Bicycle Tag of bike

Technically it's a single building: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1376545

I wanted to tag the Open Spaces Trust HQ but thought Octavia's work deserve recognition hence it was offered as a clue instead of a tag.

The pond and rose garden on the rear are brilliant on a sunny day to chill, my local hangout shall I say on some off days!

Ayers Street

'Ayres'. In this case, that's actually important, as the street was named after tragic local heroine Alice Ayres:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Ayres

Some more information, including on the artwork by Anna Karin:

https://lookup.london/red-cross-garden/

The hall's name confused me a bit. The Conservation Area Appraisal is probably authoritative, though:

No. 8 Bishop’s Hall and No. 8a George Bell House, Ayres Street

Formerly Redcross hall, this Arts and Crafts community building was also designed by Elijah Hoole and built between 1887 and 1890. It is now used as a studio with an office and flat to the Ayres Street frontage.

https://www.southwark.gov.uk/assets/attach/2132/100629_Union_Street_Appraisal_compressed.pdf

I think the hall itself must be the older meeting house that long pre-existed Octavia Hall (?), and the bits added by Elijah Hoole include only the cottages and number 8a while maintaining access to the hall from Ayres Street (then still Whitecross Street) through the number 8 entrance. Or perhaps the old hall was knocked down and a new one built.

It's a nice touch that the number(s) is/are 8 (and 8a). It/they stand(s) next to the cottages numbered 1-6, so it/they should really have been 7 and 8, but I'd guess they took 8 because of the play on Octavia Hall's name.

Intriguingly, it's for sale:

https://www.realla.co.uk/details/18957371

The plaque in Ayres Street calls it 'Bishops Hall'.

It seems that this planning application for a three-storey building next door wasn't successful, but not sure when the Open Spaces Trust building was built instead--it certainly looks enough like a spacecraft to have been designed by spacecraft architects:

https://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/1/80510

Technically it's a single building: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/t­he-list/list-entry/1376545

I'm sure it pretty much is, but there are two street numbers, and I'd guess this listing merely means they're listed together. Old buildings aren't always completely logical!

I'm booking myself into the new tag with all these mistakes. All I need is a time machine!

I saw this on the alley between the front and back, referencing Oliver's point about the old name of Ayres Street.

1 Attachment

And for the record, I don't mind Oliver corrections as they ultimately help with searchability. Mistakes are inevitable in a rush, on a phone when you can't cross reference quite as easily and you are fighting infernal auto-correct. The gardens mistake was definitely mine though :)

Old...
Asylum Chapel, Southwark

1 Attachment

Clearer picture...

I know nothing about the location and I found it via this link about the Licensed Victuallers Benevolent Institution. https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101376538-licensed-victuallers-benevolent-institution-caroline-gardens-livesey-ward

I had no idea what the jokes/clues were all about till I got here and saw the address.

1 Attachment

New...

There is a plaque to note the outrageous events on this corner, but it's not in shot

1 Attachment

Yay. Licensed Victuallers are basically pub landlords.

I used to work with Motorbike courier who lived on Asylum Road who was one of the most objectionable people I’ve ever met. Both mentally and physically repulsive, bigoted, aggressive, stupid....He had to take a few days off once because a stranger had walked up to him in a pub and stabbed him for “no reason”, we all sided with the stranger.

One of the other riders got so pissed off with him he copied his number plate and spent a happy weekend setting off speed cameras.

Yeah, I thought you were all joking about being driven to drink

Asylum Chapel inside is the wedding venue equivalent of Gordon's Wine Bar

I'm afraid I still don't understand any of the clues. (I didn't think about them as I know the building.)

Unrepaired war damage, isn't it?

I’ve got it, so it can’t be that hard. Also, the in-shot street sign helped [edit: the plaque is roughly behind the camera]. It’s a bit late to venture forth on a school night however…

Well, there's just about every possible visual clue in the picture. :)

Not every clue...I waited for a distinctive vehicle to move before I took the photo.

But it's true that I didn't go out of my way to make it hard to find. This one is all about the story.

I did say 'just about every [...] clue'. :)

And you're not going to get me objecting to making tags easy to find.

It is a scandalous story all right, and one I was [edit: not] aware of—thanks

Hm, there's really only one possible follow-up tag to this one, isn't there?

Yep. I was thinking of picking that up en route, just in case

That's a nice bit of Art Deco (ex?) church just up the road from the new tag.
The tale behind the tag is excellent.

That is quite a story! Wow.

The spelling of that side road annoys me however, as a lover of tree nuts.

there's really only one possible follow-up tag to this one

Surely any number of outrages could follow this. The thread’s taking a slightly dark turn. Somebody tag a gelateria.