First things first. Why ‘Kentish’? It’s actually nowhere near Kent. The name comes from (maybe) Celtic… ‘ken’ means ‘green’ and ‘river’ so it refers to the River Fleet.
Please don’t look for the River Fleet. It runs underground. It used to be on the surface, many moons ago.
So what is on the surface? Well, it’s kind of a continuation of Camden Town with a mix of quite hip and tasteful places of recreation and refreshment intermeshed with your average amount of London squalor. The squalor, as always, gives it a certain frisson, even allure, so long as you keep you wear a tin hat and keep your head down.
Let’s take a wander up Kentish Town Road (the ‘High Street’) from Camden going north past the pretty rundown (but nicely Irish) Quinn’s pub on the corner of Hawley Crescent (note the Hawley Arms is just down the road – this was I think the scene of many high jinks among the Amy Winehouse, Kate Moss class a few years ago).
We then come across a very good bicycle shop, The Giant Store Camden, which used to be more of a family bike shop but now looks more pro/lycra road racer (aside, watch out for the ‘Tour de Regents Park’ nearby, hoardes of racing cyclists going round and round the Outer Circle at twice the speed of cars and terrifying all pedestrians and dogs in their path).
Soon you will see on your right the converted Dunn’s hat factory, now offices. Amazing to think that about 60 years ago everyone wore hats (Trilbies, Fedoras, etc) and so there must have been quite a few hat factories in those days. No longer.
Then on the left you will see Leverton & Sons, Funeral Directors, established, wait for this, in 1789. Extraordinary. How many London businesses were established in the same year as the French Revolution? So if the worst comes to the worst, you’ll be in safe hands if you’re looked after by the eighth generation of Levertons. Surely they must have got the hang of it by now. Indeed, they must have executed thousands of funerals (geddit?).
Let’s be more cheerful. Moving on up we encounter the following:
A pottery place where I believe you can throw a few pots and have a coffee and chat with fellow potters: Social Pottery, ‘where creativity gathers’. Hope you don’t have a smashing time.
Franchi, a wonderful ironmongers with among other things, high quality door handles, locks and other bits and pieces if you are doing DIY. I know, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you like studying door handles, it’s definitely for you.
Next up, the Oxfam Shop, which has a number of interesting and eclectic books for sale (‘The Voynich Manuscript’, ‘God and the State’, ‘Wallpaper’, ‘Jewish Law’, ‘MI6’, etc – there is something refreshing about having books randomly assembled without any classification); while talking books, there is a large Owl Bookshop, worth a browse, and unusually there is even a public library which is very popular with everyone who wants to get out of the rain for free and/or enjoy some peace and quiet.
Blustons is now a charity shop, the ‘Octavia Foundation’. Blustons was a 1930s women’s clothes shop, finally closing down in 2011. It still has a wonderful façade with the ‘BLUSTONS’, along with ‘COATS’ and ‘GOWNS’ in glorious art deco typography.
Iceland is another feature. What is it about a shop that stocks only frozen food? A slight frustration that you can’t eat it now, but mitigated by the low price? It has a cold, clinical interior, quite de-humanised, full of freezer cabinets, like an animal morque. But very popular, nonetheless.
There is no Greenland. If there was, presumably it would be only fresh food and no ice in sight. But there is a Greenland Road in Camden, with one corner shop.
One or two more charity shops. I see there is a T-shirt in one of them, reading ‘Well behaved women rarely make history’. That got me thinking. Helen of Troy. Boudica. Cathy in ‘East of Eden’. Marie Antoinette? Salome? They might have a point.
As you’d expect, there are a number of pubs, pretty good ones. The ones I like are The Bull and Gate, where everyone goes before gigs at The Forum next door. The Bull and Last (don’t ask me why it’s called that) in Highgate Road; and my particular favourite, the Southampton Arms, which is what a real old-fashioned pub should be. Old, plain, no carpets, no canned music, with good ales, very sociable and unique, a real one-off. Also, I don’t think they do food, so it’s one of the few pubs left in Britain that hasn’t been turned into a restaurant.
I should say more about The Forum, the perfect gig venue, not too big, not too small. I went to a couple of brilliant gigs there, John Cale (of Velvet Underground fame, what an amazing Welsh voice) and The Psychedelic Furs, still rocking and rolling after all these years. Current acts include Wargasm (Explicit Tour) (sounds like every tour is going to be explicit with a name like that); Lost Frequencies (I like the sound of that, geddit?); Dinosaur Jr; and Japanese Breakfast (didn’t know they were big on breakfasts).
Another thing worth mentioning: there are a couple of oriental carpet shops which seem to have the most extraordinary quantity of Islamic rugs, kilims etc. I didn’t realise until a few years ago that all those amazing abstract, geometric patterns were developed in part because figurative representation is not permitted according to Islam. So the patterns just got more and more exuberant and exotic.
Anyways, up, for me the best thing about Kentish Town is the ‘ken’, the green, in the wonderful, unique form of Hampstead Heath, possibly one of the most stunning city parks in the whole world! It had been intended as a Victorian suburb of London but thankfully, due to an Act of Parliament in 1871, the 800 acre park has been saved and enjoyed by generations of Londoners and visitors!
It’s much wilder and more natural than the stunning manicured gardens of The Regent’s Park and offers you lakes, woods, undulating fields and the Kenwood estate, a British Heritage Georgian mansion with cafes, ornamental lake and stunning landscaping.
If you have a dog it’s probably the best place to take him, or her (or, is there another dog gender?) because dogs love exploring the woods, going for a dip at the two doggie beaches, and/or going on a major sniff.
But don’t worry, you don’t have to be with a dog! A cat, llama, tortoise, friend, lover, colleague, will do. And even if you haven’t got any of the above, you can wander lonely as the clouds, o’er vales and hills, until you find the daffodils (tricky if it’s not Easter). But the magnificent rhododendron bushes at Kenwood flower in May and June and a real feature. They had to cut them back a lot but believe me, they’re recovering and growing pretty fast. So by the time you get there, they should be back to normal.
Also, you may know this already, there are swimming clubs on the Heath and one that is for women only.
Parliament Hill is definitely worth a stop… it has a wonderful view of the city, on a par with the view you get from Primrose Hill. Very good for flying a kite.
There are sports as well, tennis courts, a running track and I think two kinds of bowling. English bowling (odd shaped ball with a flat lawn as smooth and perfect as a billiard table) and French boules (perfectly round ball played on rough ground). Does this mean that the English are odd balls on a level playing field and the French are ‘parfait’ in the rough? Get back to me on that one.
The Heath is a ten minute bus ride from Kentish Town station, which, by the way, is both an overground and underground station, so well-connected.
