London Calling-The fascinating story of the Kray twins
London Calling-The fascinating story of the Kray twins
Residents of Portugal
Walk on the wild side
London’s public transport is probably the best in the world, but it’s becoming almost impossible for most people to drive, endlessly due to slower speed limits (due to strict enforcement), driving lane restrictions, and delays in traffic light sequences. There is a delay. In addition, congestion fees are now paid £ 15 (€ 17.75) daily (including weekends).
With this in mind, your columnist chooses to stay home when faced with a week’s significant commitment on the eastern side of the capital, and while there, the old but permanently fascinating Favorite Story-I decided to revisit the Kray Twins.
The 2015 blockbuster movie “Legend” has been properly named. East End twins Ronnie and Reggie Clay created a fascinating image during the life of the crime. Some stories are definitely true, others are not-like all myths and legends-but their names remain in London history.
Bethnal Green is right next to the fascinating square mile of London, with its glittering skyscrapers that generate around £ 40 billion (€ 47.4 billion) of Britain’s annual wealth. But it has always been an overwhelmingly working-class area, now a very lively multi-ethnic community with colorful street markets and huge diversity. It’s a very different place from the 1960s, when the Kray twins dominated the area and had iron fists farther away.
The unusually hot summer sun welcomed columnists for their last walk about 20 years ago.
The Kray twins lived with their beloved mother on Vallance Road, which connects Bethnal Green Road and Whitechapel Road (“Elephant Man”, the location of the Royal London Hospital where John Merrick was treated, and most still unfinished. Ripper murder of resolution).
Violet Clay’s homes have long been demolished to give way to more modern homes, but across the road, the Lepton Boxing Club hasn’t changed much. Here the twins learned boxing. At the entrance, the slogan “No guts, no glory” is posted.
Nearby is one of the many pubs linked to Ronnie and Reggie. In 1967, they bought a Carpenters arm for their mother, Violet. Obviously, Ronnie’s favorite seat was the back seat facing the door, where he could see who entered. The pictures of the twins are still hanging behind the bar.
Between this pub and Bethnal Green Road is the beautiful 18th-century Church of St. Matthew, which looks as if it were in New England. Not only the funeral of the twins, but also the funeral of the mother and brother Charlie was held here.
Bethnal Green Road has perhaps the most authentic and unchanging sight on this tour. E. Pellicci’s cafe opened in 1900 and remains firmly in the hands of the founders. Classic Art Nouveau and Art Deco decorations, both inside and outside, are now listed in Grade II by the English Heritage. This is where Ronnie and Reggie have breakfast most mornings and to this day continue to be the venue for the lively locals of the noisy, cozy East End with traditional cuisine. ..
Just north of the same road is probably the best-preserved area of traditional working-class housing left in this part of London. The WWII blitz caused serious damage to the East End. It was exacerbated by the surprisingly insensitive city planning decisions of the 1950s and 1960s. Miraculously, the area has survived more or less intact and the hub is the famous Columbia Road.
Here you will find a magnificent Royal Oak with a wonderfully restored interior. It’s likely to have been used frequently by the Kray twins, but it was certainly used in the 1990s movies where the twins were immortalized by their brothers, Martin and Gary Kemp, who turned from pop stars to actors.
In its real environment, it has also been used in other films, including Guy Ritchie’s “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” (1998). The Columbia Road shop regains its time with a listed façade that includes everything from trendy health foods and designer furniture to more traditional hardware stores, bakeries and antique stores.
The route back to the subway station took the columnist across the dry park to perhaps the most notorious venue on the clay tour. Blind Begger is located at the intersection of Cambridge Heathrow Road and Whitechapel Road. This is the pub where George Cornell was sitting in the bar when Ronnie Clay went wild and runaway.
He shot Cornell once in his head and left quietly. There were witnesses, but at first everyone refused to testify to Ronnie. Eventually, however, the case was seen as the beginning of the end of the twin criminal empire, and Ronnie Clay was finally convicted of Cornell’s murder in March 1969, about three years after the murder. I did.
The pub hasn’t changed much and is very atmospheric. The menu includes Road Booth Bee Hot Dogs (after the infamous gang-linked peer) and Jack the Hat Burger (after the man killed by Reggie Clay).Gang London tours also start here and can be booked at https://theblindbeggar.com/tours.html
An irrelevant, but interesting and inspirational monument is right next to the nearest subway station, moving and disturbing. Bethnal Green Station was the site of the worst civil disaster in Britain during World War II. Subway stations were routinely used as effective air raid shelters. Especially the central line was very deep and the tunnel provided security from the nightly bombing of Blitz.
There was a crash on March 3, 1943, when there was a particularly horrific night of bombing and people were rushing to evacuate to a subway station – 173 people were killed, including 62 children, and many more were seriously injured. I was liable for it.
In 2017, the Stairway to Heaven Memorial Hall opened. Designed by local architects Harry Patticus and Jens Beauslemann, it features an 18-step reverse staircase made of teak wood and is a full-scale replica of the original staircase. The name of the dead is engraved on the wood, and there are 173 holes inside the structure to allow light to enter. For more information, https://stairwaytoheavenmemorial.org/
Really take a walk on the wild eastern side of the British capital!
Richard lives in London and Portugal in parallel with the interests of home and business. He provides consulting services to leading companies in the insurance and financial services, real estate and media sectors. He has four sons and two dogs and enjoys a busy family life. He likes swimming, staying healthy and outdoor life.
LondonCalling@algarveresident.com
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