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.

- I've quit my ...24th Oct 2018
- Hopefully, th...23rd Oct 2018
- More innocent...22nd Oct 2018
- Nick Clegg jo...21st Oct 2018
- The Northern ...19th Oct 2018
- There are two...18th Oct 2018
- Canada legali...17th Oct 2018
- It's never go...16th Oct 2018
- The not so Ro...15th Oct 2018
- Yesterday was...14th Oct 2018
- I had to turn...13th Oct 2018
- Whatever happ...11th Oct 2018
- I've been dri...9th Oct 2018
- National Poet...7th Oct 2018
- Always know w...24th Sep 2018 prev next