Three shops

Last week we had three churches at reference 1, this week we have three luxury shops, visited in the course of a cheese hunt.

First, Bell & Croyden of Wigmore Street (see reference 2), a large and fancy pharmacy in Wigmore Street, not far from the Wigmore Hall. Fancy enough that it sells medical equipment to the trade, as well as the sort of stuff that you might get in Boots. Not long made over to make it more like a posh version of Superdrug or somewhere like that. I visited it in quest of toe nail clippers, to find that the three brands they sold when I first looked a few years ago (and noticed at reference 3) was now down to one brand, Credo from Germany, which I bought without enthusiasm.

Second stop, the Ginger Pig of Moxon Street, a branch of a small but fancy chain of butchers (see reference 4). From the outside they had some nice looking fore rib of beef, with plenty of fat on it, otherwise rather a lot of sausages and things of that sort. They did not look to me to do anything like the trade that perfectly ordinary High Street butchers in Wood Green would do on a Saturday in the 1970's, when they would start the day with their shops packed to their ceilings with joints of beef, pork and lamb. Not to say entire animals in case stocks ran low.

Third stop, the Fromagerie next door. This looked to be in rather better shape and I was able to buy the best Emmenthal I have bought for years. Creamy white, with plenty of holes, from Switzerland. Taste did not seem to be damaged by a slight growth of blue mould in the holes. This shop bought the stuff in by the quarter cheese, so not quite the entire wheels which used to be bought in by the cheese shop in Jerymn Street but a great improvement on the lumps bought in by the cheese shop in Upper Tachbrook Street. For this last see reference 5.

All of which made me wonder how long these fancy goods shops are going to survive the pincer threat of the big stores like Waitrose and the click-and-have-delivered specialist stores on the Internet. Plus the British reluctance to spend serious money for their bread, cheese or meat.

The day had started in the ordinary way with train to Waterloo and Bullingdon to Drury Lane, from where a short walk to the cheese shop to stock up on Lincolnshire Poacher. With the exception of a possible kite tweet over the old Battersea Town Hall near Clapham Junction. The place where there was a bad fire a few years back.

From there to the Portuguese Consulate, next to the Langham Hotel, to pop into the very fancy looking building opposite the Wigmore Hall. A building I had often wondered about but never got around to asking about. On this occasion, as luck would have it, I accosted an old retainer who told me all about it. Site originally the town house of the Ammersley (possibly Hammersley) family of Berkshire (possibly Buckinghamshire), burnt down in suspicious circumstances towards the end of the 19th century. Then the Cavendish family, strong in the area, built themselves a fancy town house, essentially the present building, lived in it for a few years and then sold out to what is now Debenhams, then Debenham and Freebody, just before the first world war. They had it until after the second world war, moving at some point to their present premises, with their Wigmore Street staff having at one point included a member of Ammersley family who committed the solecism of mentioning the fact to an uncle back in Berkshire (possibly Buckinghamshire), an uncle who never spoke to her again. Then Harvey Nichols had it for a year or two. Then Hamleys had it for a year or two while their own building was made over. Then we moved on to the present multi-occupancy with various big corporates upstairs and various fancy shops downstairs. An old retainer who had found it hard to stop talking and who, it turns out today, had been talking a load of old tosh, with the building being built for Debenhams in 1905-6, and with neither Bing nor Google turning up anything relevant about Ammersley, Hammersley or Cavendish. But he was right about it being a fancy building, no expense spared. All very odd. See reference 6.

Fine fish cakes at the Golden Hind of reference 7. Quick peek at Marylebone Lane, then the church at George Street, already noticed at reference 1. Then pulled the last Bullingdon of the day for the trip back to Waterloo.

The art work on the north wall of Debenhams in very fine form. The wind and the light must have been just right for it.

Entertained down a busy Haymarket by a young lady in a very fancy red (crepe?) evening gown flowing all over the central reservation, with a couple of photographers, lying down, if you please, further down the same reservation, trying to get the right shot of her.

Entertained at Waterloo by the sight of a very tall policemen on patrol with a very short policewoman, both sporting what looked like very large machine guns. Kalashnikovs at the very least.

On the train home I tried to do some mental arithmetic about Jeffrey Archer's duplex (triplex?) flat on the Albert Embankment. Say £5,000,000 pounds for a long lease (although a quick Bing comes up with some larger numbers). Then 100*50*20 feet equals 100,000 cubic feet. One cubic foot equals fat 35 paperback novels. Royalty say 30p each, say £10 to the cubic foot. Which gets us to roughly £1,000,000 for a flat full. So his flat is worth fives times as much per cubic foot as his novels. Clearly a little out of practise.

Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/three-churches.html.

Reference 2: http://www.johnbellcroyden.co.uk/.

Reference 3: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/gyorgy-kurtag.html.

Reference 4: https://www.thegingerpig.co.uk/shops/moxon-street-london/.

Reference 5: http://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Emmenthal+No+Swaledale.

Reference 6: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/architecture/sites/bartlett/files/chapter09_wigmore_street.pdf.

Reference 7: https://www.goldenhindrestaurant.com/.