The Xtra Diary - Tottenham Court stripped of name?

Published: 3 December, 2010

ANYONE who has passed Tottenham Court Road Tube station since the start of building work on the new Crossrail project will have been struck by an unusual sight in central London. 

Open space and open skies have replaced large buildings including rock music venue The Astoria. The area is a blank canvas – albiet a noisy, dusty one.

Now, however, it appears the diggers have churned up something more than just dirt. An unforeseen debate has broken out over the new station’s name.

Lady Alex, the founder of burlesque club night the Wam Bam Club, told Diary she thought the new station – which will have an entrance in Dean Street – should be named “Soho” rather than Tottenham Court Road. 

She said: “As a Soho resident I have watched the slow transformation of the station from demolition to develop­ment and hopefully soon to completion. 

“Do I have to put up with constant roadworks and throng of construction workers to be rewarded with a shiny new station bearing the name Tottenham Court Road? 

“Soho is a major landmark in central London and boasts a thriving community of local residents, tourists and regular patrons. 

“I get asked every day for directions to Soho and a station with that name would be fantastic. It’s an iconic area of London that never sleeps – it should be commem­orated with a station name not ignored or hidden like an embarrassing aunt.”

Alastair Choat, owner of the cult Greek Street pub the Coach and Horses, agreed, saying the new station “cer­tainly shouldn’t be called Tottenham Court Road”.

The suggestions to rename the station are reminiscent of an unsuccessful campaign by Tower Hamlets residents to have Shoreditch High Street station renamed Banglatown during the building of the East London line extention.

A spokesman for Crossrail said: “Over the next few years Totten­ham Court Road station will be extensively redeveloped and from 2018 will operate as one integrated station served by both London Under­ground and Crossrail. There are no plans to rename Tottenham Court Road station.”

Different kind of blue from Miles

HE was one of the most influential musicians in jazz history, but how many people know that Miles Davis also turned his hand to painting in the final years of his life?

The last remaining paintings and drawings in Davis’s estate are set to go on show at Gallery 27 in Cork Street, Mayfair, next week. In the early 1980s, at a time when Davis withdrew from public life, he filled his life with art.   

As with his music, his work changed continually – from modernist, angular drawings of dancers and robots to his later work in oil on canvas, which was influenced by African tribal art.  

• Miles Davis London Exhibition: Original Paintings and Drawings by the Jazz Legend is at Gallery 27, 27 Cork Street, W1, from Tuesday December 7 to Saturday December 11. Call 020 7287 8408 for more details.

Fiction, as you like it...

SOHO resident and theatre agent Barrie Stacey has already relived a number of fascinating anecdotes in his autobiographies, A Ticket to the Carnival and Life Upon the Very Wicked Stage. 

They revealed tales of time spent rubbing shoulders with Russell Grant, David Bowie, Ernest Page, Simon and Garfunkel, Wayne Sleep and the Kray brothers in his legendary Soho coffee house As You Like It (now, sadly, no more).

And Barrie recently ventured into the world of fiction with his book, Only One Leaf Left On The Old Oak Tree.

The novel is centred on the memoirs of an elderly lady who reminisces on pivotal events of her life, in an emotional odyssey to rival Barrie’s.

• Only One Leaf Left On The Old Oak Tree is published by Ourloc, priced £8.99. www.ourloc.com/web