Best/Worst Road in SG?
  • ChangN4N6

    I heard two kids talking about this and it would be interesting to hear views, and reasons.

     

    Of course some roads are bad for one reason but actually quite OK otherwise, so it can't be exact. For example Lorne Road is quite nice in many ways (buildings etc) but there is the hygene problem and persistent sewage smell which drives us mad.I would say Wray Cres in the best (although some of the houses are in need of a bit of care) and  the worst, well I'm going to have to nominate Lorne Road for the the above reason (sorry! and i live there!!).

     

    Next?

     

    chang

  • janez

    Rock street is a confident bid for The Worst.

  • ArkadyArkady

    Mount View. I agree about Lorne. Rock St is not SG. Wray Crescent isn't really either.

  • miss annie

    Mount View is pretty. There's a little mews or something that runs off the end of Mount Pleasant Crescent that's nice.

    Rock Street is most definitely not SG, it's Finsbury Park - nothing south of Seven Sisters Rd can be SG.

  • Mirandola

    I reckon WC is in Greater SG..

  • janez

    Ok, let's be purists then. Rock st is not Finsbury Park either, FP is an area of Hackney to the east of Blackstock rd. Rock st is a carbuncle of Highbury West. 


    Seconded Mount View. 
  • ArkadyArkady

    Indeed, if we're being really purist then Rock Street is Highbury, but then I'm from the 'Finsbury Park is just a park' school.

    @Mirandola - I'll tell you why I'm hesitant about that.  It's an issue that is likely to be brought into sharp relief due to the Localism and Decentralisation Act, as Neighbourhood Forums get off the ground.  I'm all for a 'Greater Stroud Green' concept, but in trying to determine a western boundary that resolves the neglect of Stroud Green Road (by including some of the Islington side) I don't want to create the same problem for Hornsey Rd, i.e. robbing it of a hinterland of 'Tollington' people who may actually use the road as their high street.

    So the boundary ought to be somewhere between the two roads.  On the other hand, in doing that you divide Tollington Park Conservation Area in two.  There are no easy answers.  But given that Neighbourhood Forums will determine planning policy and put those polices to a local referendum, an answer will have to be found sooner of later.

  • gardener-joe

    Some areas south of SS road are Stroud Green, predating the creation if SS road, see the Wikipedia article, History of Stroud Green, and the Hornsey Historical Society referenced given there.

    But, please God, not Rock Street!

  • ActionVerb

    @Arkady - "But given that Neighbourhood Forums will determine planning policy and put those polices to a local referendum, an answer will have to be found sooner of later."


    I'm not sure neighbourhood plans will have anything like that level of influence. Neighbourhood Plans have to fall in line with the previously adopted policy. So for example the Islington Core Strategy will be the main document against which the NP will need to be tested against, and will not be adopted unless they conform with existing policy. 

    I personally dont see a lot of value in NP's, especially when they cannot be explicit and say "no housing/retail/etc is allowed to be brought forward within the plan area". My understanding is that they have no such power. Where I do seem them contribute is like mini-area action plans, putting a bit more weight on quality design/streetscape etc. I'm also highly cynical that NP will actually take off at all. I dont think there's been any precise information to date as to how the referendum will work, how and who tests the validity of the NPs and where they'll fall in the hierarchy of the planning system. 

    To get back on topic (sorry!), I like Regina Road & Florence Road. MP Crescent is very nicely looked after. Is Mount View in SG?  More sort of Crouch Hill surely? *runs away*.
  • tharobc

    I'll second Regina Road - nice friendly atmos.

  • Ian

    I'd say Regina Road, obviously, and you are right about friendly - it's just short enough for people to start to know each other and say hello. These small things make living in London more human.

  • ArkadyArkady

    @ActionVerb - You may be right.  It remains to be seen.  The coalition have axed thousands of pages of guidance and replaced it with this Act, and are actively refusing to issue further guidance - it is for local areas to establish NPs and test the boundaries of the Act.  The referendums will be some way off yet even for early adopters.  There is some suggestion that the Electoral Reform Society will be paid to do them.  There are several stages to validity testing of the NPs, including initial borough acceptance in principal and external auditing. We received some government-funded consultancy advice last week and it was fascinating.

    Agree that 'determine policy' was a bit strong, but they will have considerable power - and legitimacy - to shape the specifics and direct development funding. And they can make statements of principle which gain legal weight, including over issues such as conservation.

  • ChangN4N6

    i went to rock street with my mother in law on way to shops. the arsenal cafe there was good.plenty of busses too and friendly arab types bantering.  when i was in the cafe some guy propositioned her! so its lively, even if its the worst street.

     

    chang

     

     

  • Mirandola

    I quite like Rock Street too. 

  • janez

    Maybe, elderly ladies are pleased with sticky arabs' attention, but if you are not in such type of entertainment, there is nothing on the Rock st more than dirt, ruins of tiny gardens and general ugliness. 


    Chang, just for the sake curiosity, to which shops were you going? What can be found on Blackstock rd, which is not present on SG? Fish and Cook? Sylvanian Families? Wools and crafts? Vintage cafe-shop? 
  • Mirandola
    There was this on Rock Street: http://transitionfinsburypark.org.uk/node/675

    @janez. Look, I don't know you and it's really easy to misunderstand what someone's trying to say over t'internet and goodness knows I can be tactless at times, but, well, are you quite sure that you're completely happy with how you put things in that latest post? 
  • gardener-joe

    how did the friendly Arabs mentioned here become the stcky Arabs subsequently remarked upon?

    such unpleasant generalisation is surely unwelcome?

    please, let's have no more!

  • janez

    Mirandola, I have no doubts that the other streets nominated for the "ugliest" award are homes for lovely people with interesting hobbies. But the streets look as they look and they smell as they smell.


    Although, Rock street gets pretty nice during Muslim holidays, when it is busy and full of celebrating folks in their best and very different cloths, which distract attention from the street itself.

    Joe, so this http://www.stroudgreen.org/discussion/3312/sex-harassment-cafe-shut-by-police.in-blackstock-rd./p1 was also a racist attack on some friendly loiters? 
  • gardener-joe

    Time for some to stop digging deeper into the hole they're in?

  • Misscara

    Really depends what you mean by best and worst. I lived on Upper Tollington/Oxford for years in a house that was falling down but had the best neighbours I've ever had and it was handy for everything. I live on Mount View now, in a much quieter setting in a nicer flat but I do miss being in amongst it all. Mount View is definitely Stroud green not Crouch End. In fact Stroud Green proper is actually that bit where Mount View is. I like Victoria Road too, and Ennis Road. Corbyn Street and Thorpedale Rd and the streets running off them are quite nice too. Wray Crescent is a bit shitty, but Turlewray Close where those nice big houses are is lovely, I'd live there given the choice. Someone told me there is a convent there recently but I've never noticed it.

  • miss annie

    There's a huge and beautiful church less than a minute's walk off Mount View Rd (on Wormesley) and I'd never noticed that until last week.

  • SBW

    i believe it is a catholic church. the nearest c of e one i think is on granville road, then there's the baptist one on stapleton hall and a methodist one in holly park estate. And st mellitus (rc). that's all i've spotted, but not bad going. more churches than pubs: is SG a god fearing area?

    mount pleasant villas is by far the most attractive street 

  • miss annie

    There's the one opposite St Mel's (name escapes) too. I hear the church bells from my garden.

  • ArkadyArkady

    @SBW: the lower half of Mount Pleasant Villas is gorgeous, the upper half not so much, it has some horrible buildings on it.

  • Misscara

    I think you are talking about St Peter in Chains, which always throws up S&M images in my mind.

  • IlovegreyhoundsIlovegreyhounds

    We parishioners just stick to calling it St Peter's!

    My favourite street has to be Mount View and joint second are Mount Pleasant Crescent and Japan Crescent. Makes a nice route to the train every morning and of course there is the elephant.

  • wisteria53

    I like Mount Pleasant Villas as it's home - but have to vote for Mount Pleasant Crescent and the famous elephant.

  • SBW

    so the mounts have it...  

    Arkady: granted

  • sharybo

    St Peter's is a lovely church.  My nieces go to the school there, so I've been there a few times for their baptisms, first holy communions, etc.  I think all the surrounding roads are nice too.  

    My favourite road I think is Japan Crescent.

  • barnesbq

    Japan Crescent is right out the back of my flat but I don't rate it. Feels hemmed in with parking spaces and the houses aren't as grand as some others nearby. 

    Best? There are two dead-end streets that run off Mount Pleasant Villas, either side of the railway. One is called The Grove. The other is an extension of Mount Pleasant Crescent. I dream of living there - it's a no thru road! BLISS compared to my current abode.

  • krappyrubsnifkrappyrubsnif

    I would add Carlisle Road.  I'll bet nobody knows where that is.  (Off Scarborough).  It's a bit like the Grove or the Mount Pleasant Crescent cul-de-sac, but only got four or five houses in it so it's a very, very cosy little backwater.  Not as architecturally distinguished, but quite eccentric and the houses have a raher cottagy feel.  (Apart from the one with cladding.)  Only trouble is the railway mainline opposite - but the other streets back on to a railway too.  Smashing. Lived there for five years and it was the best flat I ever had, sorry to leave.   

  • gardener-joe

    The Grove is real 'rus in urbs'.

  • Billy Bookcase

    I have lived in that street for twenty years and it's the first I've heard of this.

    My neighbours haven't said anything.
    Apart from anything else, there's nowhere to park.
  • gardener-joe

    Mount View Road, overlooking the covered reservoir.

  • ArkadyArkady

    Curious.

  • ChangN4N6

    Carlisle St is great (cassa street the kids near me call it). Little lost lane. But you -know-who lives round the corner (bad news etc) which makes my heart sink a bit. But one for the new SG Guide Book.

  • Idoru

    Voldemort?

  • ChangN4N6

    Worse. JM.

  • Idoru

    James Moriarty!

  • miss annie

    I would love to live round the corner to Jim Moriarty.

  • ChangN4N6

    . Less exciting. A bit depressing, actually.

  • Misscara

    I think he's talking about Jane Moore, not for the first time on here.

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