Many thanks to everyone who attended the final Stoke Newington History Talks event of 2024. The evening featured brilliant talks by Wayne Fortune on the Church of England’s impact on urban development in Stoke Newington as a major landowner, and Jan Leybourne’s account of her inspiring shopfront poster project, which captured Church Street’s colourful (and evolving) shopfronts in the 90s and late 00s. I presented a talk on the history of the Red Lion pub, which was rebuilt 100 years ago. Ticket sales raised £649 for the Boiler House Community Space, bringing the total raised for various local charities through these events to £10,079.

Remembering Nick Perry

In my introduction to the event, I paid tribute to Nick Perry, who sadly passed away earlier this month. In addition to his many initiatives, endeavours, and heritage conservation efforts across Hackney, Nick always found the time to help me organise these events since 2020. He provided invaluable guidance and logistical support to record the talks, ensuring they could be captured and made available online after each event and for many years to come.

Pints, Partitions and Rebuild – The Red Lion’s 300-Year History by Amir Dotan

Recording

Summary

This presentation explores the 300-year history of the Red Lion pub on Church Street in Stoke Newington, highlighting its evolution from a local house to the modern establishment known today. The talk provides fascinating insights into the social history of pubs, including why many feature multiple doors and internal partitions.

Key takeaways include:

• Pub Design & Social Hierarchy (0:20 – 14:30): Historically, pubs were divided into compartments like the Saloon, Private, and Public bars, which enforced strict social segregation based on class and gender. Many pubs retained these separate areas with thin timber partitions and distinct entrances.
• The ‘Old’ Red Lion (1:00 – 15:45): Originally two separate houses, the Red Lion was first recorded in 1697. It functioned as a hub for the community and even had an adjacent ‘lock-up’ (1:45) for those who misbehaved. The presentation details the lives of the various publicans through census records and historical photographs.
• The ‘New’ Red Lion (17:50 – 25:00): In the 1930s, the old structure was demolished to make way for road widening. The new building was designed by Arthur Edwards Seeley, the chief architect for Truman’s Brewery. Built in a ‘Neo-Tudor’ style, it aimed to be a more ‘respectable’ and welcoming space, moving away from the lavish ‘Gin Palace’ aesthetic of the Victorian era.
• Modern Transformations (25:00 – 26:17): By the late 20th century, the original partitions were largely removed, shifting the pub to an open-plan layout. The establishment went through several name changes—including The Me & Pine Stump and The Stoke—before reverting to its original name, the Red Lion, in 2017.

Slides

The Church Commissioners’ Impact on Stoke Newington’s Urban Development by Wayne Fortune

Recording

Summary

In this talk, assistant archivist Wayne Fortune explores the significant role of the Church Commissioners (and their predecessor, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners) in shaping the urban development of Stoke Newington (0:11-0:54).

Key themes and case studies discussed:

• Role of the Commissioners: The Church Commissioners served as the business arm of the Church of England, managing vast property estates to distribute revenues to the clergy. Their primary goal evolved from maintaining high-quality, middle-class housing to addressing overcrowding and slum clearance through public-sector housing (2:06-3:58).
• Bouverie Road Development (8:31-10:26): Highlights the Commissioners’ detailed oversight of building leases. Originally planned for larger houses, the development shifted to two-story homes after the area’s social profile changed, demonstrating the Commissioners’ pragmatic adaptation to market realities.
• Woodbury Down (10:32-12:00): Illustrates how local objections—including those from the Metropolitan Borough of Stoke Newington—successfully blocked the construction of a church, preserving the area’s rural aesthetic before it was eventually sold for London County Council housing.
• Clissold Court (12:05-15:28): Discusses the transition of land previously used as a nursery into a three-story residential block. The decision-making process shifted from protecting neighbor views to maximizing the land’s utility for housing.
• The Albion Pub and Church Walk (15:29-18:29): Explores the Church’s unusual role as property owner of public houses. The Commissioners held onto land in anticipation of potential road-widening schemes that never fully materialized, eventually selling the site for school and council use.
• Denman House (18:31-23:07): A primary case study in slum clearance. The Commissioners replaced dilapidated cottages with modern flats for working-class tenants in the 1930s, documenting the social history of the site through archives like tenant handbooks and correspondence regarding management issues (e.g., wartime damage and neighbor complaints).

Fortune concludes by emphasizing that while these grand plans often changed, the Commissioners’ evolving attitudes left a lasting imprint on the neighborhood’s architecture and social fabric (23:08-24:45).

Slides

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The Story behind the Stoke Newington Shopfront Posters of 1994-2007 by Jan Leybourne

Recording

Summary

In this talk former Stoke Newington resident Jan Leybourne shares the fascinating story behind her shopfront posters of Stoke Newington (1994–2007).

Key Highlights:

• Inspiration: Drawing from her background in design and a love for repetitive imagery influenced by Andy Warhol, Leybourne began documenting Church Street to celebrate its unique, rapidly changing community of independent retailers (1:23 – 3:15).
• The Process: Creating the posters was a labor-intensive, manual process. Using non-digital cameras, she would take hundreds of photos (up to 396 for a single poster) before cutting, arranging, and mounting them onto boards to create the final A1 compositions (13:12 – 19:15).
• Community Connection: The posters served as a commercial endeavor, with shopkeepers paying £10 for a slot, but they also acted as a community project. Leybourne worked closely with owners to ensure their shops were captured perfectly, often bringing her children along for the process (8:16 – 15:30).
• Legacy & Relaunch: After moving out of London in 2004, Leybourne eventually returned to finish her final 2007 poster, motivated by the Hackney Olympic bid. Following a long hiatus, she recently decided to relaunch these vintage prints after connecting with local historian Amir, discovering a renewed interest in their historical value (22:45 – 29:30).

Leybourne reflects on how these posters have become a “vintage” time capsule, representing a specific era of Stoke Newington history that continues to resonate with both long-term residents and new arrivals today.

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