When Jackie Wright first moved to Black Boy Lane in Tottenham in 1999, she asked her taxi driver if he knew the history behind the street name. She wasn’t from London, but the 53-year-old had always been interested in black history.
“I asked the cab man: ‘Why is this road this name?’ And he said: ‘Go to Tottenham library.’ So I went to the library; my head blew,” she said.
Wright, who is black British herself, said she found convincing evidence that the name of the road was linked to enslaved black people who lived in the area. While enslaved Africans were known to live in Tottenham in the 1600s, Wright’s research led her to believe some lived and worked on that very road.
Across the road from her house is Lincoln Mews, a former stables that is now a block of flats. Wright’s findings suggested that enslaved black people lived there and took care of the horses.
“I hated it [the name]. I hated it from the day [I moved in],” she explained from her house. “When I needed repairs done, they’d phone me and say: ‘Is this road for real?’”
She was pleased when the name was finally changed last month after a series of consultations by Haringey council, which began in June 2020 amid the Black Lives Matter protests that year.
Tottenham has the 10th highest percentage of black people of any constituency in the country, with 24% identifying as black, and the road was renamed La Rose Lane, in honour of John La Rose, a black publisher, writer and local political activist who founded New Beacon Books – the first specialist Caribbean publishing house, bookshop and international book service in Britain.
But less than 24 hours after the official renaming, the street sign with the new name was crossed out with black spray paint. In the weeks that followed, residents on the road put up their own “Black Boy Lane” signs on their windows in protest at the street’s new name and a huge graffiti mural, featuring the street’s original name, was painted on the wall behind the road sign. It has since been removed.
The origin of the name is a huge point of contention for the residents. It is thought the street is named after a nearby pub with a similar name that could be traced back to the 17th century. Some argue the name referred to King Charles II, who was nicknamed the black boy because of his dark features.
The council said that that although the historical origin of the pub’s name was not clear, the pub’s sign once had an image that was a caricature of a black boy. The image was replaced in the 1980s following local complaints.
Other residents, including the owner of MA Local Supermarket on La Rose Lane, Ali Demirci, claim the name is linked to chimney sweeps, with black referring to soot, not race. “They’re telling us it’s due to racism, it’s got nothing to do with that. Black boy is something to do with the chimneys, it’s nothing to do with humans,” he said.
Rishi Jogoo, 68, from Mauritius, has a sign of the former street name in his window. From his dining room, he shared how he has been racially attacked in London but he didn’t think the original street name was a problem. “We are not America. Racism is a problem, yes. I understand as well why they changed it because many people will think that is racist but I’m not sure [the sign was] racist.
“I think people who are living here would have preferred for it to stay. It feels like the council decided by themselves to do this,” he said.
Peray Ahmet, the leader of Haringey council, has said her inbox has been filled with messages from people objecting to the name change, much of it incredibly abusive. She said the council took steps to involve residents during discussions, including inviting them to consultations and to vote. “There was door-knocking, there were letter drops, there were a lot of attempts to engage with residents who live on the road. We did a lot of outreach on this.
“Historically, residents have expressed unease about the road name, even before the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020,” Ahmet said. “Concerns had been raised before the murder of George Floyd. My predecessor was also very concerned about the name and the potentially racist connotations.”
While it has been reported that the project will cost the council £180,000, which one elderly resident claimed was “a complete waste of money”, Ahmet said that was at the upper end of what its is likely to set the local authority back. “In reality, the total up to date has cost £53,000.”
Breaking down the cost, the vast majority has gone towards reimbursing residents for the expense of changing their address on documents. “There are 168 properties eligible to claim £300 worth of voluntary payment, which equals about £50,000. Then a few thousand was spent on the street signage and the [communications] and translations,” she added.
Carol Lee, who has lived on the road for 35 years and has mixed-race children, said this has angered some of her neighbours. “The council are like, here’s £300, crack on with what you have to do. You might have two or three people who have got to change everything. I’ll have to change my driver’s licence, and that’s £40 alone. You have to look after your money these days and I don’t know if £300 will cover it.”
Ahmet stands by the council’s decision to change the street name. “This area in the borough has a hospital, a park, and a school. It’s a bus route that goes from Haringey to Hackney. So yes, it impacts you if you live on the road but the impact is also for children who are using the park, the community centre or the school. The impact is wider than just one road.
“The intention was absolutely not to be divisive. Quite the opposite. Why would celebrating a local black activist, campaigner, poet, essayist, publisher be divisive?
