Most Excellent Shepherd's Bush - London Walking Tour

[Music] foreign Jewels guides here in which I wander around London and tell you fascinating facts don't forget to hit the Subscribe button if you like the videos and hit the Bell it's really important you hit the Bell otherwise it doesn't inform you when I upload a new video which is not very often like what every few weeks and today we're in Shepherd's Bush um it's called Shepherd's Bush because this is where supposedly the Shepherds used to stop and rest on their way up towards Smithfield Market with less sheep and cattle or whatever to go and have them slaughtered um but some people say it might just be named after a bloke called Shephard who owns the area oh no one really knows thank you Now by 1967 they uh they built this um West 12 shopping center I remember it when I was a kid and there used to be a bridge do you remember the bridge you used to go over the road there if it was like a walkway that went all the way over there so in the 90s they removed the bridge which led straight over to the station by the start of the 20th century this whole breed had become home to the destitute and MPS to William bull was appalled to see people playing games like pitch and toss yeah I think you have to flick a penny against the wall or something and you you whoever gets the penny closer we used to call it Penny up or a game of Penny up makes you feel so Victorian but in 1962 Wilfred Bramble from Steptoe and son he's also in Hard Day's Night isn't he Wilford Brown yes that's right yes the old the older gentleman the Granddad he was arrested in one of these I think it might have been one of these public lavatories it was a public laboratory around here for smiling at a policeman in the toilet that was enough to do it he just smiled it I'm not surprised have you seen his smile yeah yeah yeah he'll go down the Nixon and there was a nightclub here look but it looks pretty much deserted now I don't know look there's a rat I don't know if it's still a nightclub I believe the first electric tramways had a Terminus here and then they decided to open up the central London Railway which uh which ran where this was a Terminus it was ran from Shepherd's Bush all the way up to the bank of England and um they changed the station now but the station was somewhere around there then obviously they extended that and the central line uses those tunnels today Thomas Faulkner a writer around 1800 ish he wrote he wrote this about the area this Pleasant Village lies on the Uxbridge Road the old house situated on Oxbridge Road was a famous Inn for travelers and it was the only house standing between Acton and Kensington gravel pits at this house the notorious Highwayman called 16 string Jack was finally taken into custody they call him 16 string gaps he wore these colorful strings on his knee britches but when they eventually caught him they threw him into Newgate Prison he was known to have entertained about seven ladies there the night before he was hanged with a kind of farewell dinner and on the day of the execution he engaged in cheerful banter with the hangman and the crowd danced the little jig on The Gallows and then he was hanged up until around 1860 this whole area was pretty rural I mean it wasn't until the arrival of the railways that they really started to build up some of these houses so you can see a lot of these like old red brick things are mostly from end of the 19th century for this building here for example that that the the shepherd's Bush Empire was built in 1903. people like Charlie Chaplin performed there they used to have musical type stuff but later it was bought by the BBC and that's where they did shows like Jim will fix it dear Jim can you fix it I I actually uh wrote to Jimmy Savile I did I wrote uh dear jimmo I thought his name was jimmo Mr Mr jimell they did Cracker Jack in there wogan but you see when I was a bit younger this whole area used to be very popular with antipodesians um particularly Aussies there were so many Aussies around Shepherds for sure I don't I don't know what's happened they seem to have moved one of the reasons why the Walker about was so popular oh well now okay there's a bus in the way but the Palladium there started in around 1910 as uh the cinematograph theater but I remember that as the walkabout and that was the main head walk about where you know I love to walk up I'm always talking about them I don't Know full of Aussies uh full of people wall-to-wall vomiting drink people making merry there's lots of sport on the TV you could buy an emu Burger I I loved it it's Such a Pity it's closed down really foreign just walked up a Wood Lane here and over here we've got this uh the Old Village Hall you can even see the Daytona 1898 it says I think that was used to be the village hall now some sort of dance studio but um so it's another example of all these buildings that popped up around here at the end of the 19th century you can actually see shrapnel on the foundation stone over there from Jerry in the second world war we're not walking all the way up to the other end we're going to go back and round and then end up at the other end of the Wood Lane but uh but yeah just next to the Old Village orders now dance studio you got this big uh well kind of I saw here like a hospital isn't it no no that's Westfield that's the that's the shopping center massive the world needs more shopping centers I don't need more shopping centers it's got all your the main bits and Bobs and it's serving miles it's a shopping malls massive and it's all new and spanking new inside so in 1908 this whole area was occupied by the Franco British exhibition which is actually why they call it White City you wouldn't believe what it used to look like there's all these beautiful buildings clad in Marble it's white stucco it's like palaces with all these different exhibitions celebrating the Empire and eight million people went in through the doors and visited this amazing like exhibition where you had artificial Lakes palaces Canadian toboggan Scenic Mountain Railways an Irish village with 150 colleens who were like who are like Irish girls demonstrating technology at the time and sort of domestic appliances and things like that and there was a Senegalese exhibition to demonstrate what a Senegalese Village was like anyway after the first world war it was all slowly demolished they did they did do a bunch of other exhibitions there but then gradually it all got demolished but I mean the main entrance there's background there where the tube station Shepherds were stationed all to demonstrate Empire fire and basically put everybody down as far as I could sell [Music] at 1899 this street hopgood street was built typical houses of the time built for the urban middle classes actually that building over there is where they used to have 20 20 casting which was one of the first um extras agencies I was I am I I was an extra that was my first ever sort of TV type job thing that I did was from 2020 casting there well yeah this is where they were I did this job it was for the Odyssey and it was starring greater Sachi sketchy how have you said I never saw it I didn't have cable TV or anything about 20 years later drunk on my sofa just going like this yeah and then it was about two in the morning this thing came on it said the Odyssey slime great it's actually wait a minute but wasn't I kind of in that and so I was watching and then sure enough this these doors get thrown over the all these circus acrobats and everything walk in and there's this hairy bloke with a big beard juggling looking completely lanky and it was me that was from 2020 casting it's quite fun foreign just the beginning of Uxbridge Road this didn't used to be called Shepherd's Bush Market station I think there used to be several Shepherd's Bush stations and then it all got a bit confusing so now I've called this one Shepherd's Bush Market station and opposite it's a shepherd's Bush Market let's run across sun because we've got some yeah quick the shepherd's Fish Market opened in 1914 and I think that they filmed parts of Quadrophenia down here Lisa so this is where I can come from my big pants there's like your old-fashioned these are old-fashioned Bloomers there aren't ready for places yes yes no plans to get rid of this Market is there there are no more well it's been here 100 years technology is all Technologies I know where to go to get my pants aren't you Simon you can't tell by the way I use it's actually um Saturday Night Fever was in fact based on mods in Shepherd's Bush I think it based I think that the uh is he called Danny Tony he's um he's based on a character that used to go to the is it is it the Hammersmith Palo who used to they used to have dances and stuff down there and he's he's based on one of the people down there yeah no it's based I believe in an article about life of a young gang in Shepherd's Bush and successfully interpreted in a screenplay so now we're here on gold Court Road and just at the beginning I just want to ask if anyone knows I've been trying to figure out what that G and M 1906 stands for because I've tried to find out what those were sorry I don't know everything it's so if anyone knows let us know not very disappointing oh sorry just walking down the Devil's Highway here I don't know why it was called The Devil's Highway but yeah gold Hawk Road um and um back in 1657 there was a pharaoh called mile Cinder com and he he owned a house down here I think he devised this contraption which was uh I I had a bunch of muskets all tied to wheels or something to try and assassinate Oliver Cromwell um anyway he failed and he was hanged I think or um something but um but so we've been here before haven't we Simon do you remember in the smallest house video look at this they're number 110 is probably the narrowest house in London do you think you remark that I should live here you're always saying that just because I shouldn't live in a skinny house hello John got a new mode ah oh John got a new mode hello John got any more sorry I haven't completely lost my mind remember hello Alexi sale that's this is where he was he was doing a long cold right I've been looking at the video I recognize those houses opposite so he's here sort of just hello it's like to be a complete Maniac I recognize those houses there this was uh I think this was a car lot or something oh I see so yeah he comes in here to get a car or something now it's uh Flats I don't know if they're luxury flats or not who knows and just coming up here this building here which is number I don't know 160 or same it doesn't matter it says Mark Summers outside it this back in the 1960s it was a film studio films like a bloody BEAST's Terror you know starring Peter Cushing and they they were filmed here um yeah Richard Burton Judy Dench Cliff Richard in 1978 it was support by Richard Branson turned into music studios and sort of filmed the artists like uh Bob Dylan The Cure the jam your favorite Simon Kate Bush she recorded here but now it is indeed Mark Summers casting Mark Summers I actually know him because he cast me in my best ever TV commercial which he cost me that IBM ad I did pretend to be a Scotsman it was so embarrassing this cars thing casting they wanted everyone to do a regional accent so I went in and I it was an American director I didn't think they had noticed I was crap so I did this Scottish accent which was hopeless and he gave me the job but then when we actually went up to film it in Scotland all the crew was Scottish and there was meeting my crap I was embarrassed I just defer to my English accent again there was no way I was doing it oh those were the days Simon what I actually did used to get some acting work I can't be bothered to go all the way up there's a bit of a walk because we're coming back this way but number 205 is where they'll gold talk Social Club used to be where the who started out the who played there the animals The Kinks I think no it's uh called The Shepherd's Bush club or something but uh let's go back this way hello John got an IMO hello beautiful since we're walking past this beautiful bath house which was um now naturally turned into luxury Flats in the 1980s but annoyingly covered in scaffolding but right opposite where there's this big housing estate called gumung Terrace this is where they um had the gomon film studios in 1915 it was the first purpose-built film studios in Britain they filmed like Hitchcock did the 39 steps there yeah that's why it's called go monteras they knocked it flattened it all later years but I mean in 1949 it was bought by the BBC and they used it for like the top of the Pops I think the Beatles first ever TV performance was there once the BBC bought it was called lime Grove Studios doctor who stepped her and Son things out were filmed there yeah now it's all flattened and turned into it's that housing estate but right opposite there's quite a nice building here this used to be a like a college for women to learn trades like dressmaking hairdressing embroidery other stuff these days it's the London College of fashion so I don't know if I mentioned we're walking up lime Grove here and back in the 1850s 60s or so Angela bird at Coots who was the richest woman in England I don't do you remember I was talking about her when we were in Hackney and in Victoria Park see that that famous fountain that she donated anyway she was a philanthropist as well and she had bought a cottage here which called urania cottage and it was devoted to uh Fallen women destitute prostitutes um and finally asked she was a friend of Charles Dickens and he was put in charge of you know various running of this destitution home for the prostitutes and anyway when he himself left his wife in 1862 he ran off with his au pair or something there was lots of Scandal and he lost his popularity for for a while and so they decided he couldn't be in charge here anymore but he did Lay the drains I think lime Grove was amongst one of like three or four of the earliest streets to be developed around here I don't know where it was I think it was just next to the go month film studios would have looked much like these houses I suppose [Music] thank you yeah Saint Stephen's Villas look 1874 so yeah these were amongst the earliest it seems very Victoria you looked very Dickens in all this I could imagine yes I don't know like a Kinsey and haunted story being set here or something hello well you can imagine there'd be loads of bed sets back in the day as well possibly full of families you know in one room at a time foreign just back here on Uxbridge road walking back up to Uxbridge road yeah I like the bush Hall there which was built in 1904 some sort of dance hall these days it's a night it's a venue again finally but um look you see on the top you've got those what I assume are pineapples many people write into me telling me that they're actually pine cones but I uh I'm sticking by the fact that they're pineapples which represent welcome of course in the old days because pineapples were very hard to come by many years ago and uh quite expensive so you often see those on top of there I think there's one on the top of the Wimbledon trophy is that in fact that looks like the Wimbledon trophy on the roof do you think the launderette opposites do you reckon that they actually go to launderette fonts.com because when I started all launder it seem to have that font don't they so well the price what property prices around here this could be a new feature in Jill's guide yeah well it's true I mean let's share free hold 400 that's not too bad 575 Share freeholds three double bedrooms I mean it seems pretty good easy access to Central London why am I advertising for people foreign a bit further along they've got the Clifton house it's another one of these homes for destitute Fallen women the Hopeless outcasts of society it was founded for by the the church Army back in like the 1880s I think don't know what it is these days but just a little bit further along from there I can highly recommend Bakery because I went there the other day and they were very nice and uh and it's very reasonably priced as well I don't know if you're feeling peckish Simon it's not that late actually but I do feel we should go in and have something to eat hello how are you doing yeah we're having everything fresh every day we're having a little bit warm food as well we have in cakes some donuts and my homemade sandwiches yeah a very reasonably priced I might add I mean these sandwiches they're one pound 79. what are these yesterday it was excellent as well yeah it was really good really good burgers and we'll we'll get a plane crust on as well like all the cabanos yeah thank you very much thank you so much cheers this is chicken breast chicken breast does it have a name the way you've done it with tomato cheese and you're the main Chef here Bravo to this lady so much they didn't even charge me they didn't charge no well no I honestly how do I know and I'd have asked for more well see you later thank you everyone bye I've been down here a few times to film you know the last few days and I was eating there they're really nice as well I recommend do you know what this do you recognize the streaks are I don't recognize the street but I recognize the water this is this is the street the outfit should be a clue this is where John Cleese did the famous silly walks yeah yeah he comes out of a newsagent up there or something and he is actually my height which is probably why that looks vaguely authentic see you later I prefer up this end of Uxbridge Road actually a bit further along the road it's really nice and it's such a Pity because you've got that lovely Bakery and you've got these really nice looking pubs and you know normally with we'd be finishing in one of these pubs but uh we've got a bit more to do so we're not going to be finishing around here but that looks like a perfect Pub for us to finish in isn't it Simon it does onward this way oh yeah Bloom Fontaine Road uh there's a there's also it leads to South Africa Road which is up here I don't know if they were renamed or if they were originally these names I think it's a reference to the Boer War a feeling when they were developing these streets it was probably around the time of the boa War I think it was to do with the Boer War but it might have just been a reference to the British Empire again in connection with that big Exhibition at White City that they had I mean I don't know I've seen that one over there that sign there just says bloomfontaine Road W and you quite often see that around this area and in many areas where they don't have the numerical subdivision and I'm always saying oh that means that the sign is a pre-1917 sign not necessary I mean it might be that that is a replica or something yeah it does look like there's a W12 on there but they've added that later but I mean the reason why it only says W instead of W12 whatever is because all right it's because it originally it would have just said W before they introduced the W12 in 1917 who cares let's go wait oh wait a minute look look you see I totally used I didn't spot that before teaching points for the stink pipe I'm telling you I'm telling everyone around this table that's a stink pipe and I know what a stink pipe looks like because I've seen one up close and you better look up on Jules guys what a stink pipe is because I ain't going through that hella game did you name that film Simon one of the great sequels of our time Jules two and I was astonished in the guardian list of the top Steven Spielberg films that they had E.T above Jaws oh just for me no they had listed them in in order of yeah was it popularity the best Steven Spielberg films and they put E.T above Jaws I mean no Jaws for me got to be and duel dual amazing thing well of course I would probably put the Colombo film in that he directed death lens a hand is another one he thought he did Steven Spielberg that would have to be number one of course hello who Am I who are you who are you [Music] [Applause] the White City estate I think this is one of the old ones I don't know if it was all built all back there but I think it was started around the 1930s and then they had to stop during the war and it was completed after the war I don't know don't ask me I might be mistaken but just coming up on the right here opposite the whites it is they it's Queens Park Rangers football club it's like a swimming pool from here yeah it doesn't mean it's all blue they were the one who famously had the artificial pitch in the 1980s do you remember plastic pitch and everyone was complaining oh no we've got to play QPR they've got the plastic pitch and Terry Venable's at one point who was the manager he um they they accused him it was said that he used to let the opponents train on the artificial pitch for practice and then on the day of the the actual match it water it make it all slippery and diff so it would be completely different to how they had practice got it I don't know if that's true allegedly yeah I'm not much of a football man to be honest no what do you prefer Simon snooker boxing I mean this was this is boxing well this is this is the famous venue where Barry mcguigan won the uh the world title 1985. yeah he it was here that he defeated yuzabio Pedrosa opposite is the uh the fourth Battalion parachute regiment or something this is where in 1966 when Muhammad Ali fought Henry Cooper you know when he e4r Henry Muhammad Ali trained in here for in this building for for his fight against Henry Cooper this was actually the second time they fought I mean the first time he fought him was um was as Cassius Clay but Henry Cooper actually knocked him down in the ring I think he was one of the oldie people to knock down Muhammad Ali I'm not sure anyway he still went on to lose the fight I am the greatest you even dream you whip me you better wake up and apologize [Music] in 1908 they built a stadium over here just sort of around there somewhere and uh it was for the London Olympics 1908 and they had a big small but quite a lot of the events were held there even swimming so they had a swimming pool in the middle of the stadium in Olympics is the reason why they run what is it 26 miles 385 yards the London Marathon I think because it was from Windsor Castle to Shepherd's Bush and then once around the track or something to the Royal box the winner was an Italian pastry chef called durando pietry he was so knackered at the end though that someone had to help him across the line but unfortunately he got disqualified because you weren't allowed to receive Aid at least he got a street named after him I suppose they knocked it down in 1985 which might explain why um I've always 1980s looking buildings around here I don't know but yeah so we've swung around and come to the other end of Wood Lane now so uh we're gonna head down here towards where the BBC building is [Music] here we are outside the BBC which is why I'm talking like this I still remember the address for when I used to watch blue Peter when I was a kid and at the end I always used to say oh if you've got any bottle tops to send Into the Blue Peter bottle top some pipeline appeal send it to BBC TV Center London W12 8qt and I always remember that so they say in 1960 the BBC moved here and he finally moved out in around 2012 they've sent a lot of stuff up to Salford still some of it here but um the main bit has gone yeah just sort of plunked in the middle of this Mayhem makes it amongst the Westfield shopping center the dimco buildings listed buildings now built in 1898 original there were power stations for the for the tube but uh now there's like a bus garage actually you might recognize it from the The Mummy because that that doubled up as the British museum in the film The Mummy from Brendan phrase or whatever I want to sort of get over to the other side of the sort of Motorway but the issue is impossible you can't get through it's the only way for us to do it is to take a tube one stop it's only over there still strictly speaking it used to be a part of Shepherd's mush so I think we have to complete our journey over there foreign [Music] ER Edward Woodward is so it just feels like one of those dodgy New York bloody side street Alleyway I'm sure they spit they filmed a lot like the mind around the shepherd's Bush why does Edward Woodward have so many these in his name [Laughter] because if he didn't it'd be called we're saying 1964 1970 so they built this huge all this like motorways and stuff that's the West way there and it kind of sighed through and then they built this massive fly over here and around 1972 hawkwind did a gig like just a free gig underneath the big roundabout there over there see sometimes they do films I think that's like it looks like bakay Osaka the Arsenal player is that him looks like him they're doing a TV commercial look at that you see I have to say I was not expecting to see Eaton fives courts here what a strange place to see you know eating fives do you know what that is is it it's a posh game that you know playing English Public Schools you know we used to have eaten but I was quite good at eating fives it started in the school in Eaton's school and people had a glove and you whack a ball against the wall and it's like a caught like this with a butt just coming out because it originated with them playing against the walls of the church you see if you look at the court you can see these steps and buttresses and things it resembles a church kind of it's a really good game they should have it in the Olympics I mean they've got break dancing in the Olympics now anyway if I see a game of eating fives Rupert grab a glove come on he's taking bastard it was tarkwin anyway and we'd ask her you'd actually say uh I say I say I say talkers okay fancy a game of top step on your break you play TOP Step because you needed two players on each side to play a full game of eating fives but if you only had two of you you could just play the other guy on the top step give your game a top step sign I was quite good at it yeah it's a good game it's better than half the rubbish that's in the Olympics these days foreign you'll notice that everything from here onwards is it's almost like Holland Park really it's kind of like more like Kensington and Pond Park area that you can see on these things you can see the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea so that's sort of where we are now but I think in old money we'd still be in Shepherd's bush Chris Preston Road Freestone Road this is this is named after Edward Latimer like with Latimer Road station over there Edward Latimer who um moved to his estate in fris in freston which is in Ipswich Simon which is from Twin Tower yeah do you know that yes I do Simon who is from Ipswich you must know it anyway he was a wealthy uh land a wealthy Merchant or something back like 500 years ago at Sony he left a lot of ground around here um to the people so he didn't have any kids or something um but this yeah this bridge here on freeston road this is where um in with nail and I you know after they get they take the dodgy jaguar and they drive up to go and see Uncle Monty in the countryside and they go they drive off underneath this bridge yeah he's leaning out the window it's scrubbers the little Tarts they love it throw yourselves into the road darling you haven't got a chance but so when they knocked down all these buildings over here and they built the the motorway and stuff all this was so dilapidated and there was loads of well this isn't Cora getting hard but things like this all the way down here slums and squats the people who were squatting here declared the area the People's Republic of freestonia and they started issuing passports and um and their own stamps and applying to join the United Nations and stuff like that I lived in several different squats oh yeah over the years but my first one was in Saint Andrews which I moved into in 1971. you have the people doll opposite which was squatted you used to have a passage there of a weekend yeah and we'd have local bands playing right like Motorhead and people playing there and stuff absolutely bring your own substances okay drink and um magic mushrooms and but it was squatted for years I used to see Lamy in the in the kennelware pub quite often oh yeah was he playing on the fruit machine on the fruit machine right on the corner that was enough license yeah and he was a little old lady called Peggy used to run in all characters a lot of them foreign [Music] and all that just this side of the Railway track I mean if you can see it in the beginning of Step Towing signs of black and white ones you could see him as a Rag and Bone man riding his horse and car up that up that road and it is completely unrecognizable it's yeah yeah it's but look you can tell clearly that sort of heading towards the really expensive I mean that's the Holland Park really up there and by contrast this side is all the new kind of estate these new tower blocks and stuff foreign [Music] they didn't knock down everything look we've got down here at this end of Norland Road you've still got these beautiful old this sort of thing you get a period drama or something oh and just over there you can see the kind of Thames water tower I would have to go over there it glows blue when when it's working but that's where the northern Turnpike used to be so in the old days you know 1800s there was a Turnpike there like you have to pay your toll yeah but they got rid of all those turnpikes in the 1880s or 1870s I think but anyway what of it the Stuart Arms beckons time for a Pines [Music] Cheers Cheers Cheers everybody thanks for watching don't forget to hit the Subscribe button if you like the videos and especially to hit the little bell because the Bell will notify you when I upload a new video every now and again don't worry I won't hassle you um and um if you want to find out more about me you can go over to my website julesguys.com where there's loads more videos and you can soon buy um my book which will be coming out um so it's not out yet at the time of recording but maybe you're watching this video later so do look out for my book which is going to be excellent my magnum opus and uh follow me on Instagram uh you know all those sorts of things there see you later see you next time thank you

Channel: Joolz Guides - London History Walks - Travel Films

Views: 171,123

Keywords: London, tourism, travel guides, julian mcdonnell, joolz guides, historical london, hidden London, shepherds bush, london history walks, london history tour, london history walking tour, best london walking tour, bbc tv centre shepherds bush, frestonia, London Vlog, where to visit in London, west london, latymer road, hidden gems london walking tour, london hidded secrets, secret london, fun london tours

Id: 6B9Q44cNYBw

Length: 34min 54sec (2094 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 18 2022