Crouch End

Hornsey Town Hall is in the centre of Crouch End

Among its more prominent buildings is the modernistic Hornsey Town Hall, built by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey as their seat of government in 1933–35.[12] It is now a Grade II* listed building, one of about 21,767. The architect was the New Zealand-born Reginald Uren. The interior and exterior have been used several times as a location by the BBC series The Hour, written by Abi Morgan, and other TV and films, including a scene in The Crown.[13]

Queen and the Kinks have both played at the Hornsey Town Hall when it was a major London venue for bands. The HTH was used as a set in the Queen film Bohemian Rhapsody.

The building is currently undergoing renovation and conversion into a hotel, apartments, restaurant and a contemporary arts centre by the Far East Consortium. Completion is expected to be by Summer 2024.

The red-brick Clock Tower has become a much-loved icon of Crouch End. Designed by the architect Frederick Knight, it was originally built as a memorial to Henry Reader Williams[14] in 1895.[15] Williams was Chairman of the local authority of Hornsey from 1880–1894, and played a key part in shaping the district, in particular campaigning against developers for the preservation of Highgate Wood and Queen's Wood. He also paved the way for the purchase of Alexandra Palace and Park by a consortium of local authorities in 1901. After Williams's retirement the newly designated Hornsey Urban District Council decided to erect a clock tower to celebrate his achievements.

Out of the estimated cost of £1200, £900 was raised by public subscription. On 23 June 1895 a ceremony was held for its unveiling. The Broadway was hung with flags, and the Tower connected to nearby houses with festoons. Over a thousand people assembled, and at noon the Earl of Stafford, Lord-Lieutenant of Middlesex, released a blue ribbon hanging from the belfry and the clock struck its first notes. The bronze sculpture of the head of Williams was created by Alfred Gilbert, who also designed Eros in Piccadilly Circus.[16]

Although closed to the public, it is now used at Christmas for a Santa's Grotto.

The Crouch End Hippodrome originally opened on Tottenham Lane in July 1897 as the Queen's Opera House with a production of The Geisha. The theatre was leased initially by H. H. Morell and Frederick Mouillot (who at the time owned another 17 theatres between them). It held an audience of 1,500 people. In 1907, it was renamed the Hippodrome and became a popular music hall. During a bombing raid in 1940 it was very badly damaged. It is now a Virgin Active gym.

In 1880 an art school was established by Charles Swinstead, an artist and teacher who lived at Crouch End. It became "an iconic British art institution, renowned for its experimental and progressive approach to art and design education". In May 1968, as Hornsey College of Art, it was occupied by students as a protest against the ideology of art education and teaching in Britain.[17] The occupation, soon joined by others around the country, and linked with similar events in Paris, offered a major critique of the education system at the time.[18]

After the authorities regained control, known as the "night of the dogs", sympathetic lecturers and students who had taken part (including Tom Nairn and Kim Howells) were dismissed. Later the college was merged with Middlesex Polytechnic, now University, in the 1970s. Subsequently, it was relocated to a Middlesex campus at Alexandra Palace and the lease of the building taken over by the TUC, which used it as its national training centre. In 2005 Haringey Council took it over, extending and converting the building in order to enlarge Coleridge Primary School.

One of the early Edwardian pubs-with-hotel, the Queen's was built in 1899–1902 by developer John Cathles Hill. The pub's Art Nouveau decor windows survive. Its larger sister pub, the Salisbury Hotel (now The Salisbury) in Harringay has some similar architectural details.

Purpose built in 1850 to be a bakery, Dunns Bakery at 6 The Broadway is most likely the oldest retail building within Crouch End. At the top of the front facade one can see a gilded wheat sheaf which bears the initials of the builder, 'WM' Originally the gates located to the right of the store led to a yard area where the stables were located to house the horses used for deliveries. The stables had been damaged in the Blitz during a night time raid, and have since been rebuilt, expanding the bakery area.

The bakery continues to produce on site to this day, and is run by a sixth generation baker.

The Neighbourhood Forum, set up in response to the government initiatives under the heading "localism". The forum is formally recognised by the London Borough of Haringey[20] as representative of Crouch End. One of the first tasks of the forum was to attempt to define the boundaries of Crouch End.[21] The forum's main task is to produce a neighbourhood plan.[22]

Founded in 1971, the HHS has over 400 members and is based in the old school house on the boundary between Hornsey and Crouch End by Holy Innocents.[23] The HHS was originally formed to draw attention to and conserve historic buildings in Hornsey, and expanded to research, preserve and promote the history of the parish of Hornsey, and from 1983 included the area covered by the parliamentary constituency of Hornsey and Wood Green. They have over 21,000 items including articles, books, documents & manuscripts, local newspapers, maps, photographs, postcards and video memories. They also sell books on the local history and organise talks.

Crouch End has two cinemas, the independent Art House and the Crouch End Picturehouse.

Crouch End is home to the Kings Head, London's oldest comedy venue.

Crouch End is the home of the symphonic choir, Crouch End Festival Chorus. The choir has worked with many classical and popular music artists including Ennio Morricone, Noel Gallagher, Andrea Bocelli, Katherine Jenkins. It has recorded with Lesley Garrett, Bryn Terfel, Ray Davies, Alfie Boe, EMI Classics and Classic FM, performed at The Proms in the Royal Albert Hall on several occasions and recorded works for film, television and sound track recording. Amongst those is the soundtrack for Doctor Who. It also commissions works from modern composers on its own account.

It also has strong associations with famous bands, including the Kinks, Dave Stewart & Annie Lennox (Tourists/Eurythmics), Bombay Bicycle Club and Pink Floyd who lived in the area in the '60s and played at the Hornsey College of Art.

The Crouch End Festival was launched in May 2012 by Chris Arnold, Robin Stevenson and Marice Cumber.[25] It originally started as a Facebook site, Crouch End Creatives but is now run by London Community Arts CIC (Directors Chris Arnold, Chris Currer, Amanda Carrara). It covers Crouch End, Hornsey and Stroud Green and includes art exhibitions, drama, dance, film, poetry, photography, fringe, music of all kinds, an outdoor cinema, (introduced by Peter Bradshaw). The festival is one of London's biggest community arts festivals and features over 200 artists, plus 14 schools, 6 churches and numerous community groups across over 60 venues and was not described in the Ham & High Broadway as "London's own mini Edinburgh Festival". The next festival is July 7th-9th. The Festival team also runs events at Halloween, Easter and Christmas, as well as 'The Intmate Space' in St Mary's Tower, and has recently taken over the running of music events in Holy Innocents church. Plus it supports local community groups and advises other festival organisers.

The Church Studios is a recording studio located in the former Park Chapel in Crouch End. The Chapel was turned into a studio in 1984 by Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox of Eurythmics, who used it to record Eurythmics' sophomore album Sweet Dreams.[26] David Gray acquired ownership in 2004 before UK leading music producer Paul Epworth bought and refurbished the studio in 2013. It has since been used by notable artists such as Adele, U2, Bob Dylan, Radiohead, Annie Lennox, Depeche Mode, Robert Plant, Patti Smith, Elvis Costello, Lana Del Rey, Tom Jones, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Florence + The Machine, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Mumford and Sons, Seal, Spiritualized, The Stones Roses and many more.

In the early 1980s part of the old church on Crouch Hill was converted for use as a studio by Bob Bura and John John Hardwick, the animators who worked on Camberwick Green, Captain Pugwash and Trumpton. It was named The Church Studios, and in the 1990s the space was rented to Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics (but at the time was in the Tourists). Dave and Annie worked and rehearsed in the Spanish Moon record shop, and lived in the flat above from 76-80, opposite what is now the Co-op.

In the 1990s Bob Dylan worked on an album in the studio, and became so fond of the area he looked for a property in Crouch End. He was a regular at the now-closed Shamrat Indian restaurant.[27]

• According to legend, in the 1990s Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics invited Bob Dylan to drop into his Crouch Hill recording studio any time he wanted to. It is said that Dylan took him up on his offer, but the taxi driver dropped him off on the adjacent Crouch End Hill. Dylan knocked on the door of the supposed home of Dave Stewart and asked for "Dave". By coincidence, the plumber who lived there was also called Dave. He was told that Dave was out, and would he like to wait and have some tea? Twenty minutes later the plumber returned and asked his wife whether there were any messages. "No," she said, "but Bob Dylan's in the living room having a cup of coffee".[28]
• The area gives its name to and is the setting for a short story of the supernatural by Stephen King. The writer and his wife, Tabitha, were invited to dinner by his friend Peter Straub, whose house is in Crouch End.[29] En route to Straub's house, they got lost, which was the inspiration for "Crouch End".[30] The story was later adapted as an episode of Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King.
• In claim seen only on local estate agents' websites, it is said that Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy once performed at the Crouch End Hippodrome and that they stayed at the Queen's Hotel (now the Queen's Pub).
• Artist Richard Hamilton is said to have taken visitor Marcel Duchamp to the Queen's Pub.

• Harringay
• Hornsey
• Highgate
• Muswell Hill
• Archway
• Stroud Green

A London Overground train at Crouch Hill station.

Hornsey Station is 0.7 miles (1.1 km) to the north of Crouch End.[31] Harringay Station is 1.1 miles (1.8 km) to the east.[31] 1.4 miles (2.3 km) to the south is Finsbury Park Station.[31] All three are managed and served by Great Northern.

The Gospel Oak to Barking line runs to the south of Crouch End.[32] London Overground trains running along the line call at Crouch Hill station, 0.7 miles (1.1 km) from the centre of Crouch End.[31] The London Overground links the area directly to Upper Holloway and Gospel Oak in the west, and to Harringay, South Tottenham, Walthamstow, and Barking in the east.[33]

Crouch End is not directly connected to the tube network, but nearby stations include:

• Turnpike Lane
• Finsbury Park
• Highgate
• Archway

London Buses routes 41, 91, W3, W5, and W7 run through Crouch End.

The Parkland Walk runs through Crouch End

The Parkland Walk is a shared use path that runs along the southern rim of Crouch End; it follows the course of the railway line that ran between Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace, through Stroud Green, Crouch End, Highgate and Muswell Hill.

The path runs predominantly in a cutting through the former Crouch End railway station. Step-free access to Parkland Walk can be found near the summit of Crouch Hill, with access ramps provided for cyclists, wheelchair users and pushchairs.[34]

The Parkland Walk is part of the Capital Ring route, which is signposted.[35]