Coldharbour Lane is a road in south London, England, that leads south-westwards from Camberwell to Brixton. The road is over 1 mile (1.6 km) long with a mixture of residential, business and retail buildings – the stretch of Coldharbour Lane near Brixton Market contains shops, bars and restaurants. Between the junctions of Coldharbour Lane and Denmark Hill in Camberwell SE5 and Coldharbour Lane and Denmark Road lies part of the boundary between Lambeth and Southwark boroughs. The other end of Coldharbour Lane meets Acre Lane in central Brixton to form the A2217.
The Loughborough Junction area, surrounding the railway station, marks the approximate centre point of Coldharbour Lane and the change in postcode from SE5 to SW9.
History
editFormer British Prime Minister John Major lived in a flat at 144 Coldharbour Lane when a child from 1955 to 1959.[1]
The lane close by Brixton Market became derelict by the mid-1960s, when many drug houses flourished dealing mainly in cannabis.[citation needed]
In 1981 the Brixton riots occurred in roads near Coldharbour Lane and some windows were broken on the street itself.[2] With the support of community leaders and shop owners, plans were put in place to set up a mini-police station on Coldharbour Lane in the former premises of a drug dealer.[3][needs update] Police Safer Neighbourhoods Teams worked from number 411 with another base near Loughborough Junction at number 236. Both closed in 2019.
Origins of the name
editA possible derivation of the name is Cool Arbour Lane, dating from the time Camberwell was in the country. This is cited in 'The Streets' by Anthony Quinn (2012) as the place the Camberwell beauty was first sighted.
A "cold harbour" was an uninhabited shelter for travellers, often along a well-known route, somewhat similar to a modern bothy. Unlike an inn, there were no staff, food or drink to be had. There would be a roof, door and possibly a simple hearth, although it was the traveller's responsibility to gather fuel. They were generally little more than open-faced barns or animal shelters.[4]
J. C. Hahn, in Notes and Queries Series 3, 7, 253–254 (1 April 1865) and later in Series 3, 8, 71–72 (22 July 1865) wrote an article entitled "Remarks on the Origin of 'Cold Harbour'".[5] In this, the author remarks upon relatively early equivalent place names in Germany and traces back the origins of Coldharbour/Cold Harbour to the German kalte Herberge. There is a village in Germany and another in Austria called Kaltherberg. This etymology was accepted by the authors of the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Hahn concludes that "our Cold Harbour was a name given to any cold abode, cold retreat, brought over to England by our Saxon ancestors—Cold Harbour = Cold Station, Cold House, Cold Lodge," and thus has a wider meaning than that attributed by the supporters of a basic type of lodgings.
"Coldharbour" also survives as the name of a village in Surrey, and Bristol has both a "Coldharbour Road" and a "Cold Harbour Lane".
Coldharbour Lane also gives its name to Coldharbour ward in Brixton although approximately one third of Coldharbour Lane is located in Herne Hill ward.
Crime
editApril 1997 shooting
editIn April 1997, Devon Dawson, a 29-year-old Jamaican in the UK with a six-month visa, was shot dead with a sub-machine gun outside the Green Man pub on Coldharbour Lane.[6]
June 1997 shooting
editOn 3 June 1997, Anthony Baker was shot in the head during a raid at the Control Tower takeaway in Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, where he worked. The shooting happened just a few hundred yards from Lambeth Town Hall where, at the same time, Chief Inspector Alan O'Gorman was telling a packed meeting that gun crime in the area was becoming out of control.[7]
2003 most dangerous street claim
editIn a 2003 article in the London Evening Standard, David Cohen described Coldharbour Lane as the most dangerous street in the most dangerous borough in London. The headline asked whether the street is 'the most dangerous in Britain'.[8]
2018 graffiti artists hit by train
editOn 18 June 2018, three graffiti artists, aged between 19 and 23, died when they were hit by a train at Loughborough Junction station on Coldharbour Lane. A former Transport for London (TfL) board member, Brian Cooke, was criticised by social media users after he tweeted that the dead men were "common scum who cost the railway millions and keep fares high".[9]
2014 Council Election
editColdharbour
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Rachel Heywood * | 2,232 | 57.8 | ||
| Labour | Matt Parr * | 2,037 | |||
| Labour | Donatus Anyanwu * | 2,014 | |||
| Green | Solomon Smith | 742 | 19.2 | ||
| Green | Thomas Wood | 680 | |||
| Green | Rashid Nix | 638 | |||
| Conservative | Yvonne Stewart-Williams | 398 | 6.0 | ||
| Liberal Democrats | Rachel Lester | 225 | 5.8 | ||
| Conservative | Carl Belgrove | 224 | |||
| Conservative | Edward Watkins | 221 | |||
| UKIP | Johan Ward | 127 | 3.3 | ||
| Liberal Democrats | Michael Morfey | 126 | |||
| Liberal Democrats | Simon Waddington | 126 | |||
| Independent | David Warner | 100 | 2.6 | ||
| Independent | Boniface Awogta | 76 | 2.0 | ||
| Total votes | |||||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
- Rachel Heywood was elected as a Labour Councillor. Heywood resigned the party whip in April 2016 and now sits as an Independent councillor.[10][11][12]
Pubs and bars
editThere are several pubs and bars on Coldharbour Lane: the Prince of Wales in Brixton [13] which has been on the same site since 1800;[14] the Prince Albert[15] which has occasional live music and quiz nights;[16] the Dogstar,[17] a "three-floor DJ bar";[18] Living;[19] Club 414,[20] and the Plough. The Green Man,[21] the Angel,[22] the Enterprise and the Hero (latterly the Junction) all ceased trading between 2000 and 2007 .
In popular culture
editBrixton-based band Alabama 3 named their debut album Exile on Coldharbour Lane after the road. Although "Woke Up This Morning" on this album mentions Coldharbour Lane, the mention is omitted from the "Chosen One Mix", used as the theme song for The Sopranos.[citation needed]
"Coldharbour Lane" — with the hook "So long / I've done my time / Coldharbour Lane / Goodbye" — is a single from The Quireboys's 2001 This Is Rock'n'Roll release.[citation needed]
Markus Schulz named his own recording label "Coldharbour Recordings" in honour of the time when he lived in a flat in Coldharbour Lane.[23]
The area features in the 2008 novel The Room Of Lost Things by Stella Duffy, set in a dry cleaners on Coldharbour Lane.[24]
Oladipo Agboluaje set a play referencing the street in 2007 "The Christ of Coldharbour Lane", about the sudden reappearance of Jesus Christ in Brixton.[25]
Parts of Honeytrap, a 2015 film directed by Rebecca Johnson and starring Jessica Sula, were filmed on the street.[26]
The Camberwell beauty
edit
The rare migrant butterfly, the Camberwell beauty (Nymphalis antiopa) was so named after the discovery of two specimens in Coldharbour Lane in 1748.[27][28] The butterflies had probably arrived as stowaways on ships delivering timber from Scandinavia to the Surrey Docks two miles to the north.[29]
References
edit- ^ John Major (1999). John Major: The Autobiography. Harper Collins. pp. 16–7.
- ^ "Then and Now: Prince of Wales public house". www.urban75.org.
- ^ "Ghetto fabulous". The Guardian. London. 24 April 2005. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
- ^ "Coldharbour". The Phrase Finder.
- ^ "J. C. Hahn, Two articles on the origin of the name Coldharbour". cantab.net.
- ^ Evening Standard, 27/05/1997 Dealing out death on the streets People used to fight with fists or knives, now they go for a gun' By: JUSTIN DAVENPORT
- ^ Evening Standard, 07/07/1997 Edition: A Page: 20 FORMER GANGSTER JOINS FIGHT TO END BRIXTON GUN WARSBy: MARC WADSWORTH
- ^ Evening Standard, 30/01/2003 Page: 16 Nearly 15,000 stabbings, robberies, muggings and even murders ... most linked to 300 yards where £1m of crack cocaine is dealt each month. Is this the most dangerous street in Britain? INVESTIGATION: The Standard spends 24 hours in the London borough where the police fight their biggest battle against crime By: DAVID COHEN
- ^ "Loughborough Junction: Tributes to graffiti artists hit by train". BBC News. 19 June 2018.
- ^ "Councillors". 4 September 2021.
- ^ "CLLR Rachel Heywood delivers stinging attack on Labour Cabinet "elite" with a call for change of direction". brixtonbuzz.com. 13 April 2016.
- ^ "Election results for Coldharbour, 22 May 2014". Lambeth London Borough Council. 22 May 2014.
- ^ "Prince of Wales, Brixton, London, SW9 8HH - pub details # beerintheevening.com". Archived from the original on 9 April 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2007.
- ^ Prince of Wales hotel, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton. Historical Brixton - old and new photos of Brixton, Lambeth, London, SW9 and SW2
- ^ "The Prince Albert, 418 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton SW9 8LF". Archived from the original on 1 September 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2007.
- ^ "Prince Albert, 418 Coldharbour Lane, London - London Public Houses & Inns - All in London". Archived from the original on 7 April 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2007.
- ^ "Dogstar, Brixton, London, SW9 8LQ - pub details # beerintheevening.com". Archived from the original on 1 June 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2007.
- ^ "Dogstar, 389 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton SW9 8LQ". Archived from the original on 1 September 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2007.
- ^ "Living | 443 Coldharbour Lane | London | SW9 8LN". Archived from the original on 31 March 2006. Retrieved 20 May 2007.
- ^ "Club 414 | 414 Coldharbour Lane | London | SW9 8LF". Archived from the original on 13 April 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2007.
- ^ "The Green Man | 225 Coldharbour Lane | London | SW9 8RR". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
- ^ "The Angel | 354 Coldharbour Lane | London | SW9 8QH". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
- ^ "Markus Schulz Gallery Jukebox". Ministry of Sound.
- ^ "Review: The Room of Lost Things by Stella Duffy". The Guardian. 21 February 2009.
- ^ "Theatre review: The Christ of Coldharbour Lane / Soho, London". The Guardian. 8 June 2007.
- ^ "Honeytrap review – true-crime, urban-realist melodrama". The Guardian. 7 May 2015.
- ^ Asher, Jim. The Atlas of Butterflies of Britain and Ireland, Oxford University Press.
- ^ Thomas, Jeremy, and Richard Lewington. The Butterflies of Britain and Ireland, Dorling Kindersley.
- ^ Emmet, A. M. and Heath, J. (1989). The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland, Harley Books, Colchester.