KensingtonTHE MAGAZINE September 2013 PEMBROKE SQUARE, KENSINGTON THE Front Cover: From ‘A series of sketches specially drawn for ‘!e Kensington News’ by David !omas Kensington 1948’ (with thanks to the Local Studies MAGAZINE Department, RBKC) We hope everyone had a good summer and returned to Kensington fully rejuvenated and refreshed. !is month we focus on Pembroke Square, learning about the history of the Square and comparing the Parish Plan of 1846 to today. Jenny looks at the history of !e Hansom Cab and particularly how it derived its name and Isere interviews our very own weatherman. We would like to thank Tim Honnor for his help and work on this edition - he seems to have a photographic memory which came in very useful. We would also like to thank the sta" in the Local Studies Department for their assistance. We hope you enjoy reading and learning more about this lovely Square in Kensington. Lucy Lucy by kind permission of Hidden Kensington: The Handsom Cab 4 CONTENTS History of Pembroke Square: Tim Honnor 6 Editor’s Review: Arcadia Restaurant 8 Hidden Talent: Local Weatherman, Tim Honnor 10 Kensington News 12-14 Maria Perry: A Summer of Roses 18 Landscape & Gardening: Avondale Park 20 The Scarsdale Tavern: 22 GET IN TOUCH PUBLISHER: The Kensington Magazine Ltd CONTRIBUTORS Maria Perry available at Virgin, RBKC Library, Waitrose, Waterstones, Marks & Spencers, the Sloane Square and many other smaller outlets in W8. 2 A PERFECT PLACE FOR A SPECIAL OCCASION Add a little sparkle to your event or celebration for up to 50 guests in one of the elegant settings of The Milestone Hotel, located opposite Kensington Palace and Gardens. PHONE: 0207 917 1023 EMAIL: [email protected] WWW.MILESTONEHOTEL.COM/MEETINGS-AND-EVENTS/CELEBRATIONS !e History of the Handsom Cab !is month local resident Jenny Davis-Peccoud visits a new pub and discovers more than she thought possible about hackneys, hansoms and hidden local gems I went to a new pub in Kensington this weekend. A#er 12 years in the neighbourhood (and given my pub-going habits), I didn’t think that was possible, but Lucy pointed me towards !e Hansom Cab. So o" I went. What a great $nd. !is is a Victorian gem, mostly preserved, with wooden panelling and cut glass, not to mention a welcoming publican and a not-too-expensive yet still-quite-delicious menu. It’s certainly a change from “the Posh Boys’ Pub”, run by Piers Morgan and Marco Pierre White Exterior of The Hansom Cab from October 2011 to mid 2012. Local residents were none too happy to see them come. One indeed if it named the pub or the pub inspired reviewer wrote: “I would like to remind him that it. But hang there it did until Mr. Morgan moved it has been ‘our local’, and I hope that he does not in. !e new owners sadly report that ‘Health & turn this into a ‘trendy gastro pub’.” He certainly Safety’ won’t allow them to put it up again. tried, but by June 2012 another commentator wrote, “Very excited that !e Hansom Cab has But there is one more option for the source of opened today as a proper pub again with an the name. Despite being from York, the inventor awesome menu!”, and the locals are back. of the hansom cab was actually a resident of… Kensington! Hansom lived in (South) But why the name? !e Victorian era saw a spate Kensington from 1863 to his death. Starting in of pubs being named a#er modes of transport Neville Terrace in 1863, he lived in !urloe Street – !e Pack Saddle, Mail Coach, Railway and twice, Sumner Place and Fulham Road, where he Old Barge, to name a few. And the hansom cab died in 1882. was a Victorian era invention, patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, an architect from York. As So grab your favourite mode of transport and displayed on the pub’s sign, a hansom cab was hurry over to !e Hansom Cab to discover this a 2-wheeled horse-drawn carriage. Two people hidden local now back in all its glory. (three in a pinch) sat in the body of the cabriolet (shortened to ‘cab’ for the modern word), with the driver mounted on a seat behind. Requiring only one horse, hansoms were cheaper and lighter than the 4-wheeled hackney carriages (sometimes called ‘growlers’ for the noise their wheels made over the cobblestones) which had prevailed for public transport since the mid- 1600s. If this weren't enough to grant the pub its almost unique moniker (there’s only one other Hansom Cab pub in the UK, in Leicester), perhaps the antique hansom cab which hung from the ceiling The Hansom Cab, 84-86 Earl’s Court Road in the back bar for many years contributed. No one knows who bought it, when or why, or A popular Quiz Night runs every Tuesday evening 4 OUR SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER PROGRAMME 12/9/13 INVESTING IN AND COLLECTING WINE SARA GUIDUCCI | BERRY BROS 24/9/13 SECRETS OF INVESTING PAUL DYSON | DCM 26/9/13 INVESTING IN ART DECO ALLAN BELLAMY | GAZELLES OF LYNDHURST 8/10/13 LIVING ART LUIS CASANOVA SOROLLA | ARTIST 10/10/13 FESTIVE FASHION TRENDS MARLENA WOOLFORD | TREND ANALYSIS 15/10/13 HOW TO CREATE CHRISTMAS GLAMOUR ON A BUDGET SUSAN LLEWELLYN | INTERIOR DESIGNER 17/10/13 ART DECO FINE JEWELLERY SAM LOXTON F.G.A | LUCAS RARITIES 23/10/13 FOOD & HEALTH ELIZABETH PEYTON-JONES | NATUROPATH TIME OF LECTURES: 6:30 - 8:30PM VENUE: 9 ILCHESTER PLACE, LONDON W14 8AA Relationship breakdown? If you have divorce or family law A free hour’s initial questions we can arrange appointments options consultation includes a free initial options consultation. To arrange to see Chris Allen-Jones, call 020 7014 3360 or email [email protected] www.familylawinlondon.com Harrison Clark Rickerbys is a trading name of Harrison Clark Limited and Rickerbys LLP. Authorised and regulated by the SRA !e History of Pembroke Square By Tim Honnor Photograph of Pembroke Lodge, home of Andrew Bonar Law and used as a hospital during the First World War for recuperating o%cers. (Image from ‘Lady’s Pictorial’ dated July 14, 1917) On 23 May 1823, William Edwardes, 2nd Baron o" and the west side gradually became freehold, Kensington signed an agreement for speculative too. !e original sunken garden, outside the building on seven and a half acres to the west of covenant area, is believed to have been designed Earl’s Court Road, which now includes Pembroke as a form of advertisement in 1923 by Vernon Square. It was given the name because both he Brothers, garden architects of Pembroke Villas. and his father had been MP’s for Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire. !ree years later, the $rst On the very $rst night of the blitz, Saturday 7 houses were completed and leases granted. By September 1940, a bomb fell in the gardens of the end of 1830, both the north and south sides numbers 24 and 25, on the west side. Five days had been built. !e west side was the last to be later, a gas main $re resulted in the two houses completed, in 1831. being demolished. Subsequently, the area was used as a static water tank for $ghting $res until Today, there are pubs at opposite corners of the the houses were re-built in 1949. square; !e Scarsdale Tavern just over the border at the north-western corner and !e Hansom Also during the war, the railings around the Cab at the south-eastern corner. In the middle garden were removed to be melted down for lies a sunken garden with a weather station, a munitions. !e rest remained as they were tennis court and Rassell’s Nursery. protecting commercial premises. !e garden was later enclosed with chain-link fencing with !e garden is privately-owned. Around 1903, all railings only being replaced in 1992. In 1981, I the land in the centre of the square was acquired sought permission to place a Stevenson screen by Charles Rassell. In 1923, he applied to build in the garden. !is has grown into a recognised two houses at the western end. To prevent this weather station with other instruments where I unwelcome development, 41 freeholders on the take readings twice a day. north and south sides bought this land from Mr Rassell for £3,000 plus £500, paid to him in In 1968, with the leases on the west side shortly consideration of a covenant to protect the rest of due to expire, “the Pru” o"ered the leaseholders the gardens. !e Prudential Assurance Company new 89 year leases in return for a portion o" the also contributed for their leasehold houses on the end of their back gardens. !is became the east west side. !e land was conveyed to “the Pru” on side of Pembroke Gardens Close once part of the trust for the freeholders of the square. In 1985, garden of Pembroke Lodge, home of Andrew this land was conveyed back to the freeholders. It Bonar Law, the Conservative politician and was also at this time that the leaseholds were sold Prime Minister. 6 Part of the Parish of St Barnabus 1846 Tim and Lucy prepared this re&ecting the changes which have taken place since 1846 to the present day. A more detailed analysis can be obtained by contacting Lucy 1. ‘Warwick Street’ is now Pater Street. ‘Park’ is junction with Pembroke Mews exists. Pembroke now Cope Place Mews was built later. Earl’s Walk continues to !e 2.