Covent Garden London
The heart of London's West End
A few reminiscences from a lady born the century before last
 
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At the ripe age of 102, Margaret Rowland still possesses a sharp memory and an infectious sense of humour. Margaret lived in the Bloomsbury area until 1972, when she moved to her present home in Covent Garden - although she had known the area well for many years before that as close friends lived here. I asked her about some of the changes she had witnessed in 'the Garden' over the last 30 yearsÉ
The Market
"In the old days, when the market people went home for the night, the fruit was covered in black tarpaulin to help keep the rats and mice out. There was far more vermin than you see now, but plenty of cats were kept by the market people. When the occasional market trader got drunk it was quite usual to see him being wheeled home on his trolley or laid there to sleep it off."
Comparing then with nowÉ.
"A kind of poor place - not prosperous as it is now - all altered with so many cafes. It's come up, but it costs the earth to live here. A lot of people have moved away because everything is so dear." Margaret wonders what it will be like in another 20 years. "When I'm gone, there won't be many Londoners left," she says. Notwithstanding, Margaret is very fond of the area - and some things have definitely changed for the betterÉ
"You could live in a room for half a crown a week" she says of her earlier years, "and if you had two rooms you were extremely lucky." Margaret had been living in Marchmont Street for many years and her housing situation had come to a head when developers pulled down some of the old accommodation and a huge number of rats were disturbed. Plucky Margaret wrote to her MP, Lady Jaegar, to ask whether she could have a new home and she was given one of the, then, new homes in Winter Garden House, where she has always been very happy.
A common theme and great pleasure in Margaret's life has been music. Margaret sang in a local choir for some 50 years and used to go out dancing a lot. Dancing days may be over but Tea Dance days aren't! Margaret has expressed a lively interest in attending ours in July and September. The CGCA will feel very honoured with her presence.
Alison Cattermoule
Covent Garden Community Association Annual Report 2000-2001
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