This week 30 years ago: Angry councillors say Islington is becoming ‘yuppie’ land
Islington Gazette: August 7, 1987. Picture: British Library - Credit: Archant
Islington was turning into “yuppie” land, councillors claimed.
They said it was becoming an Earl’s Court-style bedsit location, as developers took advantage of planning laws to convert entire houses into flats.
Opposition Social Democrat members voiced their concerns during a town hall wrangle over a builder’s plans to convert a property in Ockendon Road, Canonbury, into four flats.
Cllr Mary Powell said: “It’s a scheme to turn these family homes into rabbit hutches.”
Meanwhile, a judge showed mercy on a mum who swindled a charity out of £3,000 [£8,000 in today’s terms].
Kathleen Montgomery, 28, of Newington Green Road, cheated the philanthropic Reeve’s Foundation over a 12-month period with fake grant applications.
The mum-of-four admitted 14 charges, but walked free from the Old Bailey after the judge heard of the poverty she had suffered.
