Village Squire, 1979-09, Page 5Dining in the green of Cafe du Midi at the Picadilly village on Richmond North in London.
Riches on
Richmond
No rth
A few blocks
of London with a lot to offer
BY KEITH ROULSTON
I suspect there are many people like me. They've spotted
many of the interesting -looking shops along Richmond Street in
the north end of London but only from their cars as they wheeled
either to the downtown area or out of the downtown area saying
each time, sometime I've got to stop and have a look at those.
Richmond North is a little like a freeway in the north end as the
traffic picks up speed coming out of the core area and it takes
some determination to stop and look around. Many, of course
have been doing that. That's why the area from "Richmond
Row" at the north edge of Victoria Park through to about Oxford
street is one of the most fashionable shopping areas in the city
and one of the most varied and interesting in Western Ontario.
There's a little here to remind one of such shopping districts as
Yorkville in Toronto before it became the totally ritzy,
homogenized, spic and span place it is today. There's still grit on
Richmond north, still untidy garages and supermarkets amid the
chique shops. It gives it a flavour that tells you it's still run by
individuals, not corporations.
There are some nice things about Richmond north that can't
be found downtown. You can pull off on the side streets, for
instance, and still find free parking and a totally refreshing,
unrushed feeling. I pulled off onto Mill street at the C.P.R. Hotel
and parked all afternoon without depositing a single nickle or
•urning my car over to a parking lot attendant who looked like he
September 1979, Village Squire 3