North London Food & Culture

Video: Hampstead Heath fairground – in the 1920s!

Flat caps at the ready, take a gander at this footage from folks having a ball a century ago

With the next bank holiday round the corner, we couldn’t resist publishing this brilliant Pathé footage of thrill-seekers cavorting around in their leisure time a hundred years ago.

Don’t miss some great shots of the attractions, including a whirling carousel, helter skelter and a “raspberry, pineapple and lemonade” stall (how artisan!), plus general views down the verdant hill and the happy-go-lucky throng coming and going. Oh, and straws hats, flat caps and trench coats galore.

Chuck in a bit of arty post-production including camera speed-changes (these guys have clearly been influenced by then zeitgeisty German expressionism), and it all adds up to a weird but memorable four minutes’ viewing.


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Oh and make sure you watch the surreal pony rides right at the end, too.

Enjoyed that? Watch a video of a Kentish Town demo in the 1960s here

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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.