Attack of the Cranes poster


Date: 2017

Found: on a street sign on Chalton St

This poster appeared across London in 2017. It protests against gentrification of areas of social housing. The blocks of flats are dominated by a skyline of cranes that have come to dismantle them and evict the people living within them. This image resonated with people living in the shadow of vast developments at the new Kings Cross Central.

One location of the poster, in colour, was at 56a, the Infoshop social centre. This is located close to the large scale demolition and rebuilding of Elephant & Castle’s Heygate Estate by Lendlease, a current major player in the transformation of Somers Town, too as the developer of Euston.

The photograph of the poster was taken by Iris Watson as an entry in the Somers Town History Club photography competition.

By Esther Leslie