The Landon wash 'ouses.. 1970-ish..
By: right up until the mid 70's there was still areas of London that relied upon Wash Houses like the old one shown here in a part of London that has now seen a lot of gentrification and is now a sort-after zone with the prices rising accordingly. In the early days the existence of the Wash Houses also known as 'The Bag Wash' was because not many people had washing machines nor access to them. Clothes cleaning in London is a phenomenally cash rich area. Most of them were closed in about 1989 with my local authority 'Islington' saying they wanted to close the facility linked to the Swimming Baths in Hornsey Road for 'one-year only' - to save some money.... when the year passed they said engineers were not happy with the pipework having been out of action for 12+ months and there was now a case for demolishing it ;-{ Everyone round here realised they'd taken us all in for they demolished everything within a couple of years and built new luxury apartments at sky high rental charges... it was their intention all the while.