I recently downloaded NotForTourists’s new London Iphone app, which was ace, except for the part where it defined an area near to me – ‘my enz’  if you want to coin some North London postal code based slang – as ‘next on the bulldozer hitlist’! No, no, I say. There are many… a few, great things about Archway.

Okay, so it’s not exactly a salubrious part of London. Busy ‘A roads’ run through it and the black glass monster that is the Archway Tower has made the whole area into a bit of a wind tunnel, much to the chagrin of those who have to hang around there for hours at 3am waiting for the ever-unreliable N41 bus and those with fine, flyaway hair (me and me in other words). So far so grim? Well, yes, but check out these gems in the rough:

Kebabs. An obvious choice for those many hours spent shivering through the midnight hours cursing London Transport, but what a selection! On one side of the road there is ‘Probably the Best Kebabs in the UK’, but directly opposite there is the giant flashing  ‘The Best Kebabs on the Planet.’ Now there is a 3am dilemma if ever there was one. I generally go with the former choice, as it has an uncertain modesty that appeals to me, and, well, it’s on the same side of the road as the bus stop.

Art. The world famous graffiti artist Banksy created a hitchhiker figure with a sign saying ‘Anywhere’ on a wall opposite Archway tower. It’s been there for years and has miraculously not been vandalized or painted over, which says a lot about the art appreciation/laziness of the local youth and council

Unusual monuments: A little further up Highgate Hill away from the Bansky mural is a monument to Dick Whittington’s cat. Legend has it that when the thrice Mayor of London came to the city for the first time (accompanied by said cat) and discovered the streets were not paved with gold, it was halfway up this road that he heard church bells and decided not to give up on the quest for his fortune. The fact that the actual Richard Whittingon wasn’t poor, was actually Mayor of London four times and possibly didn’t even own a cat is neither here nor there. A hospital founded in his name also now sits on this mythical spot.

Photos by Simon Bronson and Graham used under a Creative Commons License