Diving Into Our Sporting Past

Dan Synge
6 days ago
3 min read

The idea behind bringing out a range of Curious London guides appeared earlier this year when, one drab February afternoon I went to meet some friends at a restaurant in Bloomsbury. The street I was looking for was a turning off the Tottenham Court Road. Not the most interesting or attractive of London districts, to be frank, but then I found myself in Store Street gazing up at a colourful mural depicting a timeless automotive scene at the old Bloomsbury Service Station, a filling station that was active between 1926 and 2008.

At street level was the entrance to what looked like a noodle bar. It seemed inviting enough with its twinkly lights in the dimming late-afternoon. But then I remembered there had indeed been a filling station at this very same spot, and the Asian Fusion eatery hadn’t entirely swallowed up the old forecourt or the tidy little building where once you might have paid the cashier for a tank of four star.

High diving board from the old Purley Way Lido

So, on the way home after meeting my friends, I began to wonder just how many such fuel stops continued to pump gas in inner and outer London. Some basic research revealed that while there were around 4,000 petrol stations in the 1960s, only a handful of these exist today. The decline has been a pronounced one.

Of course, I don’t want to see a petrol station on every corner of our city, but I immediately started to worry about the fate of that nice service area opposite Dolphin Square in Pimlico where my dad used to fill up the family car on trips going West of London, or the spectacular Art Deco liner style Dorset House garage near Baker Street. Thankfully, both are still operating as they always used to. And what of those other car-related industries dotted around the boroughs; the factories and workshops, the showrooms, the dealerships and all those whitewashed multi-storey car parks? What other buildings, structures or landmarks might reveal the story of this country’s nascent car culture, one that thrived in the 1920s and 30s, only to grind to a halt a few decades later? Curiosity got the better of me. I had to find out.

Now, ten months after that lightbulb moment in Bloomsbury, Curious London have not only launched Motoring in and around the city but have followed this up with one focusing on sport in the capital. With our broad remit to chronicle and photograph ‘accessible heritage’, I would like to think that Curious Guides are following in the footsteps of those popular information-heavy, pre-digital publications Ladybird Books or the Rough Guides or Eyewitness travel guides which, over the years, have inspired me on so many trips.

Showcasing elegant Victorian pavilions, majestic pre-war grandstands and charming riverside boathouses, the sports issue offers a fascinating glimpse into our recreational past. Thinking about my own area south of the river, there are some obvious concrete reminders of great sporting events, notably the decaying 1960s athletics stadium in Crystal Palace Park where Team GB ran away with the 4x800m relay in 1982. Or there’s the recently restored Herne Hill Velodrome where the cycling events for the 1948 Olympic Games took place.

Peckham Town FC's chairman in the 'smallest stand'

Again, the intention was to dive a little deeper into London’s impressive sporting legacy and Curious London #2 uncovers yet more inspiring structures (used and unused) that continue to catch the eye long after they were first built. Among the disused speedway tracks and greyhound stadiums are a 150-year-old bowling alley, a gym where The Krays boxed and the smallest football stand in the world, found at the end of a sharp turning off the South Circular!

If your heart beats that little bit faster at the sight of Mid-Century curves, faded ghost signs or the lost floor tiles of a glamorous department store, Curious Guides are for you. Keep them, collect them, use one to inspire an amazing day out. It’s fun to be curious.