Photo by Not forgotten

Following the success of their local rivals, Arsenal, in their move to the 60,000 seater Emirates Stadium, Spurs are pushing ahead with ambitious plans to redevelop White Hart Lane.

It seems that the primary brief of their architects (MAKE, KSS and Martha Schwartz Partners) was to make the £400 million development blend in with style of the area – therefore it has been designed around the theme of an alloy wheel surrounded by dilapidated mid twentieth century council blocks – obviously inspired by the beauty of the nearby Broadwater Farm Estate.

As well as the stadium, the plans include new homes, a hotel, a supermarket and an ice rink.

They submitted a planning application to Haringey Council on Monday, are hoping to start construction work next year and to be playing in their new home by 2012.

There is more on the story at Spurs’ official site

©2010 Londonopolis. All Rights Reserved.

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1. White Hart Lane Station, Tottenham, London

Westminster Bridge London

Well, following yesterday’s Poems on the Underground excitement, it seemed the perfect time for some London themed poetry.

Today’s effort comes from a young man by the name of Billy Wordsworth who has penned his thoughts as he looks from Westminster Bridge.

Strangely no mention of the London Eye, Gherkin or double decker buses, but if you need to satisfy your craving for things of that nature the BBC have thoughtfully pandered to your needs.

I wonder what Mr Wordsworth would have made of the current view?

Nothing probably, he’d be far too busy updating his status on Facebook.

Anyway…

Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 by William Wordsworth

Earth hasd not anything to show me more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning: silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did a sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour valley, rock or hill;
Ne`er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850)

Check out yesterday’s post for details of how to get hold of the Poems on the Underground booklet and a link to TFL’s online poetry archive.

©2010 Londonopolis. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. Poems on the Underground
2. Pimp my London Eye

Back in 1986 writer Judith Chernaik had an idea. She wanted to bring poetry to the masses and what better way to do it than in the dead time when they were travelling?

Of course this was before the days of ipods and free newspapers, and people would be happy to read anything to pass the time – adverts for feminine hygiene products, safety notices, and perhaps even poetry.

Admittedly you cold read a book, but if you’re travelling at peak times there often isn’t enough room to move your arm let alone read.

So, from that point onwards, poetry started appearing alongside the usual adverts in the carriages.

The project was a great success and personally I always found the poems a welcome relief from tediously smug adverts for financial products and car insurance.

If you pop into your local library you might be able to pick up a booklet of the current batch of poems including work from the likes of Oscar Wilde, William Wordsworth, William Blake, John Betjeman and Edward Lear – or maybe not, as people do love free stuff. It even comes with an endorsement from mad uncle Boris.

If you want more, there is a book including three hundred of the poems available here: Poems On The Underground:10th Edition: No. 10.

There is more about the Poems on the Underground Project on TFL’s site.

If there was a poem you loved but can’t remember TFL have provided an archive of poems from the project.

©2010 Londonopolis. All Rights Reserved.

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1. Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth

At 00:32 on Saturday, the last no. 507 bendy bus let its passengers off at Waterloo station then went gently into that good night.

And by 2011 all of Ken Livingstone’s cyclist crushing behemoths will be removed from London’s roads.

The controversial 18 metre long vehicles were first introduced by Red Ken in 2001. The mayor hoped they help to ease London’s chronic congestion, but they were beset with problems from the outset.

They were always unpopular as their introduction hastened the demise of the much loved Routemasters. A series of bendy bus fires, and accidents involving the buses and cyclists did little to enamour them to the fare paying public either – although those who don’t like to pay for their transport quickly adopted “Ken’s free bus” as their travel medium of choice. Although it will cost £12 million a year to replace the buses, TFL expects to recoup £5 million a year of that in increased revenue thanks to a reduction in fare evasion.

The buses also played a role in Livingstone’s failure to retain his position as mayor, with Johnson using the promise of their removal as one of the key parts of his election manifesto.

The ever quotable mayor said:

These writhing whales of the road have swung their hefty rear ends round our corners for the final time. Pedestrians that leapt, cyclists that skidded and drivers that dodged from the path of the 507 will breathe easier this weekend.

Bendy buses on other routes are on borrowed time.

The bendy buses on route 507 will be replaced by specially commissioned twelve metre long single deckers carrying up to 96 people each. The new Routemasters should be on the streets by 2011 when the last of London’s 387 remaining bendy buses (running on routes 12, 18, 25, 29, 38, 73, 149, 207, 436, 453 and 507) will be withdrawn.

Personally, I was never a fan of the bendy buses, not because of any great love of the cramped, out-dated, dangerous Routemasters, just because they never seemed to make much sense.

I could never see how a single floor bus would be an effective solution to congestion, after all these giant buses took up more road space than of the other buses that preceded them – a double decker bendy bus, for all its faults, would at least have crammed more passengers into each square metre of road space.

Strangely, no matter how few people were on them, the 140 passenger capacity beasts also always felt cramped.

The fact that most passengers on the bendy buses felt no need to pay was another source of frustration to me and anyone else stupid enough to actually pay to ride on them.

Goodbye bendy buses, sorry no one loved you.

©2010 Londonopolis. All Rights Reserved.

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1. Pimp my London Eye

There’s nothing better than brainless crowd led navigation to and from work. Angst ridden, sweaty and crushed by the weight of the herd, travelling in London is always a joy.

But from time to time Londonopolis deviates from the unthinking trudge of the daily commute and explores the back streets of London.

And what better time to do it than on one of the few sunny summer days that an English summer brings?

This wobbly video gives us a taste of London’s surprisingly eclectic nature as it follows the course of a short walk from Artillery Lane to Liverpool Street Station. One moment we’re idling amongst the quiet back alley cafes, pubs and restaurants, the next it’s roadworks, main roads and guffawing city boys in stripy shirts.

Because it evolved rather than being planned, and therefore was not systematically segmented, London is one of those cities that seemingly changes its entire personality with every turned corner.

You can unwittingly move from ghetto to corporate to tourist to retail areas in just seconds.

Which, I believe, is part of its charm.

©2010 Londonopolis. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. White Hart Lane Station, Tottenham, London