Not the former England footballer but the former department store next to Finchley Road tube. John Barnes was a rambling, old fashioned store with a wonderful food hall in the basement. It was the hub of the Viennese Jewish community who’d fled the Nazis and settled around West Hampstead and Swiss Cottage. As a child, I was fascinated by these gentle, cultured but often sorrowful people. Some lived in the elegant 1930s apartment block above the store which, as you approached on the top of the No.13 bus, looked just like an ocean liner. Jewish musicians would then clamber on with their cellos and trombones to go and play at Wigmore Hall and it all seemed terribly exotic. The ground floor of John Barnes is now a Waitrose and those old residents have died off. But still, whenever I go there, this tune will start playing in my head.
I’ve always loved John Barnes.

- Withnail & I16th Apr 2017
- First I'd plu...15th Apr 2017
- Why it was wr...14th Apr 2017
- I joined Gary...7th Apr 2017
- Darc Days.6th Apr 2017
- Stewart and M...2nd Apr 2017
- He started it...19th Mar 2017
- Who do you th...11th Mar 2017
- The clue was ...5th Mar 2017
- Art direction.28th Feb 2017
- Doris Day.23rd Feb 2017
- This is not h...19th Feb 2017
- A big boost f...17th Feb 2017
- She thought I...16th Feb 2017
- Oh, they're a...15th Feb 2017 prev next