IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Seagrave Road, LONDON, SW6 1RX

The exhibition halls have been demolished. See the same scene over the years... October 2011 Image November 2014 Image July 2015 Image July 2015 Image August 2015 Image August 2016 Image

This photograph shows the London Transport District Line station, with a southbound train of D78 stock just departing for Wimbledon. To the right is the main line station, which was closed in 1940 and later demolished, but in the late 1990s it was rebuilt and reopened. It now has an hourly service each way from Brighton to Watford Junction, and a half-hourly service from Clapham Junction to Willesden Junction. If more passengers were aware of the convenience of this interchange, it would see much heavier use.

With the Empress building and Earls Court 2 lit up in the background

Viewed from the Lillie Road bridge.

Leaving West Brompton station after travelling for the very first time on the West London line, I looked over my shoulder and noticed this body of water and the old seed-heads of reed mace - bullrushes. As a schoolboy I had (for seven years) travelled into town on the District Line, and in those days there were railway sidings here - where the tall block of flats now stands. I'd never suspected that there was a watercourse here, between the station and sidings - there hardly seemed to be room. As for the identity of this body of water, Geograph came to the rescue - in the person of Christopher Hilton. He doesn't seem to have seen this stretch of water, but spotted the remains of a bridge a little further north. Image He also suggests that the same watercourse is known as Chelsea Creek where it reaches the Thames: Image A quick look at a map or two suggests that the boundary between the old boroughs of Fulham (to the west) and Kensington and Chelsea runs along Counters Creek from here right down to the Thames. It's a hypothesis I need to look at in more detail. Incidentally, along the Thames the name 'creek' generally denotes a tidal tributary. It's a bizarre thought, but is it possible that the tide once flowed under the Old Brompton Road?

The hotel itself has gone through many name changes, but probably the most famous and longest lasting when first opened was 'The West Centre Hotel'. It even held professional darts tournaments in the 1970's.

Earls Court exhibition centre is in the background.