London – Crouch End – Sunday 12th December 2021

Before heading to the theatre to see A Christmas Carol we had time for one more stop at the trendy north London area of Crouch End.  We didn’t stay here long, but would really like to come back and explore further – it has a number of interesting buildings including the clock tower, and the Hornsey Town Hall, which sadly was boarded up when we were there, as it was being redeveloped as a community hub with housing.   The Waterstones is in a beautiful building, but sadly I have been unable to find any details of the building’s history.

Crouch End
The top two photos show the Couch End Clock Tower and were taken by me.  Below are the Hornsea Town Hall, taken by Christine Matthews and are used under the creative commons licence (see below).

Alexandra Palace

‘Ally Pally’, as it is sometimes colloquially known, originally opened in 1873 but burned down just two weeks later!  It was quickly rebuilt, opening again in 1875 as a public centre for the use of education, entertainment and recreation.  It succumbed to another fire in 1980, destroying the Great Hall, Banqueting Suite, roller rink and theatre dressing rooms and was once again restored, reopening in 1988.  The building stands atop a hill with lovely views across to London.   The photos below are mine, with the exception of the last one which is also used under the creative commons licence (see below).  It was taken by Jack Rose by drone in 2021 – isn’t it stunning!

Creative Commons copyrights:
Hornsey Town Hall Photos © Christine Matthews (cc-by-sa/2.0) 
Alexandra Palace Aerial Photo Jack Rose (cc-by-sa/2.0)