{"id":935,"date":"2025-09-15T13:06:27","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T12:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/statesofculturalanalysis\/?page_id=935"},"modified":"2025-09-23T15:24:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T14:24:03","slug":"black-boy-lane-heritage-of-our-times","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/statesofculturalanalysis\/black-boy-lane-heritage-of-our-times\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Black Boy Lane\u2019, Heritage of Our Times"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
The Cultural Location of fascism<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

By Gabriel Bristow<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Following the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, Haringey Council in North London began a consultation process that ended in the renaming of a local street in Tottenham from \u2018Black Boy Lane\u2019 to \u2018La Rose Lane\u2019 in 2023. The old name was subject to anti-racist scrutiny, local historical research, and speculation; the new name was intended to honour the late Trinidadian poet, publisher and activist John La Rose. Immediately following the official name change, the new signage was defaced and numerous residents of the predominantly working class cosmopolitan road put up \u2018Black Boy Lane\u2019 signs in their windows. Two years later many of those signs remain. Walking or sitting on the bus down the street, I find myself tallying them up, as if their blunt numerical value alone might allow me to take the measure of a culture of reaction fermenting across not only this country but the entire world. While counting the signs is of course inadequate, interpreting the affective charge of the name change might provide some insight into current prospects for multiculturalism in the face of a bullish far right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The renaming and opposition to it was covered by national news outlets in early 2023, including the BBC, The Guardian<\/em>, The<\/em> Daily Mail<\/em>, and others besides. In their coverage, the BBC ran a quote from the \u2018anti-woke\u2019 blog and campaign Save Our Statues, headed by architect Robert Poll, Reform\u2019s candidate for Croydon & Sutton in the 2021 London Assembly elections. According to Poll, the name change was \u2018representative of the current impulse to hunt out racism and offence where there is none as a performative display of virtuousness\u2019.1<\/a><\/sup> This is of course a familiar \u2018culture wars\u2019 script, one that has been playing out in different parts of the world over the last decade or so, from the toppling of Confederate statues in the United States to the Rhodes Must Fall campaign in South Africa. The stage is generally set thus: on the one side, a conspiracy between left anti-West extremists and establishment politicians; on the other, the common man, naturally patriotic, defending his way of life. While this is certainly the tenor of Poll\u2019s Save Our Statues blog, this familiar script overwrites a more complex story latent in the street. The \u2018Black Boy Lane\u2019 signs that remain in many windows signify more than imperial nostalgia or a straightforward desire for racial hierarchy; remnants of what Ernst Bloch called an \u2018unrefurbished past\u2019, they also express other hopes, albeit in perhaps unfamiliar and uncomfortable terms. To unearth those hopes requires a detour through local history and the contemporary press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the street came to be called \u2018Black Boy Lane\u2019 remains contested. One thing all seem to agree on is that the road was named after the former Black Boy pub at the top of the road, which changed its name to the Black Grape before closing around 2011 (it remains boarded up today). The controversy then resides in how the pub itself came by its name, with the explanations tending to divide along ideological lines. For those who support the recent change, \u2018black boy\u2019 likely stems from Britain\u2019s imperial history, and perhaps more specifically from the documented presence of black slaves in Tottenham as far back as the 17th century.2<\/a><\/sup> For those against, the pub at the top of the road was simply one of many similarly named establishments across England, \u2018black boy\u2019 either signalling an allegiance to Charles II (whose \u2018swarthy\u2019 appearance apparently earned him that nickname) or referring to chimney sweeps.3<\/a><\/sup> That the pub had a sign on it depicting a \u2018Little Black Sambo\u2019 in a grass skirt up until the late 1970s (before a local campaign group persuaded the owners to replace it) is apparently deemed marginal compared to the deeper streams of English history that the true origins of the name gesture towards.4<\/a><\/sup> The historical disavowal in evidence here fits the pattern analysed in Paul Gilroy\u2019s Postcolonial Melancholia<\/em> and detailed in Ingrid Pollard\u2019s artistic explorations of England\u2019s \u2018black boy\u2019 pub signs.5<\/a><\/sup> The idea that the street name has nothing<\/em> to do with the history of British racism is clearly untenable, and the strength of opposition to the change is surely some measure of an ongoing collective failure to properly reckon with colonial history. And yet I suspect this is not the whole story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the wake of the name change, an article published in The<\/em> Daily Mail<\/em> made much of the apparent lack of appetite for the change amongst black local residents. A lengthy headline claimed that Haringey council\u2019s survey \u2018found not a single objection [to the old name] from a black person\u2019.6<\/a><\/sup> The article illustrates its point with photographs of residents looking bemused and disgruntled. One particularly noticeable character is 83-year-old Berris Raynor, a black man pictured wearing an outback hat, bright shirt, and a blazer adorned with appliqu\u00e9d eagles, smiling in front of a house with a \u2018black boy lane\u2019 sign on it. Though the Mail<\/em> do not let us know that this is not in fact where Rayner lives (I only know this because I have spoken with residents), they describe him as \u2018dismissive\u2019 of the name change: \u2018\u201cBlack Boy Lane? White Boy Lane?\u201d he laughs, \u201cwho cares?\u201d\u2019. Another older black local, Joubert Roberts, says \u2018it\u2019s a nice name. It\u2019s part of our heritage. Leave it alone\u2019. While the Mail<\/em>\u2019s intention is seemingly to corral these off-the-cuff remarks into a broader \u2018war on woke\u2019, the opinions of the residents reveal a more complex picture than simply that of a \u2018loony left\u2019 council riding roughshod over local common sense. Following Sita Balani\u2019s prompt to look beneath the culture wars in order to understand the ordinary features of everyday multiculture that might scramble the siren calls of the far right, I want to suggest a different, speculative reading of the sentiments cited above.7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While some of those attached to the old names may well be nostalgic for empire or white advantage, I would suggest that others might be speaking from a place where \u2018race\u2019 is neither insignificant nor all-consuming; that is, from a vantage point that recognises the lie of a premature \u2018colour-blindness\u2019 while insisting that racism does not determine every aspect of existence.8<\/a><\/sup> The way in which this stance differs from that of The<\/em> Daily Mail<\/em> is both simple and strangely complex, due to the newspaper\u2019s duplicity. On the one hand, much of the Mail<\/em>\u2019s day-to-day ultraconservatism continuously elides \u2018race\u2019 and nation, with stories that underline Britain\u2019s imperilled ethnic purity. On the other, as in their write-up of the \u2018Black Boy Lane\u2019 controversy, they evince a version of colour-blindness that would have us believe that\u2014to borrow Gilroy\u2019s mocking characterisation\u2014\u2018racism requires no specific intervention beyond the worn-out rubrics of generic liberalism\u2019.9<\/a><\/sup> While we cannot, at this point, ascertain a more concrete understanding of local sentiments, I believe that they escape the Mail<\/em>\u2019s manipulations. When Raynor laughs off the name (\u2018Black Boy Lane? White Boy Lane? Who cares?\u2019) or when Roberts lays claim to it (\u2018it\u2019s a nice name. It\u2019s part of our heritage. Leave it alone\u2019), I would speculate that they are in part reacting against the idea that \u2018race\u2019 has become a \u2018permanent and apparently inescapable feature of society\u2019.10<\/a><\/sup> Though the name change does not in-and-of-itself suggest that \u2018race\u2019 is eternal and omnipotent, the wider context in which it took place\u2014in which corporations and governments often superficially scrambled to appear politically correct\u2014did at times lend credence to such a worldview. In addition, laughing off the significance of the old name also testifies to the ordinary multiculturalism of Tottenham, a place where many people are at ease with difference, even if that relative ease had\u2014and has\u2014to be fought for and renewed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many would see the new name, La Rose Lane, as just such an attempt to remember and renew the area\u2019s powerful history of anti-racism. Given this, the strength of the reaction against it cannot be entirely explained away by the forgoing speculations. The \u2018Black Boy Lane\u2019 signs that remain in windows more than two years on from the change contain further meanings and indicate other cleavages. They are, I want to argue, what Ernst Bloch calls \u2018non-contemporaneous\u2019 cultural elements\u2014\u2018heritage\u2019 that residually contradicts the modernising thrust of capitalist culture. It is precisely the anachronousness of the old name\u2014its evocation of a lost past\u2014that lends it a certain appeal and solidity in the flux of the present. Whatever its precise origins, all can agree that it is \u2018historical\u2019: both the council reformers and the local opposition agree that the name is not of this time<\/em>. Indeed, former leader of Haringey council, Josef Ejiofor, describes it as \u2018of a bygone era\u2019 and explicitly criticises \u2018the view that because its \u201chistorical\u201d it must be OK\u2019.11<\/a><\/sup> For those attached to the old name, however, its very antiquatedness and the unknowability of its origins bestow a mysterious aura that\u2014once threatened\u2014needs protecting. The signs in the windows are a \u2018muffled non-desire for the Now\u2019 that expresses itself through an attachment to remnants of an \u2018unrefurbished past\u2019 containing an unfulfilled promise of order.12<\/a><\/sup> Hence the call to \u2018save our statues\u2019 (largely unnoticed until now) and restore certainty. The question that Bloch then pushes us to ask is whether or not this rescue mission must of necessity be a nationalist one. Do the \u2018Black Boy Lane\u2019 signs in the windows translate as \u2018we want our country back\u2019? Or might they be demanding something different?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The council\u2019s consultations showed that residents of the street were firmly opposed to the name change (by over 70%), even if people elsewhere in the borough were more supportive. While it would be too easy to recode the street signs as a call for democracy, one of them, since removed by the council, did frame the antagonism in such plebiscitary terms: \u2018London Borough of the Residents (Formerly London Borough of Haringey)\u2019. Another factor seems to be home ownership: perhaps unsurprisingly it appears that it is the residents who own their homes and have lived on the street longest that are most committed to the old name.13<\/a><\/sup> Other locals saw the name change as a waste of public money, particularly in the context of under-funded services.14<\/a><\/sup> As I have tried to suggest above, the affection for the \u2018Black Boy Lane\u2019 name is overdetermined and cannot be unlocked by a single explanatory key. Neither democracy, property, \u2018race\u2019, or nation can singly account for the signs and attendant sentiments. But analysing the underlying details of such culture-war set pieces could bear political fruit. The left might stand to refine its thinking in the face of a rising \u2018multi-racial right\u2019: rather than imagining \u2018racialised communities\u2019 as a more-or-less coherent whole ready to be coaxed into a socialist bloc, divergent cultural and political inclinations might be taken into account in order to avoid simply adding a dash of race determinism to the traditional recipe of class reductionism.15<\/a><\/sup> As ever, the task is to try to work from where people actually are, rather than where they are imagined to be. By thinking through the hidden backstories behind culture-war headlines, we can untangle the knot of determinations that shapes people\u2019s lives and consciousnesses. From there, we can begin to undo far right narratives that harness all errant longings and obstinate attachments to the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. BBC News, \u2018Black Boy Lane renamed due to racial connotations\u2019, 21 January 2023, https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-london-64354190<\/a>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  2. Harringay Online, \u2018Where did West Green’s Black Boy Name Come From?\u2019, 27 June 2020, https:\/\/harringayonline.com\/forum\/topics\/where-did-west-green-s-black-boy-name-come-from<\/a>. An account of the history that is seemingly supportive of the name change can be viewed here: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/aZt2rA4chDk<\/a>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  3. A historical account that is sneeringly against the name change can be viewed here: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3PAHvZWQ8Rk<\/a>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  4. David Jesudason, \u2018The Black Boy pub, Tottenham – \u2018It was disempowering and shaming\u2019\u2019, 20 September 2024, https:\/\/davidjesudason.substack.com\/p\/the-black-boy-pub-sign-tottenham<\/a>. Ingrid Pollard has underlined the significance of the shorter lifecycles of pub signage vis-\u00e0-vis pub names. See Ingrid Pollard, \u2018Hidden in a Public Place\u2019, in Seventeen of Sixty Eight<\/em> (London, 2019), 34. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  5. Paul Gilroy, Postcolonial Melancholia<\/em> (New York, 2005); Pollard, \u2018Hidden in a Public Place\u2019; Michael Keith and Ingrid Pollard, \u2018From the Black Boy Series: Michael Keith interviews Ingrid Pollard\u2019, in Street Signs<\/em>, Autumn 2009: 32-35. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  6. Robert Hardman, \u2018The ‘hard-up’ Labour council that blew \u00a3100,000 changing the name of Black Boy Lane even though its own survey found not a single objection from a black person… And provoked a spectacular backlash!\u2019, The Daily Mail<\/em>, 27 January 2023, https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-11685469\/The-hard-Labour-council-blew-100-000-changing-Black-Boy-Lane.html<\/a>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  7. Sita Balani, \u2018Not normal but ordinary: Living against the culture wars\u2019, Radical Philosophy<\/em>, No. 218 (Spring 2025): 10\u201322. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  8. Gilroy, Postcolonial Melancholia<\/em>, 144-145. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  9. Ibid., 144. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  10. Ibid., 145. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  11. Joseph Ejiofor, \u2018Proud to see La Rose Lane\u2019, 24 February 2023, The Voice<\/em>, https:\/\/www.voice-online.co.uk\/opinion\/comment\/2023\/01\/24\/proud-to-see-la-rose-lane\/<\/a>. In 2022, Ejiofor claimed that his support for the name change was one of the reasons that the Labour Party blocked him from re-standing. See Elliott Chappell, \u2018Councillor and ex-leader Ejiofor blocked from standing as Labour candidate\u2019, Labour List<\/em>, 23 February 2022, https:\/\/labourlist.org\/2022\/02\/councillor-and-ex-council-leader-blocked-from-standing-as-labour-candidate\/<\/a>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  12. Ernst Bloch, Heritage of Our Times<\/em> (Cambridge, 1991), 108.
    \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  13. Anecdotal evidence pending further research. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  14. This came up in Haringay Online<\/em> forums and in conversations I have had with residents. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  15. Alberto Toscano, \u2018Trump and the Rise of the Multiracial Right\u2019, In These Times<\/em>, 13 March 2025, https:\/\/inthesetimes.com\/article\/multiracial-right-trump-republicans<\/a>; on \u2018racialised communities\u2019 as part of a socialist bloc, see James Schneider, \u2018Building the Party\u2019, Sidecar<\/em>, 15 July 2025, https:\/\/newleftreview.org\/sidecar\/posts\/building-the-party<\/a>; for a recent example of class reductionism, see Andrew Murray\u2019s disagreements with Schneider in \u2018Force of Opposition\u2019, Sidecar<\/em>, 6 August 2025, https:\/\/newleftreview.org\/sidecar\/posts\/force-of-opposition<\/a>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Gabriel Bristow Following the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, Haringey Council in North London began a consultation process that ended […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"[{\"id\":\"7e1457c2-dead-4509-ba1f-1df0d86ed841\",\"content\":\"BBC News, \\u2018Black Boy Lane renamed due to racial connotations\\u2019, 21 January 2023, https:\\\/\\\/www.bbc.co.uk\\\/news\\\/uk-england-london-64354190<\\\/a>.\"},{\"id\":\"120f630d-efb9-407d-b56c-552cb719c48d\",\"content\":\"Harringay Online, \\u2018Where did West Green's Black Boy Name Come From?\\u2019, 27 June 2020, https:\\\/\\\/harringayonline.com\\\/forum\\\/topics\\\/where-did-west-green-s-black-boy-name-come-from<\\\/a>. An account of the history that is seemingly supportive of the name change can be viewed here: https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/shorts\\\/aZt2rA4chDk<\\\/a>.\"},{\"id\":\"c92df237-2382-48a8-bf1f-eac170739542\",\"content\":\"A historical account that is sneeringly against the name change can be viewed here: https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/watch?v=3PAHvZWQ8Rk<\\\/a>.\"},{\"id\":\"924883d6-370d-44f8-a1c5-f90775515b19\",\"content\":\"David Jesudason, \\u2018The Black Boy pub, Tottenham - \\u2018It was disempowering and shaming\\u2019\\u2019, 20 September 2024, https:\\\/\\\/davidjesudason.substack.com\\\/p\\\/the-black-boy-pub-sign-tottenham<\\\/a>. Ingrid Pollard has underlined the significance of the shorter lifecycles of pub signage vis-\\u00e0-vis pub names. See Ingrid Pollard, \\u2018Hidden in a Public Place\\u2019, in Seventeen of Sixty Eight<\\\/em> (London, 2019), 34.\"},{\"id\":\"1fc31fcc-00b7-465a-ad98-d4847b314adb\",\"content\":\"Paul Gilroy, Postcolonial Melancholia<\\\/em> (New York, 2005); Pollard, \\u2018Hidden in a Public Place\\u2019; Michael Keith and Ingrid Pollard, \\u2018From the Black Boy Series: Michael Keith interviews Ingrid Pollard\\u2019, in Street Signs<\\\/em>, Autumn 2009: 32-35.\"},{\"id\":\"bd7a8ff6-9313-4730-818b-765e761b9923\",\"content\":\"Robert Hardman, \\u2018The 'hard-up' Labour council that blew \\u00a3100,000 changing the name of Black Boy Lane even though its own survey found not a single objection from a black person... And provoked a spectacular backlash!\\u2019, The Daily Mail<\\\/em>, 27 January 2023, https:\\\/\\\/www.dailymail.co.uk\\\/news\\\/article-11685469\\\/The-hard-Labour-council-blew-100-000-changing-Black-Boy-Lane.html<\\\/a>.\"},{\"id\":\"a78de522-a577-4d37-9d7f-99bd39e12d1a\",\"content\":\"Sita Balani, \\u2018Not normal but ordinary: Living against the culture wars\\u2019, Radical Philosophy<\\\/em>, No. 218 (Spring 2025): 10\\u201322.\"},{\"id\":\"17ce500f-c0ed-4fef-b4c9-9dd4f1dd3758\",\"content\":\"Gilroy, Postcolonial Melancholia<\\\/em>, 144-145.\"},{\"id\":\"764d764c-03b3-4531-8d98-384adda8f507\",\"content\":\"Ibid., 144.\"},{\"id\":\"3f623ca7-1490-4744-9ec0-e8fb5e8f4037\",\"content\":\"Ibid., 145.\"},{\"id\":\"ca7b62fc-b343-4811-b9f8-ad12c4ac6510\",\"content\":\"Joseph Ejiofor, \\u2018Proud to see La Rose Lane\\u2019, 24 February 2023, The Voice<\\\/em>, https:\\\/\\\/www.voice-online.co.uk\\\/opinion\\\/comment\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/24\\\/proud-to-see-la-rose-lane\\\/<\\\/a>. In 2022, Ejiofor claimed that his support for the name change was one of the reasons that the Labour Party blocked him from re-standing. See Elliott Chappell, \\u2018Councillor and ex-leader Ejiofor blocked from standing as Labour candidate\\u2019, Labour List<\\\/em>, 23 February 2022, https:\\\/\\\/labourlist.org\\\/2022\\\/02\\\/councillor-and-ex-council-leader-blocked-from-standing-as-labour-candidate\\\/<\\\/a>.\"},{\"id\":\"0ad3dbe5-5476-41b4-b041-2a7bdddc3e01\",\"content\":\"Ernst Bloch, Heritage of Our Times<\\\/em> (Cambridge, 1991), 108.
    \"},{\"id\":\"2f7d9c78-9417-44e9-b7f2-dad6569f80b5\",\"content\":\"Anecdotal evidence pending further research.\"},{\"id\":\"fad6a543-f4ad-4f9a-a09f-1b0d93926876\",\"content\":\"This came up in Haringay Online<\\\/em> forums and in conversations I have had with residents.\"},{\"id\":\"46ee255d-e6a5-496a-9622-b023929f3e2c\",\"content\":\"Alberto Toscano, \\u2018Trump and the Rise of the Multiracial Right\\u2019, In These Times<\\\/em>, 13 March 2025,     https:\\\/\\\/inthesetimes.com\\\/article\\\/multiracial-right-trump-republicans<\\\/a>; on \\u2018racialised communities\\u2019 as part of a socialist bloc, see James Schneider, \\u2018Building the Party\\u2019, Sidecar<\\\/em>, 15 July 2025, https:\\\/\\\/newleftreview.org\\\/sidecar\\\/posts\\\/building-the-party<\\\/a>; for a recent example of class reductionism, see Andrew Murray\\u2019s disagreements with Schneider in \\u2018Force of Opposition\\u2019, Sidecar<\\\/em>, 6 August 2025, https:\\\/\\\/newleftreview.org\\\/sidecar\\\/posts\\\/force-of-opposition<\\\/a>.\"}]"},"class_list":["post-935","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/statesofculturalanalysis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/statesofculturalanalysis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/statesofculturalanalysis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/statesofculturalanalysis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/statesofculturalanalysis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=935"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/statesofculturalanalysis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1080,"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/statesofculturalanalysis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/935\/revisions\/1080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reframe.sussex.ac.uk\/statesofculturalanalysis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}