SAVE THE GIN! Wearing my Cockney necklace with PRIDE here – I may not have been born in the East End but I was raised by a bone fide Cockney and have always considered myself one culturally.
As you all know, I am DEEPLY passionate about the history of London’s East End and so you can imagine my feelings when I heard this morning that David Dewing, the Director of the Geffrye Museum in Hoxton is trying to justify the museum’s destruction of the Victorian Marquis of Lansdowne pub by saying that it is of ‘no historical significance’ and that he has ‘no interest in the culture of the Labouring Classes’.
To say that I am appalled and saddened by this rather sneering attitude is an understatement – who does he think made the furniture in what is predominantly after all A MUSEUM OF FURNITURE if not the ‘Labouring Classes’ and where does he think said museum is situated if not in the heart of a traditionally fiercely working class area of London?
I have no beef with the Geffrye – it’s a fabulous collection but I am more than a little bit insulted by the attitude of their Director and frankly flabbergasted by this peculiar notion that erecting a boring concrete cube redundant of any charm or aesthetic quality is preferable to restoring a fine old pub that has graced Hoxton since 1839 and is much loved by local residents to its former glory.
Artistic rendering of what it would look like if they restored the Marquis to its original good looks and made it a valuable and integral part of the museum and local area. Photo: Spitalfields Life.
You see that heinous concrete piece of NOTHINGNESS on the right? That’s what they propose to erect in place of the old pub. WHAT ARE THEY THINKING? IT’S A SOULLESS CONCRETE BLOCK IN ONE OF THE LIVELIEST AREAS OF LONDON. Photo: Spitalfields Life.
Anyway, as ever, The Gentle Author of Spitalfields Life puts it all so much better than I ever could. Please do go and read their article about the proposed destruction of the Marquis of Lansdowne.
There’s also a petition HERE, which at the time of writing only needs forty one more signatures. WE CAN DO IT. Oh yes we can.
‘Labouring Classes’ indeed. Humph.