Coldharbour Lane is a road in

south London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

, England, that leads south-westwards from

Camberwell Camberwell ( ) is an List of areas of London, area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles' Church, Camberwell, St Giles ...

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

. The road is over long with a mixture of residential, business and retail buildings – the stretch of Coldharbour Lane near Brixton Market contains shops, bars and restaurants. Between the junctions of Coldharbour Lane and Denmark Hill in

SE5 and Coldharbour Lane and Denmark Road lies part of the boundary between

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...

and

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

boroughs. The other end of Coldharbour Lane meets Acre Lane in central Brixton to form the A2217. The

Loughborough Junction Loughborough Junction is an area in Herne Hill, South London, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is located equidistant between Herne Hill, Brixton and Camberwell providing excellent transport connections to Central London. While it is not a ...

area, surrounding the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

, marks the approximate centre point of Coldharbour Lane and the change in postcode from SE5 to SW9.

History

Former British Prime Minister

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...

lived in a flat at 144 Coldharbour Lane when a child from 1955 to 1959. The lane close by Brixton Market became derelict by the mid-1960s, when many drug houses flourished dealing mainly in cannabis. In 1981 the Brixton riots occurred in roads near Coldharbour Lane and some windows were broken on the street itself. With the support of community leaders and shop owners, plans were put in place to set up a mini-police station on Coldharbour Lane in the former premises of a drug dealer. Police Safer Neighbourhoods Teams worked from number 411 with another base near

at number 236. Both closed in 2019.

Origins of the name

A possible derivation of the name is Cool Arbour Lane, dating from the time Camberwell was in the country. This is cited in 'The Streets' by Anthony Quinn (2012) as the place the Camberwell beauty was first sighted. A "cold harbour" was an uninhabited shelter for travellers, often along a well-known route, somewhat similar to a modern bothy. Unlike an inn, there were no staff, food or drink to be had. There would be a roof, door and possibly a simple hearth, although it was the traveller's responsibility to gather fuel. They were generally little more than open-faced barns or animal shelters. J. C. Hahn, in '' Notes and Queries'' Series 3, 7, 253–254 (1 April 1865) and later in Series 3, 8, 71–72 (22 July 1865) wrote an article entitled "Remarks on the Origin of 'Cold Harbour'". In this, the author remarks upon relatively early equivalent place names in Germany and traces back the origins of Coldharbour/Cold Harbour to the German ''kalte Herberge''. There is a village in Germany and another in Austria called Kaltherberg. This etymology was accepted by the authors of the

Merriam-Webster Merriam-Webster, Incorporated is an list of companies of the United States by state, American company that publishes reference work, reference books and is mostly known for Webster's Dictionary, its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary pub ...

dictionary. Hahn concludes that "our Cold Harbour was a name given to any cold abode, cold retreat, brought over to England by our Saxon ancestors—Cold Harbour = Cold Station, Cold House, Cold Lodge," and thus has a wider meaning than that attributed by the supporters of a basic type of lodgings. "Coldharbour" also survives as the name of a village in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, and

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

has both a "Coldharbour Road" and a "Cold Harbour Lane". Coldharbour Lane also gives its name to Coldharbour ward for elections to Lambeth Council from 2002 to 2022.

Crime

April 1997 shooting

In April 1997, Devon Dawson, a 29-year-old Jamaican in the UK with a six-month visa, was shot dead with a sub-machine gun outside the Green Man pub on Coldharbour Lane.

June 1997 shooting

On 3 June 1997, Anthony Baker was shot in the head during a raid at the Control Tower takeaway in Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, where he worked. The shooting happened just a few hundred yards from Lambeth Town Hall where, at the same time, Chief Inspector Alan O'Gorman was telling a packed meeting that gun crime in the area was becoming out of control.

2003 most dangerous street claim

In a 2003 article in the ''

London Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...

'', David Cohen described Coldharbour Lane as the most dangerous street in the most dangerous borough in London. The headline asked whether the street is 'the most dangerous in Britain'.

2018 graffiti artists hit by train

On 18 June 2018, three graffiti artists, aged between 19 and 23, died when they were hit by a train at Loughborough Junction station on Coldharbour Lane. A former Transport for London (TfL) board member, Brian Cooke, was criticised by social media users after he tweeted that the dead men were "common scum who cost the railway millions and keep fares high".

Pubs and bars

There are several pubs and bars on Coldharbour Lane: the Prince of Wales in Brixton which has been on the same site since 1800; the Prince Albert which has occasional live music and quiz nights; the Dogstar, a "three-floor DJ bar"; Living; Club 414, and the Plough. The Green Man, the Angel, the Enterprise and the Hero (latterly the Junction) all ceased trading between 2000 and 2007 .

In popular culture

Brixton-based band

Alabama 3 Alabama 3 are a British musical group founded in Brixton, Brixton, London, in 1995. Their track "Woke Up This Morning" was used for the opening credits of the TV series ''The Sopranos''. In the United States, the band is known as A3, to avoid ...

named their debut album '' Exile on Coldharbour Lane'' after the road. Although " Woke Up This Morning" on this album mentions Coldharbour Lane, the mention is omitted from the "Chosen One Mix", used as the theme song for ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

''. "Coldharbour Lane" — with the hook "So long / I've done my time / Coldharbour Lane / Goodbye" — is a single from The Quireboys's 2001 '' This Is Rock'n'Roll'' release. Markus Schulz named his own recording label "Coldharbour Recordings" in honour of the time when he lived in a flat in Coldharbour Lane. The area features in the 2008 novel ''The Room Of Lost Things'' by Stella Duffy, set in a dry cleaners on Coldharbour Lane. Oladipo Agboluaje set a play referencing the street in 2007 "The Christ of Coldharbour Lane", about the sudden reappearance of Jesus Christ in Brixton. Parts of ''Honeytrap'', a 2015 film directed by Rebecca Johnson and starring Jessica Sula, were filmed on the street.

The Camberwell beauty

The rare migrant butterfly, the Camberwell beauty (''Nymphalis antiopa'') was so named after the discovery of two specimens in Coldharbour Lane in 1748.Asher, Jim. ''The Atlas of Butterflies of Britain and Ireland'', Oxford University Press.Thomas, Jeremy, and Richard Lewington. ''The Butterflies of Britain and Ireland'', Dorling Kindersley. The butterflies had probably arrived as stowaways on ships delivering timber from Scandinavia to the Surrey Docks two miles to the north.Emmet, A. M. and Heath, J. (1989). ''The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland'', Harley Books, Colchester.

References

{{coord, 51.4659, -0.1024, type:landmark_region:GB-LBH, display=title Streets in the London Borough of Lambeth Streets in the London Borough of Southwark Camberwell Brixton