North London Food & Culture

How did we take this unusual view?


A sense of calm above the maelstrom below. On the roof of the station. Photograph: Stephen Emms
A sense of calm above the maelstrom below. Photograph: Stephen Emms

How’s this for a fine view of Kentish Town on a sunny May morning? Bus-choked street, queue outside Bean About Town, sun bouncing off icing cake turrets, and the shriek and roar of trains and sirens below.

We snapped the image (‘scuse the slightly dirty lens) after clambering up the aluminium ladder on the roof of the tube station. But how on earth did we get access?

Mr P's iconic graf inside Fifth Column
Mr P’s iconic graffiti inside Fifth Column
Well, it’s owned by Fifth Column, the long established T-shirt design company who’ve been based in the disused part of the station for nearly 40 years. It was our first visit and – my word – the quirkiness of the interior was a pleasant surprise, with its tangle of huge plants and bottle-green original station tiling. Not to mention the vast printing press upstairs, and rooftop views.

Why were we there? To work on our new Kentishtowner T-shirt ‘n’ tote bag range, designed by in-house artist Russell Loughlan (who also created our logo), and which we hope will be ready before the goddamn weather turns again. Yikes.


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As with our Cultural Maps, they’ll only be available in our online shop. Can’t say anymore at this stage but watch this space…


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About Kentishtowner

The award-winning print and online title Kentishtowner was founded in 2010 and is part of London Belongs To Me, a citywide network of travel guides for locals. For more info on what we write about and why, see our About section.