0:00:02 > 0:00:03London in 1886...
0:00:05 > 0:00:07..then, the largest city in human history,
0:00:07 > 0:00:10and the centre of the known world.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14With its self-importance, its dirt, its wealth,
0:00:14 > 0:00:18and awful poverty, it seems a mystery to us now.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22It was a different world. An entirely different world.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25But there is a guide to this human jungle -
0:00:25 > 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 > 0:00:49If people knew how many cattle was killed there,
0:00:49 > 0:00:50I don't think they'd live there.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56He wanted his maps to chart stories of momentous social change...
0:00:56 > 0:01:00I was on the bottom, and 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 > 0:01:08how easily desirable or well-to-do neighbourhoods
0:01:08 > 0:01:11could descend into the haunts of the vicious
0:01:11 > 0:01:13and semi-criminal, and back again.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18Now the maps can help us reveal the changes
0:01:18 > 0:01:21that have shaped all our lives,
0:01:21 > 0:01:25and made the story of the streets the story of us all.
0:01:25 > 0:01:26Oh, my goodness!
0:01:26 > 0:01:28The old toilet's gone!
0:01:29 > 0:01:33Now, we're going back to one of the 10,000 streets he mapped.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38This is the story of how its prime location
0:01:38 > 0:01:41made the Caledonian Road ripe for exploitation.
0:01:41 > 0:01:47I will give you a little advice, as long as the cow has milk, milk it.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51But the people of the road have found their own way
0:01:51 > 0:01:54to survive in the big city...
0:01:54 > 0:01:56Do you want business, love?
0:01:56 > 0:01:58..always against the odds.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00Fireworks, made in England.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04- Fuck the pig.- What are you doing? What are you doing to my film?
0:02:04 > 0:02:06What?
0:02:10 > 0:02:11Twats!
0:02:21 > 0:02:23On the edge of central London,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26running through the Borough of Islington,
0:02:26 > 0:02:28is a mile-and-half-long road.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32It begins at King's Cross and connects the city with the north.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36This is the story of how that prime location
0:02:36 > 0:02:41left the Caledonian Road vulnerable to powerful outside forces.
0:02:41 > 0:02:46And how it's working class community learned how to fight back.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52Outsiders know the Caledonian Road only as a place you pass through -
0:02:52 > 0:02:56urban, grimy, seemingly unloved.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00Locals know it as the Cally, a place of rented flats,
0:03:00 > 0:03:05letting agents, caffs, vegetable stands, and the odd pub.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12# I gave a letter to the postman
0:03:12 > 0:03:15# He put it his sack
0:03:15 > 0:03:19# Bright and early next morning
0:03:19 > 0:03:21# He brought my letter back
0:03:21 > 0:03:22# She wrote upon it
0:03:22 > 0:03:26# Return to sender
0:03:26 > 0:03:28# Address unknown... #
0:03:28 > 0:03:32Last year, Eileen Christie took over the tenancy
0:03:32 > 0:03:34of the Prince of Wales.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38She's lived on the road all her life.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41People go, "Oh, my God! Caledonian Road. That's a shit-hole!"
0:03:41 > 0:03:44Everyone says it. Don't matter where they're from.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48Anyone who knows Cally, it's got such a bad reputation.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Cos we're bit rough around the edges and we're loud.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57And we wave at each other like, you know, "Hi!"
0:03:57 > 0:04:00People look at that and they just think that's pretty undesirable.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04We don't see nothing wrong with it, but the reputation is that of,
0:04:04 > 0:04:05"What a shit-hole!"
0:04:08 > 0:04:12Eileen's pub is owned by Andrew Panayi,
0:04:12 > 0:04:15a Cypriot immigrant.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20From his headquarters at the back of a former second-hand furniture shop,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Andrew runs his property empire.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26- How's it going? - Did you wash your hands?
0:04:26 > 0:04:28Yeah.
0:04:28 > 0:04:33We get tenants who call in sometimes and he calls them all in.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35Come and have a drink.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37Anyone who comes in the office.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39Don't matter who comes - solicitors, bankers...
0:04:39 > 0:04:41Sit down, have a drink... everybody.
0:04:41 > 0:04:42ALL: Cheers.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46- INTERVIEWER:- How many properties on the Cally do you own and where are they?
0:04:46 > 0:04:49We don't even know how many are.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52This is a serious part of Cally.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54What do you mean - "serious"?
0:04:54 > 0:04:56It's good for salvation.
0:04:56 > 0:04:57That's mine.
0:04:58 > 0:04:59Hello.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02And that's mine.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05That's mine. ..That's mine.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07- You've more down here? - Oh, my God, yes!
0:05:07 > 0:05:09We haven't even started.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11You know, this one here,
0:05:11 > 0:05:14I bought it in 1990.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16It was just a collapsed building,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19and then I rebuilt it a few years later,
0:05:19 > 0:05:22and in the place of the garden, as you can see,
0:05:22 > 0:05:25we've built those two floors.
0:05:25 > 0:05:26This is one of the ones
0:05:26 > 0:05:28the council's giving you a hard time about?
0:05:28 > 0:05:30I did get planning permission
0:05:30 > 0:05:31five years later.
0:05:36 > 0:05:37Build first,
0:05:37 > 0:05:39get the permission later.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41- It always works.- What did you say?
0:05:41 > 0:05:44Build first, ask for permission later.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Caledonian Road is a place where you feel free.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51I wouldn't be able to do in the West End what I did here.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54Here you could change the face of the street
0:05:54 > 0:05:56without anybody noticing it.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05By the late 1890s,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08the Victorian social explorer, Charles Booth,
0:06:08 > 0:06:10had arrived in Islington
0:06:10 > 0:06:14as part of his epic quest to examine social conditions in the capital.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19Then, as now, the Caledonian Road was a major route
0:06:19 > 0:06:21into central London.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27But when Booth arrived on the road for the first time,
0:06:27 > 0:06:29he was not impressed by what he found.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33"A depressing district," he called it.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41There were shopkeepers without any sense of enterprise...
0:06:45 > 0:06:48..and labourers without regular employment,
0:06:48 > 0:06:51who survived living by their wits.
0:06:51 > 0:06:56The Caledonian Road was a place of poverty, where, for Booth,
0:06:56 > 0:06:59the strife and pain and sorrow of life with no hope,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02must, at times, be unbearable.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09This was not how it was supposed to be.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17Edmund Thornhill is a property developer.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19In 1776,
0:07:19 > 0:07:23his great-grandfather, George, acquired 90 acres of land
0:07:23 > 0:07:27on the edge of London, apparently because it was good hunting ground.
0:07:27 > 0:07:32I did hear apocryphally, it was my mother who kindly told me,
0:07:32 > 0:07:37that apparently George said the snipe shooting in Islington
0:07:37 > 0:07:40was rather better than it was in Chelsea.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44Sadly, he's not around to defend himself, er...
0:07:44 > 0:07:45whether that remark is true.
0:07:45 > 0:07:51In those days, it was fields, it was farms, it was tenanted out,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54but he really wanted, for want of a better expression,
0:07:54 > 0:07:56for his asset at Islington to be sweated.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00He realised he'd acquired a significant opportunity,
0:08:00 > 0:08:03and wanted to make sure it was going to be worked.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09The Caledonian Road was the result of a speculative moneymaking plan,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12dreamt up at the country manor of George Thornhill.
0:08:12 > 0:08:17In 1826, London's Victorian property boom was in full swing,
0:08:17 > 0:08:21and Thornhill wanted his piece of the action.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24He planned to build a brand-new road running along the edge
0:08:24 > 0:08:27of his land, a road that would make it possible,
0:08:27 > 0:08:30once some poor tenants were moved on,
0:08:30 > 0:08:34to turn his hunting ground into a massive development
0:08:34 > 0:08:38of hundreds of private houses - the Thornhill Estate.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45This is a wonderful photograph in time,
0:08:45 > 0:08:47because this is 1848
0:08:47 > 0:08:52and 30 years before this, none of the Thornhill Estate was built.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55They clearly spent a lot of time in meeting rooms,
0:08:55 > 0:09:00really considering what this estate was going to look like.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02You know, looking at Thornhill Square,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05it's been beautifully planned through.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07He was making sure that
0:09:07 > 0:09:11if he was going to put his name to something, it was going to be good.
0:09:11 > 0:09:12Of course, they're taking a punt,
0:09:12 > 0:09:16because they're expecting people to come and live there
0:09:16 > 0:09:21and it was long before the idea of doing a pre-let or selling-off plan,
0:09:21 > 0:09:26so it must have been a very, very, very exciting time.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30There they were, yes, they had their ancestral home in the country,
0:09:30 > 0:09:34but actually, they were part of what was some form of urban revolution,
0:09:34 > 0:09:38and that must have made their dinner parties more interesting.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41George Thornhill's gamble paid off.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45A senior official at the Inland Revenue moved into number one,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48a successful merchant into number 13,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51a solicitor into number 26 -
0:09:51 > 0:09:54each had two live-in servants.
0:09:54 > 0:09:59170 years later, Thornhill Square still reflects its builder's vision
0:09:59 > 0:10:02of first-class housing for London's professional classes.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05Here, just behind the Caledonian Road,
0:10:05 > 0:10:08houses cost upwards of £2 million.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11This is how the whole area may have looked,
0:10:11 > 0:10:15if George Thornhill had owned all the land off the road,
0:10:15 > 0:10:16but he didn't.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22While the Thornhill Estate followed meticulous masterplan,
0:10:22 > 0:10:24along the rest of this brand-new road,
0:10:24 > 0:10:28there were different landowners with their own visions for the area.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32Just a few hundred yards from the upscale Thornhill Estate,
0:10:32 > 0:10:36the government found the perfect place to build a brand-new prison.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40Pentonville opened in 1842.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45It held 500 convicts awaiting deportation to the colonies.
0:10:45 > 0:10:46Behind its walls,
0:10:46 > 0:10:48they were stripped of their identity
0:10:48 > 0:10:50and forbidden to talk to one another.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55When Charles Booth strolled past Pentonville 50 years later,
0:10:55 > 0:10:57he noted with semi-scientific disdain,
0:10:57 > 0:10:59that the prisoners
0:10:59 > 0:11:03were flat-headed, bull-necked and undersized.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10Today, the prison still looms over the Caledonian Road.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15Everything about the prison has stayed exactly the same.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19I just remember being a small child, walking along Caledonian Road
0:11:19 > 0:11:20and walking up the wall
0:11:20 > 0:11:22and the wall used to go higher and higher and higher
0:11:22 > 0:11:24and you'd sort of walk up the prison wall
0:11:24 > 0:11:26and I often look at it even now and I often think
0:11:26 > 0:11:29"When I've got trainers on, I'm going to walk up the wall."
0:11:32 > 0:11:34You go past it and go,
0:11:34 > 0:11:36"Pentonville Hotel," you know.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40I didn't really connect it. When you're walking past, you don't look up and go,
0:11:40 > 0:11:42"Oh, God, this prison." Doesn't look like a prison.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44You don't see prisoners out digging the roads.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46It doesn't mean anything at all...
0:11:46 > 0:11:49CAR HORN BEEPS ..unless someone has actually escaped,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52and then you've got a few helicopters.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55That's it. Apart from that, no-one takes no notice of the prison.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58It's just part of, it's just part of...
0:11:59 > 0:12:01Fuck the pig!
0:12:01 > 0:12:02LAUGHTER
0:12:02 > 0:12:06What are you doing? What are you doing to my film?
0:12:06 > 0:12:08What?
0:12:11 > 0:12:13Twats.
0:12:15 > 0:12:20It wasn't just the government that saw the potential of the road.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24The Great Northern Railway had intentions on an area near the bottom.
0:12:24 > 0:12:29It saw this is the perfect location for a new station, King's Cross,
0:12:29 > 0:12:33and as the rail company, had the power to get what it wanted.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36Anyone in the way was evicted, even graveyards were dug up.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40For two years, the road descended into chaos
0:12:40 > 0:12:43as labourers toiled day and night
0:12:43 > 0:12:46to build London's newest railway terminus.
0:12:46 > 0:12:52Up and down the road, cheap housing was thrown up for the men now needed by the railway.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55They included Roy Hagland's grandfather,
0:12:55 > 0:13:00who lived just off the Caledonian Road in a three-bedroom cottage
0:13:00 > 0:13:03with his wife and 22 children.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06William Hagland started off on the railways as a van boy
0:13:06 > 0:13:08and ended up a famous train driver
0:13:08 > 0:13:13captured for posterity on his own cigarette card.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18All the kids in them days, they wanted to be engine drivers.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25Used to walk down Caledonian Road and the people, they sort of bowed to him.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29He was a god! Honestly, he was.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32He was an old sod to us, funny enough.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36He loved kids, but he didn't like his own kids.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40- He had 22 of them! - Yeah, 22, yes.
0:13:40 > 0:13:45- Getting old now. Soon be 76. - 76, yeah. You're still a young man.
0:13:45 > 0:13:51- After your haircut, you will look 20 years younger.- I wish I was! Yeah.
0:13:54 > 0:13:59The arrival of the station at the bottom of the road transformed the area.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03The rapidly expanding capital had a huge appetite
0:14:03 > 0:14:07and King's Cross became the destination for animals arriving from the north.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11To reduce the number of cattle herded through the centre of town,
0:14:11 > 0:14:16the authorities decided to make the Caledonian Road their final destination.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21The biggest cattle market in the country was now located
0:14:21 > 0:14:23on the 30 acres around the clock tower.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30On market days, anyone who lived near the Caledonian Road
0:14:30 > 0:14:33now had to contend with the smell, not only of the cattle,
0:14:33 > 0:14:40but of 42,000 sheep and 15,000 pigs being herded through their streets.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43That is where they used to run them out.
0:14:43 > 0:14:48From York Way, into Market Road, down to the White Horse pub,
0:14:48 > 0:14:50turn 'em left, in there.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52MOOING
0:14:52 > 0:14:56If it was a cold day, women used to bring their children up
0:14:56 > 0:15:01because if they were sweating cattle, it was good for whooping cough.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04The sweat of the cattle, it was an old wives' tale,
0:15:04 > 0:15:06but they used to believe it.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10Yeah, a lot of women used to stand here and the cattle used to run past.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15You always knew when the calves were coming.
0:15:15 > 0:15:20- When the calves come, that is when the dirty old men used to go there. - To do what?
0:15:20 > 0:15:25You know when a calf sucks the tit of a cow?
0:15:27 > 0:15:32Leave that to your imagination. And I'm not joking, that is the truth.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39The market went, but the giant slaughterhouses were still operating into the 1950s.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43Up to 280,000 animals were killed every year.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46It was in one of those slaughterhouses
0:15:46 > 0:15:48that Roy got his first job.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55That used to be the White Horse pub. I was drinking in there every day,
0:15:55 > 0:16:00five o'clock in the morning - we used to go to start work at seven,
0:16:00 > 0:16:04and we was always drunk, we was never sober.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07One wall there, as high as the fence there now...
0:16:07 > 0:16:12It never had nothing like this. It was just one complete slaughterhouse.
0:16:12 > 0:16:17- How old were you when you first came here?- 15, 15-and-a-half.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21I mean, it was a smashing job, but it was my very first stressful job, really.
0:16:21 > 0:16:25Do you know, I still dream about it? Honestly, even now.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28I saw one chap, he was cutting one day,
0:16:28 > 0:16:31and he said to me, "Look how sharp this knife is."
0:16:31 > 0:16:33And he just...
0:16:33 > 0:16:34his own throat.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37Yeah.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40Because they had veterinary surgeons in there
0:16:40 > 0:16:44and the veterinary surgeons come, bound his neck up
0:16:44 > 0:16:49and when the ambulance come, they just took it all off again - died.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54Now it looks like quite posh housing.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59If people knew how many cattle was killed there,
0:16:59 > 0:17:01I don't think they'd live there!
0:17:02 > 0:17:04I don't think they would!
0:17:07 > 0:17:11The Caledonian Road had become the place to put the institutions
0:17:11 > 0:17:15needed by the city, but not wanted in it.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19It was helping to turn the neighbourhood, despite its central location,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21into an undesirable address.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26But it was the presence of King's Cross that made the road notorious.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32As soon as it opened, prostitutes had begun to take advantage
0:17:32 > 0:17:36of the train station to conveniently commute into work.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41Unless you were interested in what they had to offer,
0:17:41 > 0:17:43the bottom of the road became a no-go area.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49But in the middle of this famous red light district,
0:17:49 > 0:17:54there was a small working-class community trying to live a normal life.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02Norma Steele was born here in 1938.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06This little stretch of the Cally,
0:18:06 > 0:18:08there wasn't anything, really, you couldn't get.
0:18:08 > 0:18:16Now it seems to be cafes, estate agents, and a Tesco Express.
0:18:16 > 0:18:22Unbelievable. This used to be our lovely bakers.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26And I can remember when I was very, very young, six or seven,
0:18:26 > 0:18:30coming around and getting hot bread at Bessie bakers...
0:18:31 > 0:18:35..and if I was lucky, a doughnut, as you can see.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39Ooh. This used to be a pub.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43- The Star...- What's it now? - A mosque, would you believe?
0:18:43 > 0:18:46The Star And Garter, this used to be called.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50And my mother used to play the piano in here.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01My mum played the piano in that one as well.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03She played the piano in nearly all the pubs here.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08Well, it certainly didn't look like this!
0:19:08 > 0:19:11I mean, my mum would not have believed this pub if she...
0:19:11 > 0:19:12my dad certainly wouldn't.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14They had never seen anything like this.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16For the Cally, it is unbelievable.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Saturdays used to be lovely.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21We used to love Saturday night as kids,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25because the word would go up, "There's a fight at the Queen's"!
0:19:25 > 0:19:29And we would all fly around to see the fight.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34Nearly every Saturday, somebody would come out of a pub having a fight in this area.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37- That would be it. - Was it a very rough area?
0:19:37 > 0:19:40It was, it was a rough area. It was a working-class area, it was a rough area.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49Just behind the busy parade of pubs and shops
0:19:49 > 0:19:53was a collection of small factories, lead workshops and brush-makers
0:19:53 > 0:19:55that employed much of the neighbourhood.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57Built in the time of Dickens,
0:19:57 > 0:20:01they had barely changed in over half a century.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04Crammed into a smelly, clattering world of urban industry,
0:20:04 > 0:20:08these were the streets where the families worked and lived.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13A mile from the nearest park, this is where Norma was filmed with her friends
0:20:13 > 0:20:14in the family's home movies.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19This is where we would all come and sit, on the steps.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23And just tell each other dirty jokes,
0:20:23 > 0:20:25or whatever we thought was a dirty joke,
0:20:25 > 0:20:29or talk about Mrs So-and-so telling us off.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34It was a lovely, lovely atmosphere when I was young, in this street.
0:20:34 > 0:20:35It really was.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39This is my house. This looks very smart.
0:20:39 > 0:20:44It was a completely busy street. Every house had children in,
0:20:44 > 0:20:49plus they were multi-lets. I mean, my gran always had lodgers,
0:20:49 > 0:20:50so although we lived downstairs,
0:20:50 > 0:20:55she would have a couple of rooms with lodgers in on the top floor, to help with the rent,
0:20:55 > 0:21:00and these trees - we actually paid for them to be planted.
0:21:00 > 0:21:05We wanted trees in the road, so we did a deal with the council.
0:21:05 > 0:21:11So they planted these lovely tiny trees. My mum cried.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15This used to be my mum's bedroom and when she saw the trees planted, she cried.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18- Why?- She was so thrilled,
0:21:18 > 0:21:20to see trees in King's Cross.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25With small, quiet efforts, the community was beginning to learn
0:21:25 > 0:21:28that they could take control of their lives,
0:21:28 > 0:21:29but their road was changing.
0:21:29 > 0:21:34A steady supply of houses for rent attracted waves of newcomers to the area.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36They brought their history with them.
0:21:36 > 0:21:43In 1955, 257 Caledonian Road made the news.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46'Crowds gathered outside the derelict shop in the Caledonian Road
0:21:46 > 0:21:49'where the police have discovered the guns and ammunition stolen
0:21:49 > 0:21:50'from Arborfield camp.
0:21:50 > 0:21:51'The IRA's complete haul
0:21:51 > 0:21:52'had been recovered.'
0:21:52 > 0:21:57In the 1950s, with their leaders being locked up in Pentonville,
0:21:57 > 0:22:02the road had become the focus of tension between Irish republicans and the authorities.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06It now had a reputation as a district for society's outsiders -
0:22:06 > 0:22:11criminals, prostitutes, radicals and immigrants.
0:22:11 > 0:22:17But for an innocent young Irish girl arriving in London in search of work, it was a welcoming place.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22Eileen's mum Bridie still lives just off the Caledonian Road today.
0:22:24 > 0:22:29- When did you first come here? - In 1959.- Mum, I was born in 1959!
0:22:29 > 0:22:36Were you born up there? '58. About a year before you were born. Yeah, '58.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39I remember somebody, the year I came here, somebody got hung.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43The last person to be hung at Pentonville, over the road.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46'It was nearly nine o'clock in the morning outside Pentonville prison.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50'A large crowd, probably the biggest ever seen there on the morning
0:22:50 > 0:22:54'of an execution, protested against the hanging of Ronald Marwood.'
0:22:54 > 0:22:56He killed a policeman at the Nag's Head.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59I remember there were a big demonstration there and everything,
0:22:59 > 0:23:01but they hung him anyway.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08- Where is the first place you lived in the Cally?- Lesly Street.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Basically, my dad was a landlord
0:23:11 > 0:23:13and my dad had a few properties at that time.
0:23:13 > 0:23:19And my mum and her friends rented one. That is how she met my dad.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21- Yes, exactly. - He was her landlord?- Yeah.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25Backing onto the walls of Pentonville prison
0:23:25 > 0:23:29was the small working-class enclave where Eileen's mum rented a room from her dad.
0:23:30 > 0:23:35When Charles Booth visited the area, number six Lesly Street was shared
0:23:35 > 0:23:37by the families of a slaughterman,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40a police sergeant and a brewery cellarman.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43The street is no longer there.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46This was Lesly Street.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50And there were shops, and there was stables along here with shops.
0:23:51 > 0:23:56It's mad. We lived at number six. Probably about here.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58I was actually born here, somewhere along here.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00Down there in the basement somewhere.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02Born at home, 52 years ago.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06Back then, a small road backing onto a prison
0:24:06 > 0:24:12just off the Caledonian Road was one of the only places that Eileen's father, a Jamaican immigrant,
0:24:12 > 0:24:14could afford to become a property owner.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18He came in 1947 with £10.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22Old black-and-white picture.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25He started working in Caledonian market.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29He saved his money and he bought his first house.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32And in them days, it was easy to rent
0:24:32 > 0:24:37because nobody wanted blacks, Irish, dogs, cats, dogs...
0:24:37 > 0:24:39You know, it was easy.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42This is you and Dad. All this has gone.
0:24:42 > 0:24:43All these houses have been demolished.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46He seduced her and she ended up having us four with him.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49And that is the end of that story!
0:24:50 > 0:24:54Our childhoods were fabulous. All the kids played together.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57Children are children and it wasn't until the '70s,
0:24:57 > 0:24:58once I was a teenager,
0:24:58 > 0:25:04that I realised there was a major problem with racism and colour.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07Before then, no. Childhood was great.
0:25:07 > 0:25:13Wave after wave of outside influences had left their mark on the road.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16But by the 1950s, its residents had learned how to adapt
0:25:16 > 0:25:18to what they could not control.
0:25:18 > 0:25:23For the people of the Cally, it felt like their road was in its heyday.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25The people there were so different then.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29You could leave your front door open and no-one would rob you,
0:25:29 > 0:25:31if you know what I mean.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34But now, you just go out after dark, you are scared of getting mugged!
0:25:36 > 0:25:42You knew who the villains were. Well, I think we was all villains then.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44Well, not... Sort of petty.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46Fireworks, made in England.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49One only. Shilling, tenpence, ninepence...
0:25:49 > 0:25:55The road had always had a reputation as a place for a bit of dodgy dealing.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Between the 1920s and the 1960s,
0:25:58 > 0:25:59the Cally was renowned for housing
0:25:59 > 0:26:01the biggest second-hand goods market
0:26:01 > 0:26:02in the capital.
0:26:02 > 0:26:07Do you care for those, madam? The pair of them. Weighs 96 ounces.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10But if you were in the know, it was probably the best place
0:26:10 > 0:26:14in all of Britain to fence stolen property.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18Not one-and-six each, the same as they charge in the shops, nor a shilling...
0:26:18 > 0:26:21Living on the road taught its residents to appreciate a clever scam.
0:26:22 > 0:26:28Our trick was you wore the first pair of trousers,
0:26:28 > 0:26:29that's where you put your loot.
0:26:32 > 0:26:39Then you put your second pair of trousers on so the police couldn't see your loot.
0:26:39 > 0:26:40HE LAUGHS
0:26:40 > 0:26:42Honestly, it was that bad.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46Honestly, it was really bad for thieving.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49What for some would be a cause for shame
0:26:49 > 0:26:53was for others just a way to help your neighbours get on in life.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59Back then, you really could. You worked in Tesco...
0:26:59 > 0:27:03You worked in Tesco's. Or you worked in the chemist or you worked wherever,
0:27:03 > 0:27:06and, I don't know, someone would come in and go,
0:27:06 > 0:27:08"Oh, put that bit of chicken through."
0:27:08 > 0:27:11So you put it through. You wouldn't charge them. It didn't mean anything.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14And some of the mums would have a trolley and you'd put it through.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16You'd go, "Stick it through."
0:27:16 > 0:27:18It's just how it was.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22But everybody did it for everyone. It was like... It was how it was.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26Not no more. Too many cameras about, I suppose.
0:27:29 > 0:27:34The Caledonian market was closed down for good in 1963.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36It was the end of an era.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43That's what you got to look for now. Look.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45Disgusting, isn't it?
0:27:46 > 0:27:51The council decided the whole area needed modernising.
0:27:52 > 0:27:57Ever since the 1930s, they had been aware of the problem of overcrowding around the road.
0:27:58 > 0:28:0140 years later, the problem was acute.
0:28:03 > 0:28:09In 1970, the Caledonian Road police station was besieged by more than 100 black youths.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11'Police concern in this part of London at the moment
0:28:11 > 0:28:14'is whether life for them will stay quiet in future
0:28:14 > 0:28:17'with tension sometimes running very high indeed'
0:28:17 > 0:28:21among the local immigrant population over poor houses and crowded conditions.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25It is thought that it is these environmental and social difficulties
0:28:25 > 0:28:26that are most likely
0:28:26 > 0:28:28behind a recent pattern of problems
0:28:28 > 0:28:29with the immigrant community...
0:28:29 > 0:28:32Islington Council's solution to the problem
0:28:32 > 0:28:36was to demolish street after street of Victorian terraces
0:28:36 > 0:28:41and replace them with state-of-the-art council estates.
0:28:41 > 0:28:48Once again, the people of the Caledonian Road were given no choice but to adapt to a new way of living.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52- Your dad was a landlord.- Mm-hm. - He had three or four houses?- Yeah.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56- Compulsory purchase.- He could have been quite a wealthy man.- Yeah.
0:28:56 > 0:29:02- So what happened to him instead? - Um, he died! No, no, not really.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06What happened was compulsory purchase. The houses were sold.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09They would give you a little.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12Back in them days, the houses were 2,000, 3,000.
0:29:12 > 0:29:14And he had one more house... He bought a house...
0:29:14 > 0:29:16Was he ruined by this, I mean, financially?
0:29:16 > 0:29:19It... He hated Labour.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21He hated the Labour Government.
0:29:21 > 0:29:23He absolutely hated the Labour Government.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27Because they took his houses. "They took my bloody houses of me."
0:29:29 > 0:29:33My dad wasn't one to ponder. It was like, "What can I do?"
0:29:33 > 0:29:36But if they still owned these houses today,
0:29:36 > 0:29:40the Victorian houses that was here, then them houses today would be the same
0:29:40 > 0:29:44as the ones in the Fawn Hill area, because they were the same area, the same type of houses,
0:29:44 > 0:29:48they would probably be worth £2 million, each house today, so...
0:29:51 > 0:29:55The Bemerton Estate opened in 1970.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59The people of the Cally area couldn't wait to move in.
0:30:02 > 0:30:04It had all the modern amenities -
0:30:04 > 0:30:09indoor plumbing, communal play areas, and off-street parking.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16We moved from that, in a street like that,
0:30:16 > 0:30:20and this is my mum there, in a block of flats.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23- That's not me, is it?- Yeah, it is you.- It's windy.- That's you.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27- We had a good laugh.- Listen, there was nothing wrong with living here.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31We had good neighbours, everyone used to walk in and out of each other's houses.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34- "All right, Bridie, it's only me." - "Put the kettle on!"
0:30:34 > 0:30:36It was very much like that.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45At the time, I'm a teenager and the houses are torn down.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49The houses were cold and damp. They had no heating.
0:30:49 > 0:30:51The council had great ideas of building these flats
0:30:51 > 0:30:56and giving everyone bathrooms and toilets and bedrooms for their children.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00It wasn't horrible. It wasn't awful.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03It was nice. Other people would look and go, "Bloody hell, it is mental!
0:31:03 > 0:31:07"I want a big house and that." But it was my dream.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09When I left school, I just wanted to get married
0:31:09 > 0:31:12and get a council flat and have a baby.
0:31:12 > 0:31:13That was my dream.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16I promise you, this was my dream...
0:31:16 > 0:31:17when I started out.
0:31:17 > 0:31:22The house over in the corner, that was my flat that I got first of all.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24I was so proud of it. It was a two-bedroom.
0:31:24 > 0:31:29It had a little garden, like these here, a little garden, and to bring my children up there,
0:31:29 > 0:31:31I thought was wonderful at the time.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34I thought, you know, I thought I had won the lottery!
0:31:38 > 0:31:42The dream of modern living didn't stand up to reality.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46The recession of the 1980s hit the road hard.
0:31:46 > 0:31:52Boarded-up shop fronts and second-hand stores replaced the big chain shops on the road.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54Even the last bank closed.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01And at the bottom of the road,
0:32:01 > 0:32:04the prostitutes became bolder than ever.
0:32:04 > 0:32:09Looking for business? Do you want business, love?
0:32:09 > 0:32:14- Sorry?- No.- All right, love.- How much do you charge?- 20.- No.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16SHE SNEEZES
0:32:18 > 0:32:21'I remember walking home. I was, like, 17,'
0:32:21 > 0:32:23and cars used to pull up at the side of you.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25It was pretty rough down there.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29- Would you like business? - Yeah, how much?- 20.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32- One old woman once, she was 80, 80! - It was pretty rough.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34And she was waiting at the bus stop.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36- Someone pulled up. - She lived over here.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38- "How much, darling?" - "How much, darling?"
0:32:38 > 0:32:42- She was 80 years old, honest to God, 80.- Do you know what she did?
0:32:42 > 0:32:45- She got in!- No, she never.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48- She said, "You're joking, aren't you?"- She did, didn't she?
0:32:48 > 0:32:50- "I'm 80 years old," she said. - Yeah, she did, didn't she?
0:32:50 > 0:32:54- She was getting the bus.- She went, "Oh, fourpence ha'penny, love"!
0:32:59 > 0:33:02Vice might have been on the rise around the Caledonian Road
0:33:02 > 0:33:06but the community still battled to carry on a normal life.
0:33:09 > 0:33:10Norma Steele was now married
0:33:10 > 0:33:14and renting a house just one road away from where she was born.
0:33:15 > 0:33:22We moved in here in November 1979 with a rent of £17.41.
0:33:23 > 0:33:25Found the papers the other day.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30Norma's mother's generation had planted trees.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34Now the next generation began to make their own mark.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37The transformation of the derelict land behind their houses.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44This was a National car park. The gates were there.
0:33:44 > 0:33:46- They were right next to my house. - Yes.
0:33:46 > 0:33:50But then we put pressure on the council
0:33:50 > 0:33:54to take the car park over and make it into a communal garden.
0:33:58 > 0:33:59I mean, to live in King's Cross
0:33:59 > 0:34:05- and to have this at the back of you is absolutely brilliant. - Right next to the Cally.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07Norma and her neighbours built an oasis
0:34:07 > 0:34:10in the middle of a red light district.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13I used to patrol it.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15And if anyone dropped litter I'd say, "There."
0:34:17 > 0:34:20I mean, this is a new...
0:34:20 > 0:34:22I'm amazed they got planning permission for that, to be honest.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28Then, in March 1991,
0:34:28 > 0:34:31the existence of the area was suddenly under threat.
0:34:34 > 0:34:36NEWSREADER: 'At the turn of the century,
0:34:36 > 0:34:38'an entirely new high-speed railway,
0:34:38 > 0:34:42'the Union Railway, will be brought into service.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46'This new line will link the Channel Tunnel with central London.'
0:34:47 > 0:34:50REPORTER: 'The new station will be built just a few feet
0:34:50 > 0:34:52'below the existing rail tracks.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56'It will mean the demolition of 17 acres of land including 84 homes
0:34:56 > 0:35:00'with a loss of just under 2,000 jobs from local businesses.'
0:35:02 > 0:35:06British Rail had plans to bring the Channel Tunnel to King's Cross.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08It involved grabbing land around the road
0:35:08 > 0:35:11and forcing out the people who lived there,
0:35:11 > 0:35:13just as when the station was first built.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18One of the streets under threat was a small crescent
0:35:18 > 0:35:21just off the bottom of the Caledonian Road.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24It was home to civil servant Randal Keynes.
0:35:25 > 0:35:30The plan was to knock down the whole of this part of the crescent
0:35:30 > 0:35:34because that was immediately over this huge, underground station
0:35:34 > 0:35:36that they were planning to build.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40They would have, um...been able to keep this side,
0:35:40 > 0:35:43it would have been on the edge of the hole
0:35:43 > 0:35:47up to 40 or 50 feet deep, just there.
0:35:47 > 0:35:52The whole work will centre around the site
0:35:52 > 0:35:57so that will be the main worksite for at least six, seven, eight
0:35:57 > 0:36:00and, in reality, probably 10 years.
0:36:00 > 0:36:06Now, in that time, these people are expected to live
0:36:06 > 0:36:10on top of what is known as the biggest building site in Europe.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15I was... Well, how can I describe it?
0:36:15 > 0:36:17I was just completely...devastated.
0:36:17 > 0:36:22You just felt that all the years that you spent getting the area nice
0:36:22 > 0:36:24and then suddenly it was going.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27I mean, it was just such a devastating blow.
0:36:27 > 0:36:29The community hadn't been given a thought.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32Once again, "King's Cross, there's no community.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35"There's only drug addicts and prostitutes,"
0:36:35 > 0:36:38which, to me, was so untrue.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42My first reaction was anger,
0:36:42 > 0:36:48not simply at their claim for our land,
0:36:48 > 0:36:51that they wanted to do take it to knock it down,
0:36:51 > 0:36:56but because they had simply missed the point that we were there.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00They just had this idea that
0:37:00 > 0:37:05they didn't need to consider anyone living or working
0:37:05 > 0:37:11on premises in their way because they were the rail company
0:37:11 > 0:37:16and rail companies were allowed to rule.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19The Caledonian Road found itself mixed up
0:37:19 > 0:37:21in a massive moneymaking scheme.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23In the property boom of the late 1980s,
0:37:23 > 0:37:26British Rail had joined together with private developers to build
0:37:26 > 0:37:30the Broadgate office complex over Liverpool Street Station
0:37:30 > 0:37:33and now the rail company wanted to repeat that success
0:37:33 > 0:37:37on an even bigger scale by completely transforming
0:37:37 > 0:37:4230 acres of prime London real estate around the Caledonian Road.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46They didn't really think about how much
0:37:46 > 0:37:49our properties were worth to us.
0:37:49 > 0:37:54They were only aware that the property as a whole,
0:37:54 > 0:37:59if they could acquire it, would be worth so much more to them.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03I remember at one meeting when British Rail were trying to sell us
0:38:03 > 0:38:08how good it would be, their legal man was sitting at the table
0:38:08 > 0:38:12with this big grin on his face all the way through and I freaked out.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14I just stood up and ranted, "How can you grin?
0:38:14 > 0:38:17"This is our lives you're talking about.
0:38:17 > 0:38:19"Don't sit there grinning, you're laughing at us."
0:38:21 > 0:38:25Some residents were determined to stay put, come what may,
0:38:25 > 0:38:29but others, uncertain about the area's future, began to sell up.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33The southern end of the road, always poor, hit rock bottom.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39Council IT worker Harry Donnison documented
0:38:39 > 0:38:41the descent of his road into blight
0:38:41 > 0:38:43and despair.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47- These are pictures out my window. - Which window?- This window here.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53There you can see that's a working girl
0:38:53 > 0:38:58and this bloke was a sort of drug dealer-cum-customer.
0:38:58 > 0:38:59I saw them and I thought,
0:38:59 > 0:39:00"Yeah, I need that picture
0:39:00 > 0:39:02"for part of the collection,"
0:39:02 > 0:39:03and I pointed out the window
0:39:03 > 0:39:06and caught them just in time.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09But I could have taken the same picture the next day.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13It wasn't as if it was a difficult shot to get, really.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17It has to be said that British Rail were talking about
0:39:17 > 0:39:22the neighbourhood as run-down and needing to be redeveloped.
0:39:22 > 0:39:27It was obviously in their interests to allow
0:39:27 > 0:39:31this whole atmosphere to get stronger and stronger.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33They had no interest
0:39:33 > 0:39:37in saving the neighbourhood from prostitution or drug dealing,
0:39:37 > 0:39:39or winos collapsed on the pavement.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44This is my front door, this would be not so unusual.
0:39:44 > 0:39:49You open your front door and there'll be someone there just sprawled across the threshold
0:39:49 > 0:39:53protesting as you try and step over them politely.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55There's some more tramps.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59Obviously street drinkers, they would have a very difficult time
0:39:59 > 0:40:03and they would... they would die at times.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05They wouldn't last that long.
0:40:05 > 0:40:07This is quite a common sight.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10You've got a syringe and a spoon there.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14That was part of the heroin trade that was everywhere.
0:40:14 > 0:40:19But with the prostitution and the street dealers, there would be violence.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23Punters would come back to complain if they'd been sold something that wasn't any good
0:40:23 > 0:40:26and that's when a lot of the violence would kick off.
0:40:26 > 0:40:29Here you get examples of people who had been murdered
0:40:29 > 0:40:33in the streets round about King's Cross and the Caledonian Road.
0:40:33 > 0:40:35These are all police signs,
0:40:35 > 0:40:39appeals for witnesses for various murders that took place in the area.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43Guardian Angels was a temporary fashion in the '80s
0:40:43 > 0:40:46and they did start coming around King's Cross
0:40:46 > 0:40:51patrolling the streets, but they never really took off.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54I think they were out of their depth, quite frankly.
0:40:54 > 0:40:59There was very little standing in the way of British Rail's plan
0:40:59 > 0:41:01to transform the area,
0:41:01 > 0:41:04except the determination of a small community
0:41:04 > 0:41:08not to abandon its home on the Caledonian Road.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12We petitioned and we petitioned and we petitioned,
0:41:12 > 0:41:14and we put in hundreds of petitions.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18Did you think you had any chance of pushing British Rail back?
0:41:18 > 0:41:21Not really, not to start with,
0:41:21 > 0:41:24but that was the very first time I thought, "Well, this is it.
0:41:24 > 0:41:29"We're not going to be looked down on and treated like idiots."
0:41:29 > 0:41:34I mean, when you think we had to go to the House of Commons
0:41:34 > 0:41:37to petition and I got cross-examined in the House of Commons.
0:41:37 > 0:41:41I mean, how intimidating was that for me?
0:41:41 > 0:41:44The legal battle lasted over five years,
0:41:44 > 0:41:48long enough that the property boom turned to bust.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52Already on the back foot, thanks to the changed economic situation,
0:41:52 > 0:41:54British Rail was about to discover
0:41:54 > 0:41:57that the Caledonian Road had a secret weapon.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00Randal Keynes was the great-grandson of Charles Darwin
0:42:00 > 0:42:03and the grandson of economist John Maynard Keynes.
0:42:03 > 0:42:06These illustrious family connections would be used by Randal
0:42:06 > 0:42:11to try to bring down the whole multi-million pound scheme.
0:42:11 > 0:42:16When it came to the debates in the House of Lords,
0:42:16 > 0:42:21I was able to approach two Peers of the Realm
0:42:21 > 0:42:25who would ask a question and this was simply
0:42:25 > 0:42:28could the Minister for Transport assure the House -
0:42:28 > 0:42:30that was the language -
0:42:30 > 0:42:33that the Government will pay for this Bill?
0:42:33 > 0:42:37And he knew and he was able to tell the Peer presenting the Bill
0:42:37 > 0:42:40that the answer would have to be no.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43At that point, the whole thing unravelled
0:42:43 > 0:42:46and the government told British Rail
0:42:46 > 0:42:48that they must withdraw the Bill.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51- NEWS:- 'British Rail's preferred option will not now go ahead.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54'That news brought jubilation for the campaigners
0:42:54 > 0:42:58'who tonight are claiming a famous victory over British Rail in defence of their homes.'
0:42:58 > 0:43:02It all sounds as though it was such a fight, but it was, I suppose,
0:43:02 > 0:43:05and it did take an awful lot of my time,
0:43:05 > 0:43:08but, you know, I just wanted a normal life.
0:43:08 > 0:43:13I came to King's Cross from a life of privilege with a very good job
0:43:13 > 0:43:17and learnt one big lesson while I was here
0:43:17 > 0:43:20and that is that my assumptions
0:43:20 > 0:43:23about how everyone in our country
0:43:23 > 0:43:28has their home, their livelihoods, well protected,
0:43:28 > 0:43:32that idea is just completely false if you are poor
0:43:32 > 0:43:35and if you live in a place like this in the inner-city
0:43:35 > 0:43:38and it needed so much trickery
0:43:38 > 0:43:41and campaigning and fast thinking
0:43:41 > 0:43:44to persuade the government
0:43:44 > 0:43:47the British Rail scheme was wrong
0:43:47 > 0:43:50and should be abandoned.
0:43:50 > 0:43:54And I think we should all be ashamed about that.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59At last, the people of the Cally managed to defeat outside forces,
0:43:59 > 0:44:02determined to use the road to their own ends.
0:44:02 > 0:44:07British Rail moved its grand scheme to nearby St Pancras Station.
0:44:07 > 0:44:11The imminent arrival of hordes of European business people
0:44:11 > 0:44:15finally encouraged the police to clear out the drunks,
0:44:15 > 0:44:17drug addicts and prostitutes.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21The Lower Caledonian Road began to move distinctly upmarket.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26At the time, this was a hostel,
0:44:26 > 0:44:29now it's Regents Quarter,
0:44:29 > 0:44:31so now, as you can see,
0:44:31 > 0:44:34just looking out the window, you've got an estate agent's there.
0:44:34 > 0:44:36The place has changed.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39You don't have the crack houses,
0:44:39 > 0:44:41they're now estate agents, physiotherapist shops.
0:44:41 > 0:44:46It's a terrible thing to say after all the appalling things I've said -
0:44:46 > 0:44:51in some ways I find the place less interesting now.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54The residents at the bottom of the Cally had saved the road
0:44:54 > 0:45:00only to see it turned into a street indistinguishable from any other.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02The prime location of the Caledonian Road
0:45:02 > 0:45:06means that it will always attract those with their own ideas of how to use it.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10If the development of King's Cross is leading the bottom of the road
0:45:10 > 0:45:16inevitably upmarket, Cypriot landlord Andrew Panayi has taken the middle of the road
0:45:16 > 0:45:18in a completely different direction.
0:45:18 > 0:45:20Like many before him,
0:45:20 > 0:45:23Andrew has taken advantage of a road without the usual rules
0:45:23 > 0:45:26ever since he arrived there in 1985.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32What did you think of England before you came here?
0:45:32 > 0:45:35I saw the photographs of the River Thames, the tulips,
0:45:35 > 0:45:37and I wanted to see it.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40So how much money did you have in your pocket when you arrived in England?
0:45:40 > 0:45:43I had a lot of money. I was rich.
0:45:43 > 0:45:48£60 which I put in a bank, in Barclays bank.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51- So everything you have now started with £60?- £60.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57Andrew arrived as a qualified insolvency accountant.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00After the property bubble of the late 1980s,
0:46:00 > 0:46:05he was able to make his move and buy up property after property.
0:46:05 > 0:46:07Andrew was an opportunist.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09He had the money behind him,
0:46:09 > 0:46:12so everything that became available, Andrew stepped in and went,
0:46:12 > 0:46:14"Right, I'll buy that one,"
0:46:14 > 0:46:15just like a Monopoly game.
0:46:15 > 0:46:19People, though, at those days, they didn't recognise
0:46:19 > 0:46:21the benefit of the residential above the shops.
0:46:21 > 0:46:25But the rental income from the shop to me was only incidental.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29So by developing the residential above, I could get more than enough
0:46:29 > 0:46:32to compensate for even no income on the commercial.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36Oh, this one was, until recently, a Chinese restaurant
0:46:36 > 0:46:41but due to the recession it closed down,
0:46:41 > 0:46:45and there are above it four residential units.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48Andrew has worked out the best way
0:46:48 > 0:46:51to take advantage of his property portfolio.
0:46:51 > 0:46:56Above the supermarket, he's managed to fit in 20 flats.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58As so often over the history of the Caledonian Road,
0:46:58 > 0:47:03the best way is not always the strictly legal way.
0:47:04 > 0:47:08I was not asking for planning permission. I was building.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12Andrew has a reputation with Islington planners.
0:47:12 > 0:47:17If you mention Andrew's name to the planners, the crucifixes come out.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21It's... He does whatever he wants to do.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24He gets enforcement action against him.
0:47:24 > 0:47:26He totally disregards it and nothing happens.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28If you go from the corner to my office,
0:47:28 > 0:47:32you will see that there is an extra floor, the fifth floor built.
0:47:32 > 0:47:34No planning permission.
0:47:34 > 0:47:36They'll take enforcement action.
0:47:36 > 0:47:39They will try to get him to pull it down and all the rest of it.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41And inevitably they will back down.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43And that's been, you know, for all the streets,
0:47:43 > 0:47:46for all the properties he owns, he's always done something
0:47:46 > 0:47:49that's not quite right, not quite legal, but he's managed to get away.
0:47:49 > 0:47:53- Maybe it's his charisma, I don't know.- And George was introduced to me to put me right.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57I try to help him. I mean, when Andrew does developments,
0:47:57 > 0:48:01he doesn't quite understand how things should be put together,
0:48:01 > 0:48:04building regulations, how to stop things leaking.
0:48:04 > 0:48:08So I try to guide him, because he takes advice from the people he hires.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11Some might know what they're talking about, but most of the time they don't.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14Do you feel misunderstood by the council?
0:48:14 > 0:48:17Well, wouldn't you misunderstand a person like me
0:48:17 > 0:48:20if you were in the council?
0:48:20 > 0:48:22- What do you mean? - With my unorthodox ways -
0:48:22 > 0:48:25carry out the work first and ask them later.
0:48:25 > 0:48:27Do you blame them?
0:48:27 > 0:48:31But I think they shall basically realise
0:48:31 > 0:48:36that over the last four years, I do abide the law.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38And it's about time.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44Not content with surreptitiously adding a whole new storey to the road,
0:48:44 > 0:48:46Andrew has come up with a new innovation,
0:48:46 > 0:48:49creating a whole new world underground.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55We have here One Pound Shop,
0:48:55 > 0:49:01and down there, this large area of 3,500 square feet is shelves.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04What do you do? Commercial?
0:49:07 > 0:49:10Or do you do something different?
0:49:11 > 0:49:15And the quality is breathtaking.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21Hello? OK.
0:49:23 > 0:49:28This room here can only be used as a kitchen,
0:49:28 > 0:49:32because the kitchen does not require daylight.
0:49:32 > 0:49:36It's one of the rooms which they will not insist on daylight.
0:49:36 > 0:49:38Now the bedrooms must have light.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41With the curtains shut, as you can see,
0:49:41 > 0:49:45look at the light that comes in. It is all about light.
0:49:45 > 0:49:50The council's guideline is if you can read the paper in the room,
0:49:50 > 0:49:54say at two or three o'clock in the afternoon, then it is acceptable.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58Even with the curtains shut, there is sufficient light coming
0:49:58 > 0:50:00to provide the facility.
0:50:00 > 0:50:04And this is something which nobody thought before.
0:50:06 > 0:50:12Who would rent a place like this? It looks like a student, no?
0:50:12 > 0:50:14No. They are people who work in restaurants.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17So during the day, and in the evening,
0:50:17 > 0:50:19they will work in the restaurants,
0:50:19 > 0:50:21and, of course, they need 12 hours rest.
0:50:21 > 0:50:26They will come and sleep, because in the evening, this is very warm
0:50:26 > 0:50:29and very cosy, especially for the winter.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34They are habitable, yes?
0:50:35 > 0:50:40- How many units are there? - Well, there are 11 units.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45It is now possible for perhaps 30 people to live
0:50:45 > 0:50:48beneath a single shop on the Caledonian Road.
0:50:48 > 0:50:53According to Andrew, it's all part of his efforts to rejuvenate the area.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58I vet his tenants for him and supply him tenants.
0:50:58 > 0:51:00He's my main agent.
0:51:00 > 0:51:04And I exactly know the kind of tenants he's looking for.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08Basically, I mean, we're looking for tenants, right,
0:51:08 > 0:51:10who pay the rent first of all.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12It's as simple as that!
0:51:12 > 0:51:16Tenants that pay the rent, not only tenants that pay the rent
0:51:16 > 0:51:19but the most important thing I've gathered, a tenant that can smile.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22- You've got to be happy. - You've got to be happy.
0:51:22 > 0:51:24We don't want tenants who go into a place that is grumpy
0:51:24 > 0:51:29because you know after two weeks, you've got problems for the rest of the six months.
0:51:29 > 0:51:33We want happy tenants, we get along with them. If there's a problem, they're willing to wait.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36It's like Earls Court, bedsit land,
0:51:36 > 0:51:39Caledonian Road is becoming just like that.
0:51:39 > 0:51:41Bedsits, bedsit land.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45All the houses down here, rooms to let, just like that, years ago.
0:51:45 > 0:51:47Exactly like this.
0:51:47 > 0:51:50Sooner or later, we'll have thousands of Australians.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55Flat nine in Andrew's underground world
0:51:55 > 0:51:58is actually rented by an Australian.
0:51:58 > 0:52:02Although he shares the £300-a-week rent with three French people.
0:52:06 > 0:52:11- How did you end up finding this flat?- Just off a real estate agent.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14They said, "You'd better make up your mind pretty quick
0:52:14 > 0:52:17- "or else this place will go." - What did you think?
0:52:17 > 0:52:21I thought it was a shit-hole. But of course, travelling and stuff,
0:52:21 > 0:52:23this is how you got to live. This is my room.
0:52:23 > 0:52:29This is where all the magic happens.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32As you can see, it's only small but it gives me a room over my head.
0:52:32 > 0:52:38This is the second bedroom. Three people live in here.
0:52:38 > 0:52:42And this is our bathroom.
0:52:42 > 0:52:48- So not a lot of windows?- No, not a lot of ventilation at all.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52- How's that? - Um, you get used to it.
0:52:52 > 0:52:56You have to go on the internet to realise what the weather is outside.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59- You're not joking, are you?- No.
0:52:59 > 0:53:04So you can't really see what's going on, but, yeah, it's actually...
0:53:04 > 0:53:07- Are there advantages to that? - Yeah, it's cheap.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09LAUGHING
0:53:09 > 0:53:11How long do you think you'll stay on the Cally?
0:53:11 > 0:53:14Until I have to leave for Australia.
0:53:14 > 0:53:19Do you have any sense of what the Cally people who come from here are like?
0:53:19 > 0:53:22No, not really. I just feel like it's London,
0:53:22 > 0:53:26you sort of keep your head down and you just keep going for it.
0:53:26 > 0:53:30I don't know, I really haven't met anybody in this building.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34There's been a few people, but they've complained,
0:53:34 > 0:53:38the music being too loud and stuff like that.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42Andrew's tenants may be just passing through the Cally.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45He, however, has no intention of leaving.
0:53:45 > 0:53:49With all the money you have, you don't have to work any more, do you?
0:53:49 > 0:53:52- Correct. - So why do you stay on the Cally?
0:53:52 > 0:53:57OK, it takes such a long time,
0:53:57 > 0:54:02a lifetime to create a business, successful business.
0:54:02 > 0:54:07Doesn't it seem odd to you that as soon as you create
0:54:07 > 0:54:10a successful business, you kill it?
0:54:10 > 0:54:13Many years ago I went to Cyprus.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17At the time my mother was about 77 and she said to me,
0:54:17 > 0:54:20"I will give you a little advice.
0:54:20 > 0:54:25"As long as the cow has milk, milk it."
0:54:26 > 0:54:31Today, the fate of a decent chunk of the Caledonian Road lies under Andrew's control.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34And as the working class of the old Cally is replaced
0:54:34 > 0:54:38by a new breed of resident, soon there may be few left
0:54:38 > 0:54:42to defend this most misunderstood of roads.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44But for now, thanks to Andrew,
0:54:44 > 0:54:46who just happened to have a pub to rent out,
0:54:46 > 0:54:51Eileen is making sure there's still a heart at the centre of the Caledonian Road.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58How many pints had you pulled before you took over this pub?
0:54:58 > 0:55:02I'd never pulled a pint in my life. I'd never even been behind a bar, let alone a lot pint.
0:55:02 > 0:55:04I'd never been on that side of the bar in my life.
0:55:04 > 0:55:08So I remember when I got the keys, I went behind there
0:55:08 > 0:55:11and I was like, "Oh-h! Oh, my God, what do I do?"
0:55:12 > 0:55:14And the customers, I've got some great customers,
0:55:14 > 0:55:17the old boys that come in. Percy sitting there,
0:55:17 > 0:55:20I'm pulling a pint. "No, no, now leave it, put it down."
0:55:20 > 0:55:24And they've told me, they've actually taught me everything I know.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27The guy who owned this pub, Andrew,
0:55:27 > 0:55:31he said "Do you know how to run a pub?" "No, I don't,
0:55:31 > 0:55:35"but I think I'll be all right, I know the area."
0:55:35 > 0:55:37And it took off, right from day one.
0:55:37 > 0:55:40# That's life
0:55:40 > 0:55:43# That's what all the people say... #
0:55:44 > 0:55:47Do you ever want to leave the Cally and not come back?
0:55:47 > 0:55:51I have left the Cally but I've had to come back.
0:55:51 > 0:55:53I've had to come back.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56I went to a little village called Much Hadham,
0:55:56 > 0:56:02but it was too quiet. I mean, even of a night, when I go to bed,
0:56:02 > 0:56:04you can hear the ambulances, the fire engines.
0:56:04 > 0:56:09It's good, I like it. I've been out, I've come back, and I'm settled now.
0:56:09 > 0:56:12# I've been a puppet, a pauper
0:56:12 > 0:56:14# A pirate, a poet
0:56:14 > 0:56:17# A pawn and a king
0:56:17 > 0:56:20# I've been up and down and over and out
0:56:20 > 0:56:24# And I know one thing Each time... #
0:56:24 > 0:56:28When my husband died, I just felt it was time to move on.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31Nobody could really believe that I was talking about it.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35They just couldn't believe that I was going to leave the Cally.
0:56:35 > 0:56:39But I did, and I haven't really looked back. Life moves on.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46I'm not bitter about my life because, you know, like I said,
0:56:46 > 0:56:51my dream was to get that flat over there and I got that.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54And I had two children and my children are grown up and gone
0:56:54 > 0:56:58and I'm here, I've got a little pub over the road that I run.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02I don't own it. I rent it for a few years, that's it.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05Unless we win the lottery, this is it.
0:57:05 > 0:57:09I'll be in that old people's home in a couple of years' time and that's it.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11And I know I'll be an old lady in a council flat
0:57:11 > 0:57:16getting my state pension, that's it. That's it, that's how it is.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20That's exactly how it is and that's how it will stay.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35Next week we go to Portland Road, Notting Hill.
0:57:35 > 0:57:38Full of multi-million-pound houses,
0:57:38 > 0:57:40it's the ultimate London banker street.
0:57:40 > 0:57:44But it was once the worst slum in London.
0:57:44 > 0:57:48Portland Road was a slum as far as other people was concerned.
0:57:48 > 0:57:50As far as we were concerned, it's where we lived.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53And today, living on the same street,
0:57:53 > 0:57:57some of the richest people in Britain, and some of the poorest.
0:57:57 > 0:58:01My village is that way. Their village is that way.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04To discover more about Britain's secret streets,
0:58:04 > 0:58:07the Open University has produced a free guide book. Go to...
0:58:10 > 0:58:16..and follow the links to the Open University, or call...
0:58:39 > 0:58:40Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd