# Squatting in Hackney/Stoke Newington/N16, 1980s/90s



## DaveCinzano (Mar 20, 2013)

I am looking for reliable accounts - preferably ones able to identify dates and precise locations - of the squatting movement in and around N16 from the 1980s into the 1990s.

The Radical History of Hackney website is very useful - but are there other sources you would recommend? Pamphlets, books, blogs... Anything, really.

Many thanks in advance.


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 20, 2013)

Bumped for day shift.


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## marty21 (Mar 20, 2013)

just anecdotal - but I remember a crescent - possibly Clissold Crescent in N16 which was squatted for several years in the 90s - it is now owned by Family Mosaic - possibly a fair few of the squatters got tenancies out of it


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 20, 2013)

Cheers Marty


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## Pickman's model (Mar 20, 2013)

DaveCinzano said:


> I am looking for reliable accounts - preferably ones able to identify dates and precise locations - of the squatting movement in and around N16 from the 1980s into the 1990s.
> 
> The Radical History of Hackney website is very useful - but are there other sources you would recommend? Pamphlets, books, blogs... Anything, really.
> 
> Many thanks in advance.


you've not bothered contacting ass yet.


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## marty21 (Mar 20, 2013)

I'll see if I can get an exact location


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## butchersapron (Mar 20, 2013)

Here Is the notes and commentaries for the Hidden Histories: Common Land and Squatting in Hackney walk/talk by the excellent Past Tense


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 20, 2013)

Pickman's model said:


> you've not bothered contacting ass yet.


My search is a bit nebulous to start with so I'd rather cover what written materials are available first to get a bit of context.


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## Pickman's model (Mar 20, 2013)

DaveCinzano said:


> My search is a bit nebulous to start with so I'd rather cover what written materials are available first to get a bit of context.


go to hackney archives and have a look through the auld hackney gazettes, which i believe are on microfilm for the whole of the period in which you have expressed an interest.


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 20, 2013)

butchersapron said:


> Here Is the notes and commentaries for the Hidden Histories: Common Land and Squatting in Hackney walk/talk by the excellent Past Tense


Cheers, some good pointers there.


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## littlebabyjesus (Mar 20, 2013)

Pretty much the whole of Brougham Road was squatted from the 70s to the 90s. I had a few mates who lived there. The residents formed an association, and were rehoused when it was demolished.


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## butchersapron (Mar 20, 2013)

Worth having a dig around killyourpetpuppy i reckon. Can't link to the site specific search i just did but i'm sure you know how to do it, does seem to be a air bit of info there - comments always very informative on there as well.


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## Pickman's model (Mar 20, 2013)

http://hackneypodcast.co.uk/2012/03/edition-22-hackney-hear/


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## Pickman's model (Mar 20, 2013)

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=084-dbhpp&cid=0&kw=squatting#0

also i am told that hackney archives have a complete run of hackney people's press.


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 20, 2013)

Cheers all


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## marty21 (Mar 20, 2013)

The Nightingale Estate was heavily squatted in the 90s - I know the manager who took over the management of it when Hackney outsourced management to a HA - he told me that there were 50+ squatted flats - the Estate Office was a bit slow at dealing with them


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## Pickman's model (Mar 20, 2013)

marty21 said:


> The Nightingale Estate was heavily squatted in the 90s - I know the manager who took over the management of it when Hackney outsourced management to a HA - he told me that there were 50+ squatted flats - the Estate Office was a bit slow at dealing with them


there was the whole keys for cash thing in the 90s too of course.


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## marty21 (Mar 20, 2013)

Pickman's model said:


> there was the whole keys for cash thing in the 90s too of course.


 yep - and a relaxed attitude to tenancy checks


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## marty21 (Mar 20, 2013)

There's another street that was heavily squatted in this time - can't remember the name - it runs off Mare Street towards Hackney Downs - there was an art project about it about 10 years ago by a Photpgrapher - Tom something or other


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## Ms Ordinary (Mar 20, 2013)

Tom Hunter


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## RedDragon (Mar 20, 2013)

A number of squats eventually got short-life licences from the council and formed themselves into small housing co-ops affiliated to Hackney Short Life Users Group, around 1993 Hackney sold most of its short-life stock to those residents who were able to get mortgages and the rest on the open market.


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## marty21 (Mar 20, 2013)

Ms Ordinary said:


> Tom Hunter


 cheers, that's the fellah - he did the photos, a old flatmate of mine  (James McKinnon) did a scale model of the street which was bought by the Museum of London.


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## Stash (Mar 20, 2013)

marty21 said:


> There's another street that was heavily squatted in this time - can't remember the name - it runs off Mare Street towards Hackney Downs - there was an art project about it about 10 years ago by a Photpgrapher - Tom something or other


 Ellingfort Road?


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## marty21 (Mar 20, 2013)

Stash said:


> Ellingfort Road?


yes
http://hackneycitizen.co.uk/2010/06/22/london-fields-east-the-ghetto/


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## Blagsta (Mar 20, 2013)

Lido on London Fields was squatted for a while, although i think that was 2000 or 2001


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## RedDragon (Mar 20, 2013)

There was a real sense of community amongst these small groups of squatters/short-lifers, I remember one chap committing suicide after his co-op was disbanded.


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## seeformiles (Mar 22, 2013)

marty21 said:


> There's another street that was heavily squatted in this time - can't remember the name - it runs off Mare Street towards Hackney Downs - there was an art project about it about 10 years ago by a Photpgrapher - Tom something or other


 
London Lane and Ellingfort Road? My brother squatted there for years in a place with the most backed up toilet I've ever seen!


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## marty21 (Mar 22, 2013)

seeformiles said:


> London Lane and Ellingfort Road? My brother squatted there for years in a place with the most backed up toilet I've ever seen!


 Yep - see post above


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## seeformiles (Mar 22, 2013)

marty21 said:


> Yep - see post above



Makes note to read thread more fully!


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## Blagsta (Mar 22, 2013)

I remember a squatted timber yard, Northwold Rd, Stokey iirc. About 1996.


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## Fozzie Bear (Mar 27, 2013)

There was a map on the back of the Hackney Anarchy Week programme which showed the locations of some of the big squats and I think the dates. I'll try and get you a scan, DaveCinzano (it is quite big though, iirc).

I'm not aware of any of the major references aside from those mentioned. One of the people involved with the Past Tense history walk is documenting this stuff, though I think (or was the last time I spoke to her).


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## Fozzie Bear (Mar 27, 2013)

There was a hackney squatters group on facebook also I think? (I'm not on there).

This autobiog of hackney squats may or may not be of interest. (ends in 1985): http://punk-rock-photography.weebly.com/squatting.html


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 27, 2013)

Those are brilliant, cheers Fozzie Bear! (A scan of the map would be great as well, thanks )


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## eoin_k (Mar 28, 2013)

marty21 said:


> cheers, that's the fellah - he did the photos, a old flatmate of mine (James McKinnon) did a scale model of the street which was bought by the Museum of London.


 
They have it on display.  Might be worth checking materials at the Bishopsgate Institute as well.


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## Pickman's model (Mar 28, 2013)

not the 1980s or 1990s but i was talking to a hackney author the other day who reminisced about the exploding galaxy art squat on balls pond road (south side) in 1967.


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## Macko (Apr 9, 2013)

I spent most of my time in the 1990s squatting in East and South London, but am pretty sure I have a few things relating to the Stamford Hill eviction, something I've long planned to research more, that I'll try and find. What's the research for- a talk, website, etc?


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## Boru (Apr 9, 2013)

Have you seen this..Part 2 visible in YouTube


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## Fozzie Bear (Apr 10, 2013)

Macko said:


> I spent most of my time in the 1990s squatting in East and South London, but am pretty sure I have a few things relating to the Stamford Hill eviction, something I've long planned to research more, that I'll try and find. What's the research for- a talk, website, etc?


 
I think DaveCinzano is interested in this from a specific angle but if anyone has material about squatting in Hackney then The Radical History of Hackney website would definitely like to hear from them.


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## maomao (Apr 10, 2013)

Blagsta said:


> I remember a squatted timber yard, Northwold Rd, Stokey iirc. About 1996.


Don't remember the squats because I was growing my first pubes at the time but the timber yards were bottom of Southwold Rd by the river in Clapton and have been replaced by rather horrible flats.


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## marty21 (Apr 10, 2013)

seeformiles said:


> London Lane and Ellingfort Road? My brother squatted there for years in a place with the most backed up toilet I've ever seen!


 TMI


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## marty21 (Apr 10, 2013)

Blagsta said:


> I remember a squatted timber yard, Northwold Rd, Stokey iirc. About 1996.


 James Latham Timber Yard, it backed onto the canal - it's all brand new blocks there now - I live up the road from it


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## marty21 (Apr 10, 2013)

maomao said:


> Don't remember the squats because I was growing my first pubes at the time but the timber yards were bottom of Southwold Rd by the river in Clapton and have been replaced by rather horrible flats.


 There are loads of new blocks around there - totally changed the area - the old Council blocks by Millfield Park were torn down - I quite like them - they looked Soviet  replaced by modern stuff that looks like anywhere else really


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## maomao (Apr 10, 2013)

marty21 said:


> There are loads of new blocks around there - totally changed the area - the old Council blocks by Millfield Park were torn down - I quite like them - they looked Soviet  replaced by modern stuff that looks like anywhere else really


I hate all the wood panels. I said it would look shit after a couple of winters, and a couple of winters later it does indeed look shit. The ones directly next to the park are worse. The facing that's normally covered with coloured or wood panels is filled in with breeze blocks wtf?

I've been walking/cycling over North Millfields for over 2 decades now but I just can't picture what was there before the present monstrosities. I only know there was a woodmill because a taxi driver told me once and the road through one of the blocks is called Woodmill Rd.


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## Blagsta (Apr 10, 2013)

marty21 said:


> James Latham Timber Yard, it backed onto the canal - it's all brand new blocks there now - I live up the road from it


My friends Jane and John squatted there, haven't seen either of them in years now, although saw a photo of her in the How We Are: Photographing Britain exhibition at Tate Britain a few years ago. Some photographer who was documenting travellers.


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## marty21 (Apr 10, 2013)

I think the Latham yard was still in business when I moved to the area in 1997, sure I used to see their vans out and about. It was mostly warehouses along the canal - there was another pub next to Latham's - The Robin Hood? which was also squatted for a while.


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## marty21 (Apr 10, 2013)

Blagsta said:


> My friends Jane and John squatted there, haven't seen either of them in years now, although saw a photo of her in the How We Are: Photographing Britain exhibition at Tate Britain a few years ago. Some photographer who was documenting travellers.


 I remember them having a really loud party there, which I could hear from my flat - which is probably about half a mile away


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## marty21 (Apr 10, 2013)

http://www.locallocalhistory.co.uk/clissold-road/history2/index-m.htm
Blog which mentions the squatted flats opposite Clissold Park in Stoke Newington


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## The Rag Doll (Feb 4, 2014)

Pickman's model said:


> not the 1980s or 1990s but i was talking to a hackney author the other day who reminisced about the exploding galaxy art squat on balls pond road (south side) in 1967.


Yes I was a part of the 99 Balls Pond Rd., squat - Paul Keeler, the owner of the house, had found hard times after the demise of his gallery - Signals (http://www.thecentreofattention.org/dgsignals.html).
His son Darius is keyboard player for the band Archive
I was also a part of the Drury Lane Arts Lab Squat. I helped fix up the plumbing on the top floor. I then saw the police burst in and destroy all of our good work. (http://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/) IT/53 March 28 - April 10 1969  (page 2)
At the time I was a part of the technical crew of the Arts Laboratory.
A book about the Exploding Galaxy and Balls Pond Rd. is about to be launched - http://www.englandgallery.com/exhibitionsfuture.htm


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## TopCat (Feb 6, 2014)

"Kill your pet puppy" site has loads of stuff about manky punks squatting in Hackney back in those days. Eat shit collective and all that.


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## DaveCinzano (Feb 6, 2014)

To everyone who has contributed to this thread, a thousand thanks. It's most useful and all in my 'to do' pile of things to get on with.


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## Leon mac (Apr 4, 2014)

Hi all ex squatters there, i was part of a huge house squat on Stoke Newington High Road (151). There was 14 of us in a huge house and we blagged it for 4 years. Since then ove be to college, became a capitalist with an interior design business in spitalfields and now am back in beautiful Ireland free from all the fucking stress of London. Stoke Newington in 1989/90 was such a time of innocent creative bliss, we had so many parties and they're was so much anarcho creative stuff going on that actually meant something. These designer beard hoxton dicks today are just metro sexual dandies. Remember the poll tax generation, we did stuff....


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## twentythreedom (Apr 4, 2014)

Clissold Crescent ("Crusty Crescent") opposite the park and next to the block mentioned upthread, that was a pretty mad place back then. Knew lots of the residents. I was involved in the organisation of the Hackney Homeless festival in the park - was fucking awesome


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## littlebabyjesus (Apr 4, 2014)

Hackney Homeless was great. Mate of mine ran the stewarding for that. Council put an end to it, irrc.


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## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 4, 2014)

hackney homeless in 95 or 96 was magnificent, can't remember exactly which year but i do remember julian liberator wearing some kind of army hat.

and pounding techno obv


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## twentythreedom (Apr 4, 2014)

littlebabyjesus said:


> Hackney Homeless was great. Mate of mine ran the stewarding for that. Council put an end to it, irrc.


I fronted about 5k to pay for all the stewarding and security 

It was an awesome event


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## littlebabyjesus (Apr 4, 2014)

twentythreedom said:


> I fronted about 5k to pay for all the stewarding and security
> 
> It was an awesome event


It might have been security, not stewarding. Can't remember. His name was Mark. Big, muscly, camp, black Irish bloke. He roped me in for the Hackney Gay Pride festival later on. I was the world's worst security person, tbf, particularly after a couple of spliffs.


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## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 4, 2014)

DaveCinzano said:


> I am looking for reliable accounts - preferably ones able to identify dates and precise locations - of the squatting movement in and around N16 from the 1980s into the 1990s.
> 
> The Radical History of Hackney website is very useful - but are there other sources you would recommend? Pamphlets, books, blogs... Anything, really.
> 
> Many thanks in advance.


why? are you going to write a cumpletely hilarius book/blog/blockbuster?


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## littlebabyjesus (Apr 4, 2014)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> why? are you going to write a cumpletely hilarius book/blog/blockbuster?


Is it a problem if he is? We're just enjoying reminiscing after all. This has reminded me of Hackney Homeless, which was great, but I haven't thought about in years.


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## Sirena (Apr 4, 2014)

It's just a little story but Bev from crusty band The Sea (who used to hang round the Peckham Dolehouse in the late 80s) claims he invented the term 'crusty'. 

He says the Peckham lot used to think of themselves as proudly unwashed but the Hackney squatters, who used to come for gigs, were positively 'crusty'.


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## Paulie Tandoori (Apr 4, 2014)

Blagsta said:


> Lido on London Fields was squatted for a while, although i think that was 2000 or 2001


it wasn't always squatted, w had it in our back garden for a couple of years in early 90's when we were in shortlife coop. we played zombies at nighttime after getting lairy. was fun.


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## DaveCinzano (Apr 5, 2014)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> why? are you going to write a cumpletely hilarius book/blog/blockbuster?


Yes, I'm a well-known chicklit author posting under an assumed name. This is where I pick up all my best ideas. You've probably heard of some of my more successful novels, such as _Boat Happy & Single_, _I Loved An Epsom Pub Firebomber_, or _Intoxicated By Diesel Fumes_.


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## albionism (Apr 5, 2014)

marty21 said:


> yes
> http://hackneycitizen.co.uk/2010/06/22/london-fields-east-the-ghetto/


There were some great parties at Ellingfort road in the 90s


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## twentythreedom (Apr 5, 2014)

And that place on the corner of Southgate Rd and Ardleigh Rd - I remember one party in about 91/92, there was a rave on the ground floor and bands upstairs, the ceiling / floor started to bow and crumble plaster in time to the music cos of so many people dancing  Istr the staircase had mostly disappeared too 

Crazy times


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## albionism (Apr 5, 2014)

Anyone remember "The Spiky Thing With Curves" ? Many a good trip in there


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## marty21 (Apr 8, 2014)

DaveCinzano said:


> Yes, I'm a well-known chicklit author posting under an assumed name. This is where I pick up all my best ideas. You've probably heard of some of my more successful novels, such as _Boat Happy & Single_, _I Loved An Epsom Pub Firebomber_, or _Intoxicated By Diesel Fumes_.


 Yes, have you sold the film rights to any of these ?


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## boohoo (Apr 8, 2014)

Boru said:


> Have you seen this..Part 2 visible in YouTube




There's a Camberwell Punk in that clip!


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## han (Jun 7, 2021)

I had friends living in Ellingfort Rd in Hackney in the mid 90s. The whole street was squatted for many years. I used to stay with them when visiting and we went to some incredible parties around there. I've got fond memories of the Up In Arms soyndsystem, anyone remember that?


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## BillRiver (Jun 7, 2021)

I was squatting in Hackney in the 90's, as were many of my friends, and my younger sister. My niece's first home, straight from the maternity ward, was a squat.


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## Serge Forward (Jun 7, 2021)

I started off Squatting in Haringey (Lordship Lane, Noel Park, proper crustyland) 1986 but shifted to Stamford Hill/Stokey in 1987. Was also involved in the defence of the Stamford Hill Estate.

Mid 90s I lived in the tower blocks on Holly Street (not squatting though). Someone mentioned that photographer, Tom Hunter, and I remembered that he photographed me and my family and loads of my neighbours before our block was demolished. The picture was in his book and in his model of the block in the Museum of London.


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## han (Jun 7, 2021)

I was squatting in Oxford in 97/8. Quite different to Hackney obv. But what was similar, and one of the I really appreciated at the time, was how international everyone was, there were people from all over the world living together. My friends in Ellingfort Rd were Chilean and Danish. And in Oxford I lived with a bunch of Germans who I'm still friends with now.


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## BillRiver (Jun 7, 2021)

han said:


> I was squatting in Oxford in 97/8. Quite different to Hackney obv. But what was similar, and one of the I really appreciated at the time, was how international everyone was, there were people from all over the world living together. My friends in Ellingfort Rd were Chilean and Danish. And in Oxford I lived with a bunch of Germans who I'm still friends with now.



True. For quite a while I was the only English person among my housemates.


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## Serge Forward (Jun 7, 2021)

Squatting scene on the Noel Park Estate in Wood Green in the late 80s was heavily weighted in favour of Dublin crusties.


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## kalidarkone (Jun 7, 2021)

I squatted a house in Arsenal-Elfort Road in January 1985 and in spring broke a new squat in Rendlesham Road ,Lower Clapton? ( get confused between lower and upper) because most of my mates were squatting in Hackney.

Then did an emergency move to a massive  house in Stamford Hill with no water... and woke up one day to Hackney council boarding the front door up because they didn't realise anyone was there....mw shouting and the dog barking alerted them! Had to get out almost immediately though.

Then cracked a new squat on Albion Road, Stoke Newington and lived with two other slightly older crusty teenagers. 

Never managed to get a squat in London with hot water.....I really wanted to move into an already existing together squat.....I think I just wanted cool caring liberal parents really.....

I felt like I was in Hackney for years....but it was only a year....but that's a long time when your 16.

Did anyone frequent the three crowns on corner of Church Street and Stokey High Street? Or the Cricketers?


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## Dr. Furface (Jun 7, 2021)

kalidarkone said:


> Did anyone frequent the three crowns on corner of Church Street and Stokey High Street? Or the Cricketers?


Sure did, particularly The 3 Crowns - as seen at the start of that Stokey Punx vid upthread - when I lived round there between 82-85. I don't remember going to the Cricketers, but The 3 Crowns (which is still going) was the main hangout round there for us studenty types along with the Rochester Castle (now a Spoons) just a little further down the high road. 

I lived on Cazenove Road but I didn't squat, though I hung out in a few. Three guys I was at college with squatted just up the road in a council block off Geldestone Rd which I'm pretty sure was Avenue House. It was ace, 2 or 3 bedrooms and they had leccy and water the whole bit. Think they were there for a couple of years, I'm sure they weren't the only ones squatting in that block either.


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## Pickman's model (Jun 7, 2021)

kalidarkone said:


> I squatted a house in Arsenal-Elfort Road in January 1985 and in spring broke a new squat in Rendlesham Road ,Lower Clapton? ( get confused between lower and upper) because most of my mates were squatting in Hackney.
> 
> Then did an emergency move to a massive  house in Stamford Hill with no water... and woke up one day to Hackney council boarding the front door up because they didn't realise anyone was there....mw shouting and the dog barking alerted them! Had to get out almost immediately though.
> 
> ...


upper clapton further away from hackney central


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## Serge Forward (Jun 7, 2021)

Cricketers, mainly. I think I was barred from most of the other pubs


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## marty21 (Jun 7, 2021)

kalidarkone said:


> I squatted a house in Arsenal-Elfort Road in January 1985 and in spring broke a new squat in Rendlesham Road ,Lower Clapton? ( get confused between lower and upper) because most of my mates were squatting in Hackney.
> 
> Then did an emergency move to a massive  house in Stamford Hill with no water... and woke up one day to Hackney council boarding the front door up because they didn't realise anyone was there....mw shouting and the dog barking alerted them! Had to get out almost immediately though.
> 
> ...


Went to the Three Crowns a bit , the Cricketers once I think . It's now a fancy craft ale place called The Mermaid , closed not because of the epidemic but due to a flood fucking up the basement.


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## Sir Belchalot (Jun 7, 2021)

Squatted in Hackney from '81 to '95 apart from a sojourn just over the border in Islington for about 3 years after getting fitted up for criminal damage by the Stokey rozzers, I didn't fancy hanging around when every copper knew my name due to having to sign on at the station every day while on bail.  Islington had a brief amnesty for squatters at the time which was a bonus, managed to set up a housing co-op there & blag 4 houses which resulted in us being plastered over the front pages of both the Standard & Islington Gazette.  Was involved with many of the squatted social centres over the years, knocked it on the head when it looked like criminalisation of squatting was coming in & I needed more security with a 5 year old sprog although the Tenancy Audit Team were already hassling squatters by then.


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## Pickman's model (Jun 7, 2021)

marty21 said:


> Went to the Three Crowns a bit


will always be the beckett to me


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## Sue (Jun 7, 2021)

Serge Forward said:


> Cricketers, mainly. I think I was barred from most of the other pubs


The Cricketers aka Jan's Bar Conviviale and now The Axe which is uber-hipster and v expensive (only been in there once).

A friend lives just off Evering Road. When he moved in 30 years ago, his place was the only one that wasn't squatted in his street and because there was a lack of mains plumbing or something, the council used to come and manually empty the waste.


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## Pickman's model (Jun 7, 2021)

Sue said:


> The Cricketers aka Jan's Bar Conviviale and now The Axe which is uber-hipster and v expensive (only been in there once).
> 
> A friend lives just off Evering Road. When he moved in 30 years ago, his place was the only one that wasn't squatted in his street and because there was a lack of mains plumbing or something, the council used to come and manually empty the waste.


so they did his slopping out for him


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## Sue (Jun 7, 2021)

Pickman's model said:


> so they did his slopping out for him


TBF, he didn't go into the gory details and I didn't ask....


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## kalidarkone (Jun 7, 2021)

Maybe we should have a Hackney drink? Or picnic in Abney cemetery.....like we used to eh Sir Belchalot 
I think I first went to a party at your squat in 1984 when I was 15  ....I harvested a few older teenagers as squat mates and planned my escape from home! Best thing I ever did!


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## Sir Belchalot (Jun 7, 2021)

kalidarkone said:


> Maybe we should have a Hackney drink? Or picnic in Abney cemetery....


I usually organise an annual Kill Your Pet Puppy picnic in early summer which attract lots of ex-squatters but they have been put on hold since Covid, might do one in late August/early September assuming more than 30 people can meet up outside by then, will make sure that you get an invite if I do.


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## BillRiver (Jun 7, 2021)

kalidarkone said:


> Did anyone frequent the three crowns on corner of Church Street and Stokey High Street? Or the Cricketers?



Yes I frequented The Cricketers, quite frequently.


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## kalidarkone (Jun 7, 2021)

BillRiver said:


> Yes I frequented The Cricketers, quite frequently.


In 1985/6 ?


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## BillRiver (Jun 7, 2021)

kalidarkone said:


> In 1985/6 ?


No, a bit later than that. I was still at school in Essex in 1985/6. I was coming into Hackney as a visitor, but mainly to raves at The Labyrinth in Dalston Lane, and probably not before approx 1988.


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## kalidarkone (Jun 7, 2021)

BillRiver said:


> No, a bit later than that. I was still at school in Essex in 1985/6. I was coming into Hackney as a visitor, but mainly to raves at The Labyrinth in Dalston Lane, and probably not before approx 1988.


Okay...I had moved to Bristol by September 86.
For a minute I thought we might have met.....


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## BillRiver (Jun 7, 2021)

kalidarkone said:


> Okay...I had moved to Bristol by September 86.
> For a minute I thought we might have met.....



Not yet I don't think 😊


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## Sir Belchalot (Jun 7, 2021)

The Cricketers was the best squatters' pub in Stokey like a smaller version of the current day Sov for you newbies although we used to frequent the 3 Crowns, Coach & Horses, the Tanners (Rochester Castle), British Oak, Putlogs & the Golden Lady/Albion at various times, tried to avoid ending up at the Jolly Butchers after they closed though.


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## marty21 (Jun 7, 2021)

Sue said:


> The Cricketers aka Jan's Bar Conviviale and now The Axe which is uber-hipster and v expensive (only been in there once).
> 
> A friend lives just off Evering Road. When he moved in 30 years ago, his place was the only one that wasn't squatted in his street and because there was a lack of mains plumbing or something, the council used to come and manually empty the waste.


I lived on Evering Road from 94-97 (not far off 30 years tbf) Not in a Squat though, Mrs21 was lucky enough to get a HA place as she was a member of a local Housing Coop.


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## Doodler (Jun 7, 2021)

There was the old Dalston bus garage which Wikipedia states was abandoned by London Transport in 1981. I went there in 1982 by which time it had been taken over by the Peace Convoy and others, all their vehicles parked safely inside. They had a generator but the first time I visited it wasn't working so everywhere you looked there were dozens of lit candles. The magical impression this created was soon intensified by the Little Zippy acid tab I bought off a hippy woman there, my first trip.

Nearby Brougham Road had a lot of squats, some became licensed iirc.


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## Sue (Jun 7, 2021)

Doodler said:


> There was the old Dalston bus garage which Wikipedia states was abandoned by London Transport in 1981. I went there in 1982 by which time it had been taken over by the Peace Convoy and others, all their vehicles parked safely inside. They had a generator but the first time I visited it wasn't working so everywhere you looked there were dozens of lit candles. The magical impression this created was soon intensified by the Little Zippy acid tab I bought off a hippy woman there, my first trip.
> 
> Nearby Brougham Road had a lot of squats, some became licensed iirc.


Where was the old Dalston bus garage, Doodler?


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## Pickman's model (Jun 7, 2021)

Sue said:


> Where was the old Dalston bus garage, Doodler?



built on the site of a former cavalry barracks apparently


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## Doodler (Jun 7, 2021)

Sue said:


> Where was the old Dalston bus garage, Doodler?


Wikipedia states it was on Shrubland Road and this seems about right. I visited people I knew in Brougham Road quite often and the garage seemed to be 'just round the corner'.


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## Sir Belchalot (Jun 7, 2021)

Should have been called the London Fields bus garage really, this lot lived there when they weren't doing the festies:






						Tibetan Ukranian Mountain Troupe
					

, Tibetan Ukrainian Mountain Troupe , First book of the road , Greenham Common, Stour Valley, Fennit , reviews. photos, links,  .



					www.ukrockfestivals.com


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## Pickman's model (Jun 7, 2021)

Doodler said:


> Wikipedia states it was on Shrubland Road and this seems about right. I visited people I knew in Brougham Road quite often and the garage seemed to be 'just round the corner'.


a 1916 map doesn't have it on the border


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## Sue (Jun 7, 2021)

So kind of where the corrugated iron church/some HA housing is these days?


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## BillRiver (Jun 7, 2021)

Sir Belchalot said:


> The Cricketers was the best squatters' pub in Stokey like a smaller version of the current day Sov for you newbies although we used to frequent the 3 Crowns, Coach & Horses, the Tanners (Rochester Castle), British Oak, Putlogs & the Golden Lady/Albion at various times, tried to avoid ending up at the Jolly Butchers after they closed though.



Indeed. But there was also one in Lower Clapton, on a corner, which I remember visually but forget the name of. Clientele were a mixture of local, predominantly Black, people and us squatter types.

Anyone help me out?


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## Doodler (Jun 7, 2021)

Sir Belchalot said:


> Should have been called the London Fields bus garage really, this lot lived there when they weren't doing the festies:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I remember hearing about the Tibetans, people said differing things about them. Both the garage and Brougham Road were home to all sorts of characters. I remember one named New Zealand Andy who lived in a converted ambulance, beautifully done up inside with carved wood fittings.


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## Sir Belchalot (Jun 7, 2021)

BillRiver said:


> Indeed. But there was also one in Lower Clapton, on a corner, which I remember visually but forget the name of. Clientele were a mixture of local, predominantly Black, people and us squatter types.
> 
> Anyone help me out?


Lord Cecil where Reknaw put on gigs?


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## BillRiver (Jun 7, 2021)

Sir Belchalot said:


> Lord Cecil where Reknaw put on gigs?


YES!

Ta muchly, that was starting to really annoy me.


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## Sue (Jun 7, 2021)

Sir Belchalot said:


> Lord Cecil where Reknaw put on gigs?


Or what's now The Mermaid? Corner of Cricketfield and Clarence Roads?


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## BillRiver (Jun 7, 2021)

Sue said:


> Or what's now The Mermaid? Corner of Cricketfield and Clarence Roads?



No that was The Cricketers, wasn't it?

God I am so bad with names...


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## Sue (Jun 7, 2021)

So The Cricketers I'm talking about was next to the old fire station off Stokey Common and is now The Axe ( I believe -- my friend who's lived round there forever still calls it that anyway...)



			The Cricketers, Stoke Newington
		


But yeah, looks like The Mermaid was the other Cricketers.



			Cricketers Hotel, Clapton, E5


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## marty21 (Jun 7, 2021)

.


BillRiver said:


> YES!
> 
> Ta muchly, that was starting to really annoy me.


I was thinking of The Windsor Castle , close by , used to be a locals place , then became gastro-y , then closed.  No idea of it will ever re-open as a pub, it's had builders in for a few years (but I've not seen any activity for a while)


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## Sir Belchalot (Jun 7, 2021)

Doodler said:


> I remember hearing about the Tibetans, people said differing things about them. Both the garage and Brougham Road were home to all sorts of characters. I remember one named New Zealand Andy who lived in a converted ambulance, beautifully done up inside with carved wood fittings.


They seemed fine to me, NZ Andy died a few years back, he had a house on Brougham Rd.  Here's a couple of pics nicked from the Tibetans FB page:


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## Doodler (Jun 7, 2021)

There were a few squats in Yoakley Road. iirc one was inhabited by members of a band called Blood and Roses. They had a kind of gothy look, before the term was invented. They"d covered their living room windows with black bin bags and lined the inside of the fireplace with tinfoil. In the hearth glowed a green lightbulb. At the junction of Yoakley Road and Stoke Newington Church Street was a pub called the Yoakley Arms. Buster Bloodvessel from Bad Manners sometimes held court in there.


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## Doodler (Jun 7, 2021)

Sir Belchalot said:


> They seemed fine to me, NZ Andy died a few years back, he had a house on Brougham Rd.  Here's a couple of pics nicked from the Tibetans FB page:
> 
> View attachment 272324View attachment 272325



Sorry to hear that about Andy, I remember him as a tolerant, decent guy, widely travelled with all kinds of interesting stories.


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## Sir Belchalot (Jun 7, 2021)

Sue said:


> So The Cricketers I'm talking about was next to the old fire station off Stokey Common and is now The Axe ( I believe -- my friend who's lived round there forever still calls it that anyway...)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


We used to drink downstairs at the E5 Cricketers in the early 2000s too, I remember my 14 year old daughter at a party for one of her aunts there telling me that she'd just lost her virginity a few days before .  Think Reknaw did some gigs in there as well.


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## Sir Belchalot (Jun 7, 2021)

Doodler said:


> There were a few squats in Yoakley Road. iirc one was inhabited by members of a band called Blood and Roses.


That was actually an April housing co-op house where the plumbing left a lot to be desired, I remember that their back yard was full of bags of shit at one point.  They did have an aversion to daylight!


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## Sir Belchalot (Jun 7, 2021)

Squatted the Nevill Arms pub on Nevill Rd in the early 90s.  Put on bars there every Thursday & Sunday nights for 4 months until the old bill raided, don't know why it took them so long as they used to drive past all the time on their way to & from Stokey Police Station.  Some French mates squatted the Black Bull pub in Haggerston too.


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## andysays (Jun 8, 2021)

I started my squatting career on the Wyndham Estate in Camberwell in about 1982 or 83, later moving to the Ocean Estate in Mile End and later still the King Edwards Estate off Mare Street. 

Probably left there in about 87 or so, and was never really part of any scene.


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