0:00:02 > 0:00:07This programme contains some strong language
0:00:07 > 0:00:10London in 1886 - then the largest city in human history, and centre of the known world.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12With its self-importance, its dirt,
0:00:12 > 0:00:14its wealth and awful poverty,
0:00:14 > 0:00:18it seems a mystery to us now.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22It was a different world. An entirely different world.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24But there is a guide to this human jungle -
0:00:24 > 0:00:29Charles Booth, Victorian London's social explorer.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32Booth produced a series of pioneering maps
0:00:32 > 0:00:34that colour-coded the streets of his London
0:00:34 > 0:00:38according to the ever-shifting class of its residents.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42Booth's maps are like scans - X-rays that reveal to us
0:00:42 > 0:00:46the secret past beneath the skin of the present.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48If people knew how many cattle was killed there,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50I don't think they'd live there.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52HE LAUGHS
0:00:52 > 0:00:56He wanted his maps to chart stories of momentous social change...
0:00:56 > 0:00:58I was on the bottom.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00And those houses were the lowest of the low.
0:01:00 > 0:01:05..the ebb and flow between enormous wealth and terrible poverty,
0:01:05 > 0:01:09how easily desirable or well-to-do neighbourhoods could descend into
0:01:09 > 0:01:13the haunts of the vicious and semi-criminal,
0:01:13 > 0:01:15and back again.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19Now the maps can help us reveal the changes that have shaped our lives,
0:01:19 > 0:01:22and made the story of the streets
0:01:22 > 0:01:25the story of us all.
0:01:25 > 0:01:26- Oh, my goodness!- Beautiful.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29The old toilet's gone!
0:01:30 > 0:01:35So, we're going back to one of the tens of thousands of streets that Booth mapped.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38We're heading to Camberwell Grove,
0:01:38 > 0:01:40a street of beautiful Georgian houses.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43- Different from what it was before? - Slightly. - THEY LAUGH
0:01:43 > 0:01:47Very much so, very much so.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51Camberwell Grove reveals the story of a brand-new class -
0:01:51 > 0:01:56the middle-class, who desired a different kind of house.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00It was built for them in the Georgian era,
0:02:00 > 0:02:03but fell into a steep decline when it was abandoned by them.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09A century later, the middle-classes returned to restore it,
0:02:09 > 0:02:11and a movement was born that helped preserve the road
0:02:11 > 0:02:15in all its former glory.
0:02:21 > 0:02:27Four miles from the centre of London lies Camberwell Grove.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31Two-thirds-of-a-mile long, this gracious tree-lined street
0:02:31 > 0:02:35has some of the best surviving Georgian architecture in London.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38Well, they are, they're all beautiful big houses.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40And so different.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44The Grove is made up of many styles -
0:02:44 > 0:02:47terraces, crescents and single houses,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50built in Georgian and Regency times -
0:02:50 > 0:02:53new homes for the middle-classes.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01Taken together, they are a remarkable remnant of another age.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08But the Grove is not typical of its area.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12The centre of Camberwell is dominated by
0:03:12 > 0:03:14a major traffic junction.
0:03:14 > 0:03:1740,000 vehicles pass through it every day.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20AMBULANCE SIREN BLARES
0:03:21 > 0:03:23Bordered by Brixton in one direction
0:03:23 > 0:03:24and Peckham in another,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27Camberwell is very much the inner-city.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30Yeah, it's a pretty rough area.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32You get a lot of police sirens going.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34The Camberwell chorus.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39You know, there's regular taping off of bits of street.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41SIREN BLARES
0:03:41 > 0:03:45This is not a sort of classic middle-class zone of London.
0:03:49 > 0:03:55But turn the corner into the Grove, and you enter another world.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59When you come into this street from the hurly-burly,
0:03:59 > 0:04:03there is this kind of still heart just off that.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06And it's a fascinating contrast.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10A friend of mine who used to live on Camberwell Grove said...
0:04:10 > 0:04:12"It's just like living on the river."
0:04:14 > 0:04:17There's something about Camberwell Grove which is living on the river.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19And I suppose it's the sort of flow down the hill
0:04:19 > 0:04:23and also the rustle of the leaves and the trees,
0:04:23 > 0:04:25which is a bit like water,
0:04:25 > 0:04:30but also reminds you of a kind of bucolic country scene.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38Camberwell Grove started life not as through road,
0:04:38 > 0:04:40but as an actual grove.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44An avenue of trees leading from the back of an old Tudor manor house
0:04:44 > 0:04:50to the summit of a hill from where there was a fine view of the city of London.
0:04:53 > 0:04:58The farmland around the village of Camberwell was prized as rich,
0:04:58 > 0:04:59dairy pasture.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03The cows that grazed here supplied milk, not just to the village,
0:05:03 > 0:05:05but also for London.
0:05:09 > 0:05:15The parish records show evidence that it was a really rural area.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20There were herds of pigs running around on the streets uncontrolled.
0:05:22 > 0:05:27And there were prizes for collecting polecats, hedgehogs and caterpillars.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33By the mid 1770s, the old manor house had fallen into ruin.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36It was demolished, and its land broken up and sold.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41One end of the Grove was opened up to the main road.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46Soon after, a small terrace of four houses sprang up.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53For a very long time,
0:05:53 > 0:05:55at least in this stretch of the road, it would've been...
0:05:55 > 0:05:59These four houses would've been standing on their own.
0:06:01 > 0:06:07Today, antiques dealers John Hall and Robert Hirschhorn live in one of these first houses.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12So it's a kind of semi-urban terrace sitting in the countryside,
0:06:12 > 0:06:13in an area on the edge
0:06:13 > 0:06:17of a burgeoning development, you know? It was about to begin.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20- This was a quite exciting thought, really.- Hmm.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24The houses were built by speculative builders
0:06:24 > 0:06:27aiming at a new market - the middle-classes.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30A newly minted term for a social group
0:06:30 > 0:06:33emerging between the working and upper-classes.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37The new middle-classes were comfortably off,
0:06:37 > 0:06:39but they had to work for a living.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46These families wanted to escape the grime of London by moving to the country.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49Developers built the new housing to accommodate them.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52First, to the north of the capital, but by the 1770s,
0:06:52 > 0:06:56once two new bridges were built over the Thames,
0:06:56 > 0:06:59it was possible for people to live south of the river
0:06:59 > 0:07:01and travel to work in the city.
0:07:02 > 0:07:08Suddenly, the village of Camberwell was attractive to a whole new group of people.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11Well, my impression of the first people that lived here would be
0:07:11 > 0:07:14prosperous merchants,
0:07:14 > 0:07:18not super-prosperous, kind of middling-prosperous merchants.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20People in the law, people working in the city,
0:07:20 > 0:07:23people who could afford one or two servants.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26And people who wanted to get out of the city of London into an area
0:07:26 > 0:07:30that's full of good spring water, good air,
0:07:30 > 0:07:33but still easy to get into town to do the work.
0:07:34 > 0:07:35And just like today,
0:07:35 > 0:07:38you can see the Shard of Glass from further up the hill,
0:07:38 > 0:07:44then, you would have seen the dome of St Paul's dominating the skyline.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47So people would still feel connected to town.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55By horse and carriage, the city was only half-an-hour's commute away.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00Can we show you the front parlour?
0:08:02 > 0:08:05- Come through.- Right.- OK.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10It was probably a little dining room,
0:08:10 > 0:08:14a little eating room for the people who lived here in the 18th century.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16And when they were feeling like entertaining,
0:08:16 > 0:08:21playing cards or whatever, things that people loved to do then,
0:08:21 > 0:08:23this is probably where they did it.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28The atmosphere in here is lovely, and in the evening,
0:08:28 > 0:08:31if we're feeling like it,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34we don't have electricity up here. We light the candles.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38I mean, that mirror there is roughly of the period, is that right?
0:08:38 > 0:08:40- Yes, it is.- So, the candlelight,
0:08:40 > 0:08:42the old mercury glass on the mirror,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44and it sort of comes to life.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46It really comes to life.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54While this terrace of four houses stood on a plot
0:08:54 > 0:08:56at one end of Camberwell Grove,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59a large share of the land at the other end was bought
0:08:59 > 0:09:04by an eminent and wealthy London doctor, John Coakley Lettsom.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08Here, he built himself a villa and designed a new estate.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12The villa has gone, but an ornamental cottage still survives.
0:09:12 > 0:09:17Yes, I think because it's at the end of Camberwell Grove and on a corner,
0:09:17 > 0:09:19it is a bit of a landmark,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22because people have to slow up to turn the corner.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24So, even people who are just driving down Camberwell Grove
0:09:24 > 0:09:27tend to know it as a local landmark, yes.
0:09:27 > 0:09:28The cottage at the top of the Grove.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33Tristram Sutton chanced upon the cottage in the mid-1980s
0:09:33 > 0:09:36when he was on his way to a party.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40I got lost on the way there, I didn't know south London well,
0:09:40 > 0:09:45and came past this house, saw the sign up outside,
0:09:45 > 0:09:47the For Sale sign outside,
0:09:47 > 0:09:49and eventually bought it.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52It's a very...quirky...
0:09:53 > 0:09:55..and unusual house. I really love it.
0:10:00 > 0:10:05Lettsom's estate was broken up in the early 19th century,
0:10:05 > 0:10:09and various bits of it were sold off for development.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13And there's a record in the late 1830s of an architect
0:10:13 > 0:10:16living in this house with his family,
0:10:16 > 0:10:18and I think that's significant.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21I can imagine him taking on a pavilion,
0:10:21 > 0:10:23and because he's an architect,
0:10:23 > 0:10:25being able to convert it into somewhere to live.
0:10:26 > 0:10:31The residential development of Camberwell Grove was in full swing,
0:10:31 > 0:10:33and by the early 1840s, the street,
0:10:33 > 0:10:37much of it exactly as it appears today, was complete.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44Georgian builders built from detailed pattern books.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47These were so influential, that during the 18th century,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50variations in building designs were diluted,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53and the standardised Georgian design emerged.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01Architect Jack Pringle moved to Camberwell Grove 10 years ago.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07Oh, they're absolutely distinctively Georgian.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12You know, this was one of the most economical ways of providing
0:11:12 > 0:11:17high-quality, quite elegant, high-density housing.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22And they were built by Georgian developers who were pretty keen on making a lot of money,
0:11:22 > 0:11:26and they provided very nice housing...
0:11:26 > 0:11:31So there's a good balance between economy, elegance and profit.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36The Georgians were extremely keen on the use of proportion.
0:11:37 > 0:11:42They're not highly decorative, because the Georgians appreciated quite simple things,
0:11:42 > 0:11:46which I think is why they appeal to a more modern taste.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50But no, I think they were definitely shooting for elegance.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54This is my wife, Holly...
0:11:54 > 0:11:57who's also an architect.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59And we've done a lot of work on the house together.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03Some of the houses on the street have gone the whole hog
0:12:03 > 0:12:05with the Georgian theme,
0:12:05 > 0:12:07and for us, that isn't what we wanted to achieve.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11You know, we're very modern architects and wanted to have a new take on it.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14So, with this space, we obviously took the wall out here,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17and we've opened up to create a kitchen-diner experience.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21You may not have wanted to be in the kitchen in Georgian times.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24That's where the servants were. Now, it's where all the family meets
0:12:24 > 0:12:27and it's, you know, where you hang out.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35The early residents of Camberwell Grove were living a dream.
0:12:36 > 0:12:41Artist and critic John Ruskin wrote about it at its height.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44"A real grove in those days, and a grand one.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46"Beautiful in perspective,
0:12:46 > 0:12:49"the houses on each side all well-to-do,
0:12:49 > 0:12:55"well-kept, well-broomed, and their own grove world all-in-all to them."
0:12:58 > 0:13:01The census records reveal some of these residents.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05Caleb Field, a stockbroker, his wife Magdalene and their child.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09Walter Miller, a wine merchant, and his family.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12John Cooke, a barrister, and his wife, Harriet.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14All had servants.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22But this charmed world was not to last.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26Camberwell Grove stood on the brink of inexorable change.
0:13:27 > 0:13:28In the Victorian era,
0:13:28 > 0:13:32the city of London expanded at an unprecedented rate.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36The greatest growth in urban population the world had ever seen.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42Working-class people were pushed out to areas like Camberwell,
0:13:42 > 0:13:46as houses were demolished in the centre to make way for new commerce.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48TRAIN WHISTLES
0:13:48 > 0:13:52In the 1860s, railway lines were cut through Camberwell Grove,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55and a station opened within walking distance.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58Now, ordinary people could live in Camberwell
0:13:58 > 0:14:01and commute into central London in 20 minutes.
0:14:01 > 0:14:06By the 1880s, the pastures that had once surrounded the Grove
0:14:06 > 0:14:10were covered in a dense network of Victorian terraced houses,
0:14:10 > 0:14:13and the population had more than trebled.
0:14:13 > 0:14:18Rural Camberwell morphed into a metropolitan suburb.
0:14:19 > 0:14:24It was 1889 when the social explorer Charles Booth and his surveyors
0:14:24 > 0:14:28mapped the social make-up of the Grove for the first time.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33On his map, the Grove appears as a prosperous suburban street.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36At the high end, furthest from the city,
0:14:36 > 0:14:39he records the houses as yellow, his top category.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42Rare in south London, meaning wealthy,
0:14:42 > 0:14:44keeping three servants or more.
0:14:44 > 0:14:49All the rest of the Grove he coloured red - well-to-do, middle-class.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52For these middle-classes,
0:14:52 > 0:14:57Camberwell Grove was no longer an escape to the country.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01It was now surrounded by Victorian urban sprawl.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06Disenchanted, many began to move away.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Nine years after his first map,
0:15:10 > 0:15:12Booth mapped the Grove for a second time,
0:15:12 > 0:15:15and this time, he described it as declining.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21He downgraded the beautiful terraces at the top of the Grove
0:15:21 > 0:15:25from the highest category, yellow, to red, and at the other end,
0:15:25 > 0:15:28introduced some pink - working class.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33He remarked, "This area well illustrates the tendency
0:15:33 > 0:15:37"of what may be called the inner-ring of suburban London
0:15:37 > 0:15:40"to be occupied by a less wealthy class than formerly."
0:15:42 > 0:15:45The trend intensified with the coming of a new century.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50So, this is the census for 1911.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52For this house.
0:15:52 > 0:15:53A load of people here.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,
0:15:56 > 0:15:59nine, ten, 11. 11 people in the house.
0:15:59 > 0:16:00We are misusing the house.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02There's only two of us!
0:16:02 > 0:16:04So, 11 people in the house.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07Caroline Strutt...
0:16:07 > 0:16:10was a widow and a boarding... So, it was a boarding house.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13Arthur Walter. You've got the Walter family here.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15The wife was Ella.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18- Ooh, quite an age gap!- Yeah. - THEY LAUGH
0:16:18 > 0:16:20- David.- Lots of clerks.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24Yeah, I suppose you needed lots of clerks in an age before computers.
0:16:25 > 0:16:30I suppose this is indicative of the status of the house in 1911.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35Presumably, it was built as a single-family house with servants in the first place,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38and now it's BACK to a single-family house.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40- Unfortunately, without servants. - SHE LAUGHS
0:16:40 > 0:16:42Whereas, this period, 100 years ago,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45it must have been at a sort of nadir,
0:16:45 > 0:16:48- cos it's stuffed full of people. - Incredible.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56Further down the Grove where it opens out onto the main road,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58Camberwell was now a busy hub.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13In the 1920s, Booth's maps were once again updated,
0:17:13 > 0:17:17and Camberwell Grove was colour-coded for the final time.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21The grand old houses were now owned by commercial landlords
0:17:21 > 0:17:24who rented them out for multiple occupation.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28The whole street was classified as pink - working class.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40- My dad used to play shove ha'penny in the pub.- Yeah.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43And then my mum and all of them used to play darts.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47Does the pub look the same outside as it used to?
0:17:47 > 0:17:49- Er, yeah.- They haven't changed it, have they?
0:17:49 > 0:17:52We used to climb up those...
0:17:52 > 0:17:54See them bits of the bricks?
0:17:54 > 0:17:56We used to climb up them when we were children.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58And see who could get to the top.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04Childhood friends Pat Pike and Margaret Reeves
0:18:04 > 0:18:08were raised on Camberwell Grove in the 1940s.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10We just grew up together.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12We used to play with our dolls.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16- We used to play with each other of a night if we were allowed out.- Mm.
0:18:16 > 0:18:17Shall we go in?
0:18:18 > 0:18:22Pat and Margaret both left the Grove over 40 years ago.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24Oh, honestly!
0:18:24 > 0:18:28This is EXACTLY as I remember it.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33Isn't it strange? I thought it would look completely different.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35- This is... - And the wood's still there.- Yeah.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40But these, when I was a child, these were painted brown.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42You know, really dark brown.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45And then, I remember, for my wedding,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48my nan had everything painted white.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50This is exactly the same, Pat, this.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56Margaret's great-grandfather, William Sexton, a stockbroker's messenger,
0:18:56 > 0:18:59began renting their house in the early 1900s.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02At that time, three households shared the building.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05When Margaret was growing up,
0:19:05 > 0:19:09the family still sublet rooms to lodgers on the top floor.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12Oh, crikey!
0:19:12 > 0:19:16- Yeah!- Oh! Oh, that's beautiful. - Oh, my goodness!
0:19:16 > 0:19:18Obviously, that wall wasn't down.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20No, it was a separate room.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22Oh, the toilet's gone!
0:19:23 > 0:19:26The toilet, the old toilet's gone.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28- Used to be a toilet out there.- Yeah.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34When Margaret was a child, her mum, Dolly, suffered a long illness.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36She eventually died of tuberculosis,
0:19:36 > 0:19:40which was a common killer before the introduction of the BCG vaccine.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44My mother's bed, when she was home, was down there.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47I remember when she was in they often had the window open,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51cos they thought, in those days, fresh air was good for you. It was probably killing them.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53I mean, my mother, in hospital,
0:19:53 > 0:19:57used to make a load of stuffed toys for me and dresses.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59She was very good at needlework.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02And they all had to be baked in the oven before I could have them.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05- I think I was kept away from my mum. - Yeah.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08Which was awful, really, wasn't it? Yeah.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11- They wanted to be safe, didn't they? - Yeah, well, this was it.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13She thought I was going to catch it.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17- Oh, yeah, where was your bathroom? - We didn't have one.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20We didn't have a bathroom. We had to have a tin bath.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22- Oh, that's right!- Down...
0:20:22 > 0:20:25Yeah, there was no bathroom in this house at all.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33In 1951, nearly half a million households in London
0:20:33 > 0:20:36were still without a bath which was plumbed into the mains.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Did you have the railings here?
0:20:39 > 0:20:41- No... Yeah, this side.- Yeah.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43- But not that side. - They look nice, actually.- Yeah.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46Pat grew up across the way from Margaret.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49In this room here was my bedroom.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52There used to be a front room as well.
0:20:52 > 0:20:53Had the big fire there, what's still there.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55So unusual seeing the books there,
0:20:55 > 0:20:57cos we didn't have books, you know?
0:20:57 > 0:21:01And seeing all these books, it does put you off a little bit.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05- Trying to think where everything is. - It throws you.- Yeah, it throws you.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09Mm. With the piano and all that sort of stuff.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17My mum used to sit here,
0:21:17 > 0:21:21and I used to sit on the window ledge with the window wide open,
0:21:21 > 0:21:23and we used to watch the horse and carts going up there.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26The milk float and the horse and carts going up there.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28And...
0:21:28 > 0:21:32the man next door, Mr Gunter,
0:21:32 > 0:21:35he would run out with his bucket
0:21:35 > 0:21:37to get up all the...
0:21:37 > 0:21:40all the manure up, and spray it all over his garden.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42Wonder what happened to those?
0:21:42 > 0:21:44- Don't know.- No.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46I think they're all gone now, aren't they?
0:21:46 > 0:21:48So who lived next door, then?
0:21:48 > 0:21:51Pat shared a bed with her older sister, Barbara.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54Their parents rented the house, living on two floors
0:21:54 > 0:21:56and subletting the other rooms to lodgers.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00At any one time, up to 11 people lived in the house.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03- Barbara slept in here with you? - Yeah, yeah.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06All the week the bed was out, and then at weekends
0:22:06 > 0:22:11we used to put it up, because they used to have, you know, the relations and all that here.
0:22:11 > 0:22:12And we used to have the party.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16They used to go to the Grove pub,
0:22:16 > 0:22:20and then they'd come out the Grove pub straight into here,
0:22:20 > 0:22:24and have a ding-dong. That's what they used to call it. Yeah.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27Pat's parents, Frank and Caroline Keeping,
0:22:27 > 0:22:29had 19 children between them.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31Pat was their youngest.
0:22:31 > 0:22:32They used to pick the piano up,
0:22:32 > 0:22:35carry it down the stairs,
0:22:35 > 0:22:40and then there's a room down below, we used to have all the knees-ups,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43what they used to call the knees-ups and everything,
0:22:43 > 0:22:48because this floor was so soft, you were frightened you were going to go through it.
0:22:49 > 0:22:54Pat was born in 1940, just after the outbreak of war.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58When the bombs came, Camberwell was one of the worst-affected parts of London.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03The bomb damage map of the area was made by the London County Council
0:23:03 > 0:23:05directly after the war.
0:23:05 > 0:23:10Colours inked in to indicate structures damaged by blasts.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12In July 1944,
0:23:12 > 0:23:16Camberwell Grove suffered a direct hit from a V1 rocket.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19Six people were killed and 12 houses destroyed.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25While many children were evacuated to safety,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28Pat's mother chose to keep Pat and her sisters at home.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31- I can't remember your stairs at all. - Yeah!
0:23:31 > 0:23:36They used to put us under here when I was born, when the bombs were dropping.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40- Oh! The shelter?- Yeah, they used to hide us all under here.- Oh, yeah.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43Mum used to shove you under there, or wherever she could put you.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47And you would just stay there until it was all clear.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50I think my sister was evacuated, my sissy,
0:23:50 > 0:23:52but my mum brought her back home again.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54I don't think she left her there.
0:23:54 > 0:23:5610 years after the war,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59the landlords of Margaret's house decided to sell up.
0:23:59 > 0:24:06Her grandparents and uncles clubbed together enough money to buy the house, for £1,000.
0:24:06 > 0:24:11Once it was theirs, they set about making some alterations.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14Unfortunately, when my uncles bought it,
0:24:14 > 0:24:19that's when they started ripping the house out, you know, in the '50s. Oh, spoilt it.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25Britain's DIY obsession took hold in the 1950s,
0:24:25 > 0:24:27with people keen to get rid of the old
0:24:27 > 0:24:30and bring in the new all by themselves.
0:24:32 > 0:24:33Hello.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37I don't know whether you've got a problem like this - a rather ugly, old, panel door.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40It's one that can be solved quite simply.
0:24:40 > 0:24:42You can make it look like this.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48Lovely panel doors, you know? They were all hardboarded over.
0:24:48 > 0:24:53You know, pulling out all the original fireplaces and cupboards,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56and it did spoil it a bit, really.
0:24:56 > 0:24:57I didn't realise at the time.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11Nobody thought anything about it.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15But now, I've realised it was absolutely terrible,
0:25:15 > 0:25:17cos they weren't listed in those days.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23Beyond the Grove, Camberwell was facing a challenge common to
0:25:23 > 0:25:28all post-war inner-city areas - depopulation and decline.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32Drawn by the promise of clean air and green spaces,
0:25:32 > 0:25:35many young working-class couples who were having it good,
0:25:35 > 0:25:37moved out to new towns or suburbs.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45In the early 1960s, Margaret and her young family left for Sidcup.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48I don't know. I just wanted to move more into the suburbs,
0:25:48 > 0:25:50I think, really. Yeah.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58The remaining private landlords were keen to clear out
0:25:58 > 0:26:01their tenants and sell the properties.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04The old houses were expensive to maintain
0:26:04 > 0:26:07and as long-term tenants had controlled rents,
0:26:07 > 0:26:11landlords found it hard to increase their returns from their properties.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17But the landlords couldn't simply evict sitting tenants like Pat Pike.
0:26:17 > 0:26:23In 1968, her landlord resorted to extreme measures to remove her.
0:26:23 > 0:26:24I was pushed to leave.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29Otherwise, I would probably still been here.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33But no, I was made...really I was forced to get out.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41He brought all these people down and started frightening me.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47And they used to sit in the kitchen, and they used to put their hands
0:26:47 > 0:26:51up to their head like that, and tell me there was loads of spirits
0:26:51 > 0:26:55and, you know, all frightening people - ghosts and that all around.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59And it just used to frighten me.
0:26:59 > 0:27:00I think it would.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04He just kept coming backwards and forwards with them
0:27:04 > 0:27:05and eventually I gave in.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11He gave me £300 to get out,
0:27:11 > 0:27:13to help me with whatever I had to do.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17I was only early 20s then, you know.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21Landlords had a strong incentive to offer their properties
0:27:21 > 0:27:23for sale with vacant possession.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26A new, very different group of potential buyers
0:27:26 > 0:27:30began to take an interest in the old houses.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36People were actually horrified in the office where I worked
0:27:36 > 0:27:39when I said we were buying a house
0:27:39 > 0:27:42- in south London. - Nobody lives south of the river.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45You must be daft. And that's true.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47The whole young professional set
0:27:47 > 0:27:49lived north of the river, didn't they?
0:27:51 > 0:27:54You could never get a black cab over the bridges.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56They didn't want to take you.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59They would drop you on the bridge and then you had to walk.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03Increasing numbers of young, middle-class couples were
0:28:03 > 0:28:07searching the city for old houses to restore as single-family homes.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11The beautiful old houses of Camberwell Grove were ripe
0:28:11 > 0:28:15for rediscovering, and by London standards, the houses came cheap.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21- You go first because I've got to lock the door.- All right.
0:28:21 > 0:28:22- It's cold.- Yes.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26We'd never heard of Camberwell before.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29It was just the quality of the architecture and design.
0:28:29 > 0:28:35And it just felt that the house deserved attention.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39Architects Shirley and Jim Tanner
0:28:39 > 0:28:43were in the vanguard of a new wave of home-buyers on the Grove.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45They moved in in 1959.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49The house was pretty forbidding and derelict.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51The basement wasn't habitable.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57But we realised what a lovely house it was.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59Back then, mortgages weren't routinely available for houses
0:28:59 > 0:29:03built before 1918, so the Tanners approached their bank manager
0:29:03 > 0:29:05to request a loan.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08He said, "You sure it hasn't got dry rot?"
0:29:08 > 0:29:11Jim said, "Of course it's got dry rot. It's old."
0:29:11 > 0:29:14He said, "I'll tell you what. I'll go and have a look."
0:29:14 > 0:29:18He strolled up Camberwell Grove and had a good look at the house
0:29:18 > 0:29:20from the other side of the road.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22He came back and rang me and said, "I think it'll be all right."
0:29:26 > 0:29:29I think probably artists and architects were drawn
0:29:29 > 0:29:31to cheap property probably.
0:29:31 > 0:29:35And also, I think they didn't have...
0:29:35 > 0:29:37..the kind of, erm...
0:29:39 > 0:29:43..I don't know, social worries that maybe, if one was going to be
0:29:43 > 0:29:46a lawyer or a solicitor or something,
0:29:46 > 0:29:50they might think it a little bit down-at-heel,
0:29:50 > 0:29:54living in somewhere like Camberwell Grove in those days.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58David Hepher and his wife Janet, both artists,
0:29:58 > 0:30:02bought their house on Camberwell Grove in 1961.
0:30:02 > 0:30:04They were in their mid-20s.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07We wanted a house which could accommodate a couple of studios
0:30:07 > 0:30:10because Janet was leaving the Royal College,
0:30:10 > 0:30:12I was leaving the Slade
0:30:12 > 0:30:16and one needed a space which could be fairly adaptable in that way.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21My grandmother, at the same time, very conveniently,
0:30:21 > 0:30:26left me £2,500 with which I was able to buy this house,
0:30:26 > 0:30:30in those days, which was 50 years ago.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37Enticed by the potential of the houses,
0:30:37 > 0:30:39the new buyers took a risk.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43Both bought their properties with sitting tenants.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47The house at the time was divided into three flats
0:30:47 > 0:30:49and it had two sitting tenants in.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53I don't remember being at all really worried about
0:30:53 > 0:30:56the fact that they probably could hand the flat on to their offspring
0:30:56 > 0:30:59and it could go on for generation after generation.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02I think I was, sort of, pretty ignorant about that really.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05I was certainly very innocent, I think, probably,
0:31:05 > 0:31:07about tenants' rights.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09In both our cases,
0:31:09 > 0:31:12the tenants did not prove a problem.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14It was almost our arrival which signalled they wanted to get
0:31:14 > 0:31:16the hell out of it.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20These new young homeowners were part of a national trend
0:31:20 > 0:31:23and they set about restoring their houses
0:31:23 > 0:31:25and unearthing the original features.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28There's something rather splendid about these houses.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31They're so beautiful when you get down to the basics...
0:31:33 > 0:31:36..when you see the basic material
0:31:36 > 0:31:38and the Georgian detail.
0:31:38 > 0:31:43It was wonderful to discover the moulding under all the gug
0:31:43 > 0:31:45that had gone on, because, I suppose, we had some idea
0:31:45 > 0:31:48of what it would be like. We'd looked at pattern books.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50Gradually this was revealed as you stripped it.
0:31:54 > 0:31:58Tina, my wife, picked out these mouldings.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02That took her a long time, but they're rather good ones,
0:32:02 > 0:32:06so it was a lot of water and picking away with an old screwdriver.
0:32:08 > 0:32:12There was a whole load of boarding over all this,
0:32:12 > 0:32:14I suspect, to keep draughts out.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18In 1967, a young television producer, Jeremy Bennett,
0:32:18 > 0:32:22found a house which could become his family home
0:32:22 > 0:32:24and he, too, was exposed to the restoration fever.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27There was no garden at that stage, at all.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33I do remember that in the first week we were here,
0:32:33 > 0:32:36two or three neighbours banged on the door and said,
0:32:36 > 0:32:38"Can we come in and see what you've bought?"
0:32:38 > 0:32:41So we said, "Yeah, fine." We gave them a cup of tea.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45They then proceeded to pull off the boarding from the fireplaces
0:32:45 > 0:32:49and indeed, the doors, because those were covered in plywood-type stuff,
0:32:49 > 0:32:52to see what the mouldings were like.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56It was just fascinating. It was like detective work.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59Jim Tanner used his restoration experience
0:32:59 > 0:33:01with his own house on the Grove to write a book.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06Jim Tanner, who was the architect in Camberwell Grove,
0:33:06 > 0:33:07had written this book
0:33:07 > 0:33:10and everyone bought this, at least we certainly did.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14I remember I followed his instructions on how to lay
0:33:14 > 0:33:18paving stones in an outside patio, so it was really like
0:33:18 > 0:33:20an amateur builder's bible
0:33:20 > 0:33:23and I've kept it ever since.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26It's now brown and jaundiced, but very useful.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30This had lino all over the place.
0:33:30 > 0:33:32And it had a buzz about it.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36I mean, you could almost hear blowlamps and scrapers
0:33:36 > 0:33:39going at weekends, and the smoke coming out of the windows.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42And if you walked up and down Camberwell Grove, you would find
0:33:42 > 0:33:46that outside several of the houses would be a skip.
0:33:46 > 0:33:50In 1968, a local paper took notice.
0:33:50 > 0:33:55It reported, "Like an enchanted Cinderella, stepping from the rags
0:33:55 > 0:33:59"of her former self, Camberwell Grove is being re-born."
0:34:01 > 0:34:02For the young homeowners,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06what started as house restoration projects on their own properties
0:34:06 > 0:34:09went on to tie them into a far wider movement,
0:34:09 > 0:34:12putting them on one side of a battle over the future
0:34:12 > 0:34:15of the architectural heritage of London.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23'Demolition men called in by the London County Council
0:34:23 > 0:34:27'pulled down nearly 700 of these tired-looking terrace houses,
0:34:27 > 0:34:29'and more are still to come down.'
0:34:30 > 0:34:32There was a danger - there was always this danger -
0:34:32 > 0:34:36that the council might decide they want is to redevelop the area and pull them all down.
0:34:36 > 0:34:39Between 1967 and 1976,
0:34:39 > 0:34:4370,000 houses were demolished in London.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47The same process was in action in other British cities.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50'This is a programme about murder. Architectural murder.
0:34:50 > 0:34:55'You are going to witness the severed limbs of a great city.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58'No doubt too many of you, the word "murder" will seem exaggerated.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01'You will say that what we call today "development"
0:35:01 > 0:35:02'is a necessary part of change.'
0:35:02 > 0:35:05The residents of Camberwell Grove
0:35:05 > 0:35:08feared that their houses could be the next to fall.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12You'd find up the road they were pulling down the terraces of Georgian houses.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15There was no protection for them.
0:35:15 > 0:35:20People from the council? They were all for demolishing all these houses
0:35:20 > 0:35:23as they'd done with all the ones through there.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28For local authorities, this destruction was a small price to pay
0:35:28 > 0:35:32if they were to solve the post-war housing crisis.
0:35:33 > 0:35:35Crumbling old houses were being pulled down
0:35:35 > 0:35:40to make way for high-density modern housing estates.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45The Council in those days thought bulldozing
0:35:45 > 0:35:49and building new stuff was really the right thing to do.
0:35:49 > 0:35:51Faced with this demolition,
0:35:51 > 0:35:54preservation caught the popular mood.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57Local action groups sprang up across the city
0:35:57 > 0:36:00campaigning to protect London's architectural past.
0:36:00 > 0:36:05There was a sense that there were so many fine old buildings around,
0:36:05 > 0:36:10you know, we should recognise this and help to protect them.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14In 1970, Jim and Shirley Tanner helped form
0:36:14 > 0:36:19Camberwell's action group - the Camberwell Society.
0:36:19 > 0:36:21I'm now the chair of the Camberwell Society.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24I became the chair in April of this year
0:36:24 > 0:36:27and I've been a member of the Society for seven years
0:36:27 > 0:36:30since we've moved into Camberwell Grove.
0:36:30 > 0:36:3540 years later, the Camberwell Society is still going strong.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37You've all turned up at the same time!
0:36:37 > 0:36:41- I thought you weren't going to come on time.- We know!- We almost didn't!
0:36:41 > 0:36:44You're only rousing me out for the dinner table!
0:36:44 > 0:36:47'We meet on the first Thursday of every month,
0:36:47 > 0:36:50'usually to go through anything of interest to Camberwell,
0:36:50 > 0:36:53'which will usually be something to do with transport or planning.'
0:36:53 > 0:36:57Jeremy Bennett was active in the group's early campaigning.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00In those days, conservation did seem to be quite pioneering.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03We felt that we were energetic young people
0:37:03 > 0:37:07trying to do something that was worthwhile, I suppose.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10That was really what it was. It doesn't sound terribly...
0:37:10 > 0:37:12It sounds a bit pompous, but I think that's what we felt.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17But the conservationists were an irritant to the council,
0:37:17 > 0:37:20who were focused on building the new estates.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25The older councillors really hated
0:37:25 > 0:37:29not just the Camberwell Society, but some of the other societies like that.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32Jeremy Fraser is a former leader of Southwark Council.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38At that time, if you were involved in trying to get better housing for people,
0:37:38 > 0:37:42then the groups that were trying to look at conservation and protecting
0:37:42 > 0:37:46just looked like what we would call today NIMBY groups.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50These were very professional, well-spoken people
0:37:50 > 0:37:57who were telling largely working-class councillors how to do their job.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00There is no doubt that the council regarded all of us
0:38:00 > 0:38:02as a bunch of middle-class worthies
0:38:02 > 0:38:06who were concerned with the value of their own property,
0:38:06 > 0:38:08but it wasn't fair to dismiss us
0:38:08 > 0:38:11accordingly as having only parochial interests.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17In the same year as they formed the local Camberwell Society,
0:38:17 > 0:38:20residents of the Grove joined a London-wide campaign
0:38:20 > 0:38:23to stop work on a radical road-building scheme.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30Nothing focuses your attention more than the sudden realisation
0:38:30 > 0:38:34that your own little patch is going to be invaded by this.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37The first section of the scheme in West London -
0:38:37 > 0:38:39the Westway - had just been completed.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42Many houses had been destroyed.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46A similar motorway was planned to cut across Camberwell Grove
0:38:46 > 0:38:47above the existing railway line.
0:38:50 > 0:38:54A huge concrete...motorway,
0:38:54 > 0:38:56and it would have been way up in the air.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59You know, visually it would have completely dominated
0:38:59 > 0:39:02and destroyed buildings over there.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09But the residents weren't going to give in quietly.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13Shirley Tanner stood for local election against the scheme.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15"Homes before roads." There we are.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18The aim was to draw attention to the plan and stir up public opposition
0:39:18 > 0:39:22to the destruction of houses it would involve.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26I think we all did hope that there wouldn't be some mistake
0:39:26 > 0:39:30and we get elected, but it was part of getting this message across.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34The scheme threatened to cut swathes through sections of London.
0:39:34 > 0:39:3880,000 people were faced with the loss of their homes.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41I was just completely taken over by this thing.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43People used to come after work
0:39:43 > 0:39:49and go round giving out leaflets through people's letterboxes.
0:39:49 > 0:39:51We had a big map on the wall.
0:39:51 > 0:39:53Yes, we had a big map and they'd come back
0:39:53 > 0:39:56and they'd mark off the bits where they'd leafleted and so on.
0:39:57 > 0:40:02Shirley didn't win a majority, but the opposition campaign,
0:40:02 > 0:40:06added to the mounting costs of the scheme, had the desired effect.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09The road-building plan was abandoned.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12Nationally, the tide was turning in favour of conservation.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16A law was passed requiring councils to create conservation areas
0:40:16 > 0:40:19where historic buildings would be protected.
0:40:19 > 0:40:25By 1971, 32 of London's 33 boroughs had conservation areas.
0:40:26 > 0:40:29Camberwell Grove was one of them.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32But the first time it really hit home
0:40:32 > 0:40:34was when we got this leaflet through the door,
0:40:34 > 0:40:38which we found was actually of our house, believe it or not,
0:40:38 > 0:40:40and what it said was, "How does this affect me?
0:40:40 > 0:40:45"What is a conservation area?" This is the Camberwell Grove one.
0:40:45 > 0:40:49A year later, most of the houses on the street were given listed status.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53I mean, once it was listed, that threat we knew had gone away.
0:40:53 > 0:40:58Because not even the council could ride roughshod over that.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03The old houses of Camberwell Grove now had the protection of the law.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09The new legislation also restricted what the council could do
0:41:09 > 0:41:13with property it had acquired on Camberwell Grove.
0:41:13 > 0:41:17It had bought up a terrace of houses north of the railway line,
0:41:17 > 0:41:19a bomb site on the other side
0:41:19 > 0:41:23and two terraces of white stuccoed houses at the top of the grove.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31They are the old, beautiful, big houses,
0:41:31 > 0:41:34and so different, but all big,
0:41:34 > 0:41:38because they're the rich people
0:41:38 > 0:41:43and good architects and ideas.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45And I had one, one day.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49And it was good. I had the big house.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54Yeah, it was good. It was called The Farm.
0:41:55 > 0:41:56Yeah.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58It was good.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04Dave Viney grew up in South London a mile-and-a-half from Camberwell
0:42:04 > 0:42:07in a terraced street near the Walworth Road.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11A little two-up, two-down type of thing, you know?
0:42:11 > 0:42:13You know?
0:42:13 > 0:42:14Sit outside and...
0:42:16 > 0:42:19..you know, normal key in and doors all open.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21All that whole yap, yap, yap. It's all true.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26In the early '70s, Dave's family home was earmarked
0:42:26 > 0:42:30for slum clearance, part of the council's housing policy.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35They wanted everyone to go in the estates,
0:42:35 > 0:42:39the big estates up the Elephant. You know, they'd just built them,
0:42:39 > 0:42:43all these wonderful places and, oh, you know, "Wow."
0:42:44 > 0:42:47Which they was - big, beautiful kitchen, you know?
0:42:47 > 0:42:50Sinks and toilets - indoor toilets.
0:42:50 > 0:42:52We was in slums.
0:42:52 > 0:42:59And again I was one of the last ones in the road to come out
0:42:59 > 0:43:02because I didn't want to go in 'em.
0:43:02 > 0:43:08You know, there was something about them, eight floors, ten floors up.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11It just wasn't normal to me.
0:43:13 > 0:43:18Anyway, one day I was riding up there, Camberwell Road...
0:43:19 > 0:43:23..when I see these beautiful big houses...
0:43:24 > 0:43:27..being decorated.
0:43:28 > 0:43:35And I thought maybe I'd stop and see who owns 'em.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40I went in and asked the workers
0:43:40 > 0:43:43and they said, "Yeah, they're council.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45So I went up to the council
0:43:45 > 0:43:49and the lady behind the counter, she said,
0:43:49 > 0:43:54"You don't want to go in them. They're not new."
0:43:54 > 0:43:57I said, "Yeah, please.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00"I'd like to go in them." Anyway, we was...
0:44:00 > 0:44:05They said, "Yeah, OK." I signed up and that was it. We was in there.
0:44:08 > 0:44:09People thought we was crazy.
0:44:09 > 0:44:13"Why don't you have a lovely new flat on the Aylesbury?
0:44:13 > 0:44:17"Beautiful new kitchens etc, etc,"
0:44:17 > 0:44:22but no, I didn't like the concept of going up high.
0:44:25 > 0:44:30Dave and his family moved into Camberwell Grove in 1975.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36It was beautiful. I thought it was beautiful.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39Big gardens...
0:44:40 > 0:44:42It was.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48It's strange coming to them cos they've been decorated again.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52Should I go in and ask whose they are again?
0:44:52 > 0:44:53Maybe I can go back there.
0:44:55 > 0:44:56Start again.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04This is the Aylesbury estate in London.
0:45:04 > 0:45:08By the mid-'70s, the vast new Aylesbury estate - which Dave had turned down -
0:45:08 > 0:45:12was already suffering from its severe design flaws.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15Kids still play football amongst the cars.
0:45:15 > 0:45:16They're not supposed to -
0:45:16 > 0:45:19they're supposed to use the elevated walkways
0:45:19 > 0:45:22to go to play areas sometimes half a mile from home.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25To be quite honest, my little 'un drove me mad when I first lived here.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28Because he couldn't get down.
0:45:29 > 0:45:30There's nowhere for the kids to play.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33If they play on the grass, they've got to get off.
0:45:33 > 0:45:35What about the general look of the place? Do you like that?
0:45:35 > 0:45:40Oh, well - look at it for yourself. Look. I mean, it's like a prison, isn't it?
0:45:40 > 0:45:43- THEY LAUGH - Isn't it, though? Look.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45All concrete, isn't it?
0:45:49 > 0:45:51The council was building another estate
0:45:51 > 0:45:54on one of the sites it owned on Camberwell Grove,
0:45:54 > 0:45:58but this time regulations of the newly created conservation area
0:45:58 > 0:46:01prevented it from repeating the mistakes
0:46:01 > 0:46:03it had made on the Aylesbury Estate.
0:46:05 > 0:46:11Orhan Beyzade moved into the newly-built Lettsom Estate as a boy in 1976.
0:46:11 > 0:46:16The name is a last trace of the eminent doctor from earlier times.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20The original plans of the estate show the height of the blocks
0:46:20 > 0:46:22had to conform to the height of the houses on the Grove.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27The height stays exactly the same as the houses.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30It was nice. It's amazing that they, years ago, they thought of that
0:46:30 > 0:46:34because you don't think they would think like that.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37The thing about our generation, we was always out, active,
0:46:37 > 0:46:40and if your dinner was ready, your mum would open the door,
0:46:40 > 0:46:44shout your name, and you'd come straight up.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47Living in a tower block, we would have been playing on the landing,
0:46:47 > 0:46:51enclosed on the landing and we wouldn't be getting the fresh air.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55That's why I'm glad, in a sense, that they didn't put the tower block,
0:46:55 > 0:46:58or I might not have been the person I am, you know.
0:46:58 > 0:47:02The block of the estate Orhan and his family moved into
0:47:02 > 0:47:07faces onto Camberwell Grove, and shares its address.
0:47:07 > 0:47:12Cos our address was Camberwell Grove it give us a bit more pride.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15If I was out and someone said, "Where do you live?"
0:47:15 > 0:47:18You'd say Camberwell Grove first and then you'd say the Lettsom after,
0:47:18 > 0:47:20but not always would you put the Lettsom on it.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23You'd always say you live on Camberwell Grove,
0:47:23 > 0:47:25so people think, "Oh, he lives on Camberwell Grove!"
0:47:25 > 0:47:28Still today I do it, probably without knowing.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34At the top of the Grove, Dave Viney's circumstances were changing.
0:47:37 > 0:47:42My wife had, er... we'd split up and she'd left
0:47:42 > 0:47:45and I was on my lonesome.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48And that's when it all started.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54The rest of Camberwell Grove may have earned the title of gentrified,
0:47:54 > 0:47:57but things were taking a very different turn at Dave's place.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01He transformed the property into an open house and squatters moved in.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04It was the '80s, it was a different time,
0:48:04 > 0:48:08it was different rules, you know, youngsters were travelling.
0:48:10 > 0:48:11It was a new era.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16And people used to just turn up, word of mouth,
0:48:16 > 0:48:20it was like a community spirit, it was a community spirit.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25In the 1980s, against a backdrop of high unemployment
0:48:25 > 0:48:27and long housing waiting lists,
0:48:27 > 0:48:31unused properties were irresistible to some.
0:48:31 > 0:48:36This was the main room, this was the farm.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39This is where the action took...
0:48:39 > 0:48:42The kitchen was there.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46She's put a pallet on there, that's how big the fire was.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51HE LAUGHS
0:48:51 > 0:48:52(Fuckin' hell.)
0:48:52 > 0:48:55Dave embraced the good life,
0:48:55 > 0:48:58the house became known as the farm, Dave as the farmer.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01And farm animals returned once again to the Grove.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04We had the pig, Irene.
0:49:04 > 0:49:07Alfred the goat.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09Billy the goat.
0:49:09 > 0:49:11Ducks, chickens.
0:49:11 > 0:49:13A horse for a while.
0:49:15 > 0:49:22A psychiatrist, Bruce, and big bonfires and sofas and...
0:49:22 > 0:49:26blaring music and...
0:49:26 > 0:49:31parties, good times.
0:49:31 > 0:49:32Yeah.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39Life in the farm was in full swing when the young banker,
0:49:39 > 0:49:43Tristram Sutton got lost on his way to another party.
0:49:43 > 0:49:45He ended up buying a cottage
0:49:45 > 0:49:49and he found it was right next door to the farm.
0:49:49 > 0:49:51I remember the first day, waking up
0:49:51 > 0:49:56completely disorientated in a strange house
0:49:56 > 0:49:59and before I opened my eyes, I remember hearing a cock crowing
0:49:59 > 0:50:02and Van Morrison playing loudly, really loudly.
0:50:02 > 0:50:07And I just found this most sort of surreal and disorientating.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11I went round to where the music was coming from
0:50:11 > 0:50:14and that was the first time I met Dave,
0:50:14 > 0:50:16just lying back on a beaten-up sofa
0:50:16 > 0:50:19in the middle of this huge, cavernous room,
0:50:19 > 0:50:23listening to Van Morrison, the way he wanted to start the day.
0:50:23 > 0:50:24It was absolutely fantastic.
0:50:26 > 0:50:30It feels good. It feels good.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36Tristram, old chap! How are you doing? How are you doing?
0:50:36 > 0:50:37Long time no see.
0:50:37 > 0:50:42Must be a bit of a funny, historic moment, coming back here.
0:50:42 > 0:50:43Well, innit changed?
0:50:43 > 0:50:46It was the farm,
0:50:46 > 0:50:50and now I've been in there and it's a beautiful family house.
0:50:50 > 0:50:52- Yes.- And it still feels good. - Exactly.
0:50:52 > 0:50:56I mean, I don't know, did the farm feel good when you was in there?
0:50:56 > 0:50:58- It certainly did.- That's how I feel.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02Do you remember that evening when Frances cooked for us all
0:51:02 > 0:51:06in the pouring rain with windows smashed out of either side of...?
0:51:06 > 0:51:08Do you remember that?
0:51:08 > 0:51:11Bob the Bite was there with his arm in plaster.
0:51:11 > 0:51:13And there was another guy, I can't remember his name,
0:51:13 > 0:51:16but he had a crucifix tattooed on his back.
0:51:16 > 0:51:18I don't think there was any lighting in the place.
0:51:18 > 0:51:22- I think you probably had the electric turned off.- Again.- Again!
0:51:22 > 0:51:26But there was a huge fire burning in each of the fireplaces,
0:51:26 > 0:51:28pouring with rain.
0:51:28 > 0:51:32It was one of the most unforgettable evenings of my life.
0:51:32 > 0:51:37- There you go, that's my point about the farm.- Yes.
0:51:37 > 0:51:42The community was living, it was like alive, thumping
0:51:42 > 0:51:45and, boom-boom-boom.
0:51:45 > 0:51:47It was, like, dum-boom.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51Other houses on Dave's terrace were squatted too,
0:51:51 > 0:51:52part of this one by punks.
0:51:54 > 0:51:56Remnants of the era still remain.
0:51:56 > 0:51:58Hello.
0:51:58 > 0:52:00- How are you?- I'm good, how are you?
0:52:00 > 0:52:02- I'm David from the farm. - Ah, come in.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04- Pleased to meet you.- And you.
0:52:04 > 0:52:06Wow, it's changed.
0:52:06 > 0:52:07Different from what it was before?
0:52:07 > 0:52:09Slightly.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11Very much so, very much so.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16Stephen Dunc moved in six years ago.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19- You don't know anything about the graffiti on my chimney?- No, no.
0:52:19 > 0:52:21If I go and get a picture, I'll show it to you.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23So, there you are, look,
0:52:23 > 0:52:27so there's the anarchy symbol on the top of my house.
0:52:27 > 0:52:28- That's normal.- Is it?
0:52:28 > 0:52:32That's quite normal, you know, everyone was an anarchist.
0:52:32 > 0:52:33Oh, right, OK.
0:52:33 > 0:52:38- That would have been quite normal on the wall in here.- OK.
0:52:45 > 0:52:47Graffiti was like you having photographs.
0:52:47 > 0:52:49Oh, right, OK. Inside and out?
0:52:49 > 0:52:53The '80s, you know, and people just wrote on the wall.
0:52:53 > 0:52:54Want me to do one now?
0:52:54 > 0:52:56HE LAUGHS
0:52:56 > 0:53:00- Well, I don't think I'd want one now.- Nah? OK.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03The fabric of the council-owned houses had been deteriorating,
0:53:03 > 0:53:07but, as they were listed, it could not demolish them,
0:53:07 > 0:53:09nor could it afford to repair them for tenants.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12Eventually, the council decided to sell.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16In 1996, they paid Dave, the last council tenant, to leave.
0:53:16 > 0:53:18The period came to an end.
0:53:20 > 0:53:21It was a shame,
0:53:21 > 0:53:26and there was a sense of another bit of London that was losing
0:53:26 > 0:53:32a kind of more alternative or different way of being in London that was going,
0:53:32 > 0:53:38and it was becoming a more, kind of, normalised, conventional set-up.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42- Do you remember the circus acrobats practising on the tree opposite? - Yes, yes.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45- They rigged up a trapeze. - Yeah, they were fantastic.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48Yeah, God, I'd forgotten about that.
0:53:48 > 0:53:53Can you imagine it happening now?
0:53:53 > 0:53:55Not easily, not easily.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59The council sold the terraces to developers
0:53:59 > 0:54:02on condition that the houses be restored to single homes.
0:54:02 > 0:54:07The wheel had turned full circle for the grand houses at the top of the Grove.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14This is the latest development on Camberwell Grove,
0:54:14 > 0:54:15on the site of a former school,
0:54:15 > 0:54:20these houses have just been built in a neo-Georgian style.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23And the design is very much part of the sales pitch.
0:54:24 > 0:54:28I think what they've achieved here is a wonderful Georgian facade,
0:54:28 > 0:54:31like it really belongs in this beautiful, traditional street,
0:54:31 > 0:54:34but inside, you've got beautiful space,
0:54:34 > 0:54:37organised how you want to live today.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39I think it's good.
0:54:39 > 0:54:44I think the older homes have lovely exteriors too, like the ones opposite.
0:54:44 > 0:54:46You could buy an older house and do it,
0:54:46 > 0:54:48but it would cost you a lot of money to re-vamp the house,
0:54:48 > 0:54:51re-plumb it, knock through supporting walls and so forth,
0:54:51 > 0:54:56I think this is why I like this - you won't have to make any modifications.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00Local groups, including the Camberwell Society,
0:55:00 > 0:55:03fought for seven years to influence the new development.
0:55:06 > 0:55:10You know what the price they're asking,
0:55:10 > 0:55:14um, I believe it's one-and-a-half million pounds for each house.
0:55:14 > 0:55:19So, I think it's probably going to be people who get bonuses
0:55:19 > 0:55:20who are going to move in.
0:55:20 > 0:55:23And fine, if they want to join our community,
0:55:23 > 0:55:26be part of Camberwell community, great.
0:55:26 > 0:55:31And the nice bath, very curved, very beautiful...
0:55:31 > 0:55:32- Yes.- ..free-standing bath.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37Locals fought six separate plans for much higher-density housing
0:55:37 > 0:55:40before finally accepting the current design.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45Conservation area gave us huge protection in this,
0:55:45 > 0:55:49and that process that happened in the early '70s really paid dividends,
0:55:49 > 0:55:50because the buildings that have gone up
0:55:50 > 0:55:54are, I think everyone would agree, of pretty high quality.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59While the private houses are on Camberwell Grove,
0:55:59 > 0:56:00the developers also helped finance
0:56:00 > 0:56:0332 social and affordable homes
0:56:03 > 0:56:05on the parallel street,
0:56:05 > 0:56:09some now occupied by today's council tenants.
0:56:10 > 0:56:11At the same time,
0:56:11 > 0:56:14the Aylesbury Estate, acknowledged now as a failure,
0:56:14 > 0:56:16is being demolished,
0:56:16 > 0:56:20the fate that once met so many Georgian houses -
0:56:20 > 0:56:24recognition that the design of where we live really DOES matter.
0:56:25 > 0:56:29If only all social housing was to this quality.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32And it's to the credit of the people round here that they fought
0:56:32 > 0:56:36long and hard to say they weren't opposed to things changing,
0:56:36 > 0:56:38and buildings changing use and so forth,
0:56:38 > 0:56:40but that things had to be done to equality.
0:56:40 > 0:56:44That's good and, you know, you just wish there were more communities
0:56:44 > 0:56:48that were fighting as strongly for things as good as this.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56The whole of Camberwell Grove is beginning to look pretty good.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02It seems to have vindicated what we did. In those early years,
0:57:02 > 0:57:04I had doubts. She never seems to have doubts.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07She's so bloody dogged about things, you know?
0:57:09 > 0:57:11And I've actually started...
0:57:11 > 0:57:14I've decided I'm going to draw every house in the street.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17I need another 100 years for that, so I don't suppose I'll finish it.
0:57:19 > 0:57:26If Charles Booth's surveyors were to return to map the social make-up of Camberwell Grove today,
0:57:26 > 0:57:30most of it would probably fall into his top category - yellow.
0:57:30 > 0:57:34Over 200 years since the first terraces were built on the Grove,
0:57:34 > 0:57:39the houses once again provide family homes for the middle-classes -
0:57:39 > 0:57:41the people they were first built for.
0:57:44 > 0:57:46Next week, the Caledonian Road.
0:57:46 > 0:57:49People go, "Oh, my God, Caledonian Road? What a shithole."
0:57:49 > 0:57:52This is the story of how its prime location
0:57:52 > 0:57:55left it open to be exploited...
0:57:55 > 0:57:58I will give you a little advice.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01As long as the cow has milk, milk it.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06..and how the people who called it home, learned to fight back.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08I just stood up, ranting, "How can you grin?
0:58:08 > 0:58:11"This is our lives you're talking about.
0:58:11 > 0:58:13"Don't sit there grinning! You're laughing at us."
0:58:13 > 0:58:16To discover more about Britain's secret streets,
0:58:16 > 0:58:19the Open University has produced a free guidebook. Go to...
0:58:21 > 0:58:25..and follow the links to the Open University, or call...
0:58:32 > 0:58:35Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd