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The terrace of properties, which includes numbers 85/87 Southgate Road, was built as residences around 1860. The recession of the 1880s and the development of a transport system that allowed people to access London from the suburbs gave rise to a general exodus from the area and the properties may well have become derelict or at least neglected.

Gavin
Smith’s book "The Archive Photograph Series –
Islington" shows the factories in 1905 with a
street full of men & women in hats and bonnets. A
post war Ordinance Survey map notes the premises as a
Millinery works alongside a cardboard factory, a cake
decorating factory and a large printing works. The area
was plainly occupied by a substantial number of light
industrial businesses. Not far away was the East End
where there was a long established tradition of
furniture making.
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