London's Alleys: British Grove, W4

"As the main road though this part of rural countryside, as the borough boundaries were being developed, it became the boundary between Hounslow council on the west and Hammersmith and Fulham council on the east. And still is. It seems to have always been called British Grove, although the first map detailed enough to show the name on the passage dates only to 1851, showing the very beginnings of urban development around it."

"One of the laundry facilities expanded into a long, narrow building, which was later converted into a factory. Later, during WWII, it was used to construct Mosquito aircraft wings. The factory eventually became the Post Office Supply Depot, which was demolished at the turn of the millennium and partially rebuilt as houses and also as Mark Knopfler's music recording studios, British Grove Studios."

"The music studio is not an outlier, as this patch of Chiswick has a long history of musicians living here. One of those early laundries, the Royal Chiswick, was later turned into the offices and music studios for Island Records, and they even kept the chimney, as its flue was ideal for creating vocal reverberation in some songs. The building was refurbished in 2005, and is now occupied by Universal Music (who own Island Records) and an architect."

British Grove began as the main rural link between Chiswick High Road and the Thames and became the boundary between Hounslow and Hammersmith and Fulham. The name appears on detailed maps from 1851, marking the start of urban development. The eastern side housed grander homes while the western side grew later with workers' housing, laundries and dye works. One laundry expanded into a factory that built Mosquito aircraft wings in WWII, later became a Post Office depot, then was partly redeveloped into houses and Mark Knopfler's British Grove Studios. The Royal Chiswick laundry became Island Records studios and retains a chimney used for vocal reverberation; the building was refurbished in 2005 and is now occupied by Universal Music and an architect.

Read at ianVisits