Golders Green

An excursion up the Northern Line to Golders Green on a fine sunny February day. The first clock is a common example of LU clocks on the northbound platforms of Golders Green station.

Outside of the station is the far more impressive war memorial clock situated on the traffic island.

The memorial was unveiled in April 1923. The Portland Stone structure is thought to be designed by Frank T Dear who was responsible for the similar memorial in Stockwell. The blue and gold clockface certainly looks magnificent in the sunshine.

Along Golders Green Road is this example on the premises of Warman Freed pharmacy. The clock however needs some potions or lotions of its own, as it is no longer working and shows a different time on each face.

Further down Golders Green Road are two more clocks, the first on what is now LA Fitness, but I assume was once part of the adjoining library or served another local government function.

The other clock is on the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Cross and St Michael.

Both of these clocks are not currently working, which makes it 3 out of 3 for Golders Green Road.

Taking Finchley Road from the war memorial, you can find this somewhat battered clock and sign. Yet another stopped clock - it's not easy to find the right time in this part of the world!

Off Finchley Road on Hoop Lane is the Golders Green Crematorium, which has this rather ornate clock.

And now to a clock that isn't! By the war memorial is this premises, which Google Streetview shows with a clock. Does anyone know whether it has gone for good, or just gone for repairs?

And finally, just for completeness and symmetry, the clock on the southbound platforms at Golders Green station:

Assuming the station clocks are right, the total visit time to Golders Green must have been just under two hours.

Bromley

After the cold of recent weeks, it is now brollies in Bromley. Unexpectedly Bromley is a good hunting ground for public clocks, with a wide variety of styles.

The starting point of this trip is Westmoreland Road to the south of Bromley South station. Here can be found both the traditional style of St Mark's church and the newer (but perhaps the becoming traditional large office block style) clock on the RBS offices.



A little further to the east on Masons Hill is a wonderful clock on the Waitrose building, definitely not the usual supermarket clock. And it is repeated on the other side of the building.

The trail then takes us into the heart of Bromley town centre, going up the High Street. The first two locations are on the buildings currently occupied by Laura Ashley and Gap. The first is an integral part of the building and has seen better days - not least it doesn't appear to be working!

The second is the more usual clock on a bracket, and is in good condition.

Further up the High Street is the rather splendid clock of Payne's the jewellers, although the photo quality has suffered due to the rain. This must be a great clock to see in glorious sunshine.



Off the High Street is The Glades shopping centre, which like most such centres is a depressing and soulless place to visit. However, the intrepid clock hunter has to venture into these dark territories, and in Bromley can be rewarded with this uninspiring example:

Getting swiftly out of The Glades, the next stop is the church of St Peter and St Paul. Speaks for itself really.

A trip along Tweedy Road brings you first to this clock on Leonard House in Newman Road. You can see the intention of trying to make a non-descript office development look like it is a traditional part of the townscape, but the clock tower is just too high up and the face too small to have any effect as an actual timepiece.

Oh, and it's not working either!

Moving on then, at the end of Tweedy Road you can find this clock on the end of a nicely shaped building.

In the background is the Town Hall. I assume this building once had a clock judging by the circular spaces on the tower - can anyone confirm this?

Overall, a good trip to Bromley - shame about the rain!

Brentford

A trip to Brentford on another cold Saturday. Tempted to go for a pint of large, but didn't pass the Flying Swan (Robert Rankin fans will know what I'm talking about). The strange thing about Brentford is that it seems to have its own time zone, with all clocks (well at least the public ones) set about 10 minutes behind GMT. Probably some ruse to help Brentford FC get an advantage over their opponents.

Very few clocks too. The first is on St Paul's church, tucked away behind the twin delights of Morrisons and the police station. At first I thought the clock had stopped, but no, it keeps perfect BMT!

The only clock on the High Street appears to be this very lofty one on the Magistrates Court, perhaps safely out of reach from any ne'er-do-wells who frequent this building (although I shouldn't be rude about the local legal profession!).

And then finally a long hike east towards Kew to find the next clock. I'm sure there must be others lurking around Brentford (around Syon Park perhaps?), but it was not the weather to go too far off the track. If anyone knows of other clocks in the area please let me know.

Anyway, the last of my Brentford clocks is on the new Thameside Court development on Kew Bridge Road, opposite the steam museum.

The end of this clock-hunting trip, although at Kew Bridge station there is a glimpse of this huge clock on the Great West Road:

Kilburn High Road

An exceedingly cold trip down Kilburn High Road today (4th Feb) from Kilburn tube to Edgware Road, with a very poor return in the number of clocks spotted. But hey, it is all good exercise.

The starting point is Kilburn station on the Jubilee, which has one of the common form of Underground clocks.

On to Kilburn High Road itself, and the long trek revealed only two clocks. The first is on Thomson's Jewellers at no. 228. Definitely a bit weathered, and clearly a stopped clock with different times shown on each face. The jewellers itself seems to be closed.

But this is actually quite an attractive design, with nice lettering and colour scheme.

The only other clock on the High Road is much further south on the Westbury pub. This appears to be a very modern clock in a very attractive mounting bracket.

It was then a long trek down to Edgware Road tube and some welcome relief from the cold. Hopefully the next trip will be less cold and more fruitful, although there is also a whole backlog of trips from last year to post. So should be something next week even if we are all snowed in.

Harrow

They don't seem to be big on telling the time in Harrow, or at least in the area around Harrow-on-the Hill station. The first clock is a slightly battered, but still perfectly functioning, clock in the ticket hall at the station.

After that, things get decidedly worse if you need to know the time. The only functioning clock showing the correct time is provided courtesy of good old Tesco on their superstore, which as usually is the case is outside of the main shopping area.

For shoppers in the main town centre, there appears to be only two options. The first is this example, helpfully labelled "Time" but unhelpfully not actually showing the time. I assume at some stage this was a functioning clock.



The second clock is on St Anns Road - although this one looks new and perfectly intact, it has clearly stopped.

Oh well, back to the railway station. Say what you like about the railways, but at least their clocks are normally working (the analogue ones that this - don't get me started on the digital ones!).

Borehamwood

Quite a short blog entry as Borehamwood, in south Hertfordshire, is not exactly blessed with public clocks.

The first clock is on All Saints church on Shenley Road:

This is a fairly standard church clock, but is well maintained and clearly visible from all sides.

The only other clock I could find was that of the Hertsmere Borough Council offices further along the road (actually on Elstree Way):

Although there are only two clocks, Borehamwood does at least have the distinction of having all of its public clocks showing the right time!

Ealing

A trip to Ealing to buy a new Paul Catherall print from the excellent For Arts Sake gallery. The first clocks are at Ealing Broadway station, which has at least three of the fairly standard LU clocks on its platforms.



And a different, but equally standard, clock in the booking hall:

Outside the station, on The Broadway itself, is a rather neglected clock above a shop. Not surprisingly, the clock isn't working, and shows a different time on its two faces.

Just down the road on The Mall, is another shop clock, this time over Paddy Power:

Many new shopping centres have clocks, probably in an attempt to make them seem to be more friendly to the urban environment that they are often blighting, but most tend to be very uninspiring. The Arcadia centre in Ealing, however, has this rather splendid example.

Normally places have at least one church with a clock, and Ealing is no exception. This is on The New Broadway, opposite the Arcadia centre.

Further down The New Broadway is Ealing Town Hall, currently undergoing external restoration. Lurking underneath all of the scaffolding is a clock:

The accompnaying sign says that restoration will be complete in January 2012 - a good excuse to revisit and buy another print from For Arts Sake!