a former tram shed, built in 1850 for commuter service to the City. By the 1940s the service had ceased, and the building was converted to an electricity substation, which was then closed by the 1970s. Following some years of lying derelict, it was reopened on 14 November 1979 as The Mall Antiques Arcade, and at its height housed over 35 dealers on its ground and lower ground floors. The building also housed other businesses, such as a restaurant in its upper floors, but the mall closed in 2008. Since 2013, the building has housed several chain shops. It is currently an
Amazon Fresh
Amazon Fresh is a subsidiary of the American e-commerce company Amazon in Seattle, Washington. It is a grocery retailer with physical stores and delivery services in most major U.S. cities, as well as some international cities, such as Berlin, Ha ...
store. The closure of the arcade reflects the reduction in the number of antique traders in the nearby
Camden Passage
Camden Passage is a picturesque pedestrian street, minutes from the Angel tube station off Upper Street in the London Borough of Islington. The passage is known for its antique shops, markets and its array of independent shops, cafes, and restaur ...
, though a weekend antiques market is still held there. Moving north, there is the Business Design Centre, mentioned above as the Royal Agricultural Hall.
Islington Green is a small, triangular public park at the point where Upper Street splits, continuing north and northwest as a narrower street while Essex Road (formerly Lower Street) continues northeast. North of Islington Green, places of interest include the former Islington Chapel, now
Angel Recording Studios
Angel Recording Studios Limited (also referred to as Angel Studios) was a British recording studio based in the eponymous recording and mixing complex in Islington, London. The company was incorporated by James Warren Sylvester de Wolfe on 5 De ...
and the
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...
.
St. Mary's was rebuilt in 1754 and its spire dominates the Islington skyline. The church is a major venue for performances of traditional
religious music
Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as ritual. Relig ...
.
The
Little Angel Theatre
Little Angel Theatre is a puppet theatre for children and their families based in the London Borough of Islington
The London Borough of Islington ( ) is a London borough in Inner London. Whilst the majority of the district is located in north ...
is a children's
puppet theatre
Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a performa ...
in a former
Temperance
Temperance may refer to:
Moderation
*Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed
*Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion
Culture
*Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...
hall, behind the church. Directly opposite the church is the
King's Head Theatre
The King's Head Theatre, founded in 1970 by Dan Crawford, is an off-West End venue in London. It is the second oldest operating pub theatre in the UK. In 2021, Mark Ravenhill became Artistic Director and the theatre focusses on producing LGBTQ ...
, founded in 1970 as the first
pub theatre
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
in the UK. The
Almeida Theatre
The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325-seat producing house with an international reputation, which takes its name from the street on which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diver ...
is an important independent theatre and producing house. The former Islington post office is now the entrance to the large scale mixed-use development "Islington Square", centred around a converted Royal Mail sorting office.
Further north is
Islington Town Hall
Islington Town Hall is a municipal facility in Upper Street, Islington, London. The town hall, which is the headquarters for Islington London Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building.
History
The building was commissioned to replace the ...
, where the joint first legal
same-sex marriage in England took place on 29 March 2014. Adjacent to the town hall is
Islington Museum.
Upper Street also contains the
Hope and Anchor, one of the most important
venues
Venue is the location at which an event takes place. It may refer to:
Locations
* Venue (law), the place a case is heard
* Financial trading venue, a place or system where financial transactions can occur
* Music venue, place used for a concer ...
of the 1970s and 1980s
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
and
new wave scenes.
The Stranglers
The Stranglers are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 19 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have origina ...
' album ''
Live at the Hope and Anchor
''Live at the Hope and Anchor'' is a live album by the Stranglers, released on 9 March 1992 by EMI. It consists of an entire set from a concert at the Hope and Anchor pub in Islington, North London, recorded on 22 November 1977.
Background
Th ...
'' was recorded here. The building is still in use as a music venue today. Further north, the eastern side of Upper Street is taken up by a long but narrow garden, Compton Terrace Gardens. Accessed from Upper Street through these gardens is
Union Chapel, a church and concert and conference venue.
The radical left
In the 1970s and 1980s Upper Street was a focal point of the
radical left. It was home to
Sisterwrite, Britain's first
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
bookshop
Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librar ...
, as well as the
Trotskyist
Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...
Pioneer Books, the
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
Rising Free shop (famous for stealing stock from other shops to sell in theirs) and the socialist Red Books. In the 1980s, Upper Street was home to the Islington Action Group for the Unwaged, a major
far left campaigning and
activist
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
group, and to the squatter-run Molly's Cafe, a focal point for the anarchist and
squatting
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...
movement. Upper Street made headlines on 23 July 1995, when the
Reclaim the Streets
Reclaim the Streets also known as RTS, are a collective with a shared ideal of community ownership of public spaces. Participants characterise the collective as a resistance movement opposed to the dominance of corporate forces in globalisa ...
movement took over the street, barricaded it to traffic and held a long party in the street.
Cultural references
Upper Street was one of the settings for local resident
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' developed into a " ...
's
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comic science fiction, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally The Hitchhiker's Guide to th ...
series. The London-based sections of the later books are set in and around Upper Street, the home address of "
Fenchurch". In addition, the character of
Hotblack Desiato
This page is a list of characters in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', by Douglas Adams. The descriptions of the characters are accompanied by information on details about appearances and references to the characters.
Main characters
...
is named after a local
estate agent
An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting, or management of properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent. Estate agents are mainly engaged i ...
.
References
Citations
Sources''
*
External links
{{coord, 51, 32, 25, N, 0, 6, 9, W, type:street, display=title
Streets in the London Borough of Islington
Shopping streets in London
A1 road (Great Britain)
History of the London Borough of Islington
Islington