Ginger's Guide to London Streets #1: Earlham Street, WC2

One of my favourite little random features of central London that I first discovered a couple of years ago is Seven Dials. It's an unusual arrangement featuring a sundial in the middle of a junction where (unsurprisingly) seven roads meet. Probably the only traffic roundabout on which people will mill around drinking a pint on a summer's evening. Well, without ASBO-waving police moving them on, anyway.

Anyhow, seemed like a good starting point, especially as, despite my supposed affection for the area, I only ever walk down two of the seven roads. Today I ambled down one of the others for a change.

Walking down Earlham Street is probably the most direct route to Seven Dials from Shaftesbury Avenue, if you're coming from Charing Cross Road. I was heading that way in the hope of going into Fopp, but it was closed for stock taking. Nonetheless my disappointment was brief, as I discovered some previously unknown delights.

Magma is a bookshop predominately given over to graphic design books and the like, although does have things on a number of other subjects. I was rather taken, for example, by 'World Changing' but wasn't entirely convinced that I had enough energy to lug it home. I settled, instead, for the rather lighter (in many ways) 'Pictures of Walls'. Fairly self explanatory really, although perhaps I should add that it wasn't simply a paean to grouting, but featured a lot of unusual and subversive graffiti. Inevitably there is a website with further examples. Excellent - something else to waste my time browsing!

A little further down is another artsy/graphicy place, The Dover Bookshop, seeming to heavily feature books about patterns. I was very much tempted by their range of colouring books, of various geometric designs, but I figured one impulse buy was quite enough for today!

I then spotted The London Bead Shop. I already know of a couple of similar suppliers within a few minutes walk of there, but I thought I may as well investigate. I had no need or desire to buy any beads, but my magpie-like tendencies provided a strong pull, so I permitted myself a couple of minutes browsing before escaping in fear that my purse should find its way out of my bag and head counter-wards.

On the street, there also seemed to be a mini-market, if you can call 3-4 stalls selling the usual array of T shirts such a thing. I wouldn't bother counting it on any list of London markets! I guess it added to the general randomness.

It wasn't until I looked up the place on a map just now that I realised that Earlham Street actually extends across Seven Dials and thus provides two of the seven spokes. Exploration of the other part will have to wait for another day...

27/06/07

PS. It wasn't till I went back to take photos that I noticed this wonderful shop frontage that I'd managed to walk straight past first time around. The sign above reads:

Established 1835.

F.W. Collins

Elastic Glue Manufacturer

(Sole Inventor 1857)

Leather Grindery

&

General Ironmonger

Warehouse

Wonderful!