Place Name
This cul-de-sac was built behind the former site of the Angel Inn, which was first recorded here in the 17thCentury, immediately east of this mews. This became an important coaching inn and overnight stopping place on the Great North Road for travellers between the City of London and the north. A building called Sheepcote stood here in the early 16thCentury, by 1614 it had become known as the Angel Inn, or simply the Angel, taking its name from the Angel of the Annunciation which appeared on the sign. As the road between here and the City grew increasingly dangerous, its importance as the last staging post before reaching the City grew. Travellers would take on armed escorts and coaches would gather to go in convoy to deter the footpads that stalked the road leading to the City. By the early 18thCentury, the Angel, which covered a huge area, had become the largest coaching house in a row of several along Islington High Street. It was rebuilt in 1819 and continued to flourish throughout the 19thCentury but this proved to be a high point. In 1883 the stables, which had been bisected by the New Road (later Pentonville Road) in 1756, were sold. The inn’s fame as a landmark ensured that when City and South London Railway opened a new underground station in the area in 1901 it was named Angel. Another rebuild completed in 1903 was one last hurrah for this historic inn which closed in 1921. The site was converted into a Lyons’ Corner House and became a popular restaurant for many years before that too closed, in 1959. Proposals to demolish the building were fiercely opposed but the building remained derelict and was only occupied again in the early 1980s as a bank. The name of the Angel was resurrected in 1998 by Wetherspoons who opened a pub next door. But it closed in 2023.
