Above: Upper and Florence Street corner c.1920, with the Vestry Hall, the old Unity Chapel and, further along, St Mary's Church.

​

​

20TH CENTURY: A SECOND NEAR-MISS

Florence Street survived through the First World War, only starting to change during the 1920s. At this time a number of the houses were converted to two or even three flats, sharing the same entrance. This changed the nature of the street's inhabitants and meant that very few lived there for more than two or three years.

At the corner of the street, the grand Vestry Hall was sold when Islington Borough decided to centralise in a new Town Hall in Upper Street. The Vestry Hall was converted by Gray & Webb and opened as the Lido cinema in 1928. It was subsequently taken over by the Odeon cinema chain in 1935 and renamed as such in 1936. The exterior didn't change, but the auditorium was decorated in a modern Art Deco style and seating was provided for 642 in the stalls and 496 in the balcony.

Florence Street's second lucky near miss came in the Second World War. In 1940 a bomb hit and destroyed the Unity Chapel with consequential light shrapnel damage to a number of Florence Street houses. The Unity Church that exists today was constructed shortly after the end of WW2.

The nature of Florence Street took a further turn as council housing was built nearby. Canonbury Court was built in 1948 between Sebbon Street and Halton Road, blocking off Shillingford Street. The site of about four acres was acquired by the council from the Northampton estate for £35,450 and 132 flats in 7 four-storeyed blocks were built. An additional block was built in Florence Street in 1960.

The Odeon cinema closed on 21 January 1961 with the last films shown being Kenneth Moore in "Man in the Moon" and Harry H Corbett in "Marriage of Convenience".  The grand old building was demolished and replaced with a petrol station - very sad.

Since then there have been very few changes, apart from the bit that is now renamed to be part of Hawes Street and the fire station rebuilding 42-45 as part of the new rear entrance to the station in the late 1980s.