A Need To Know Basis
Canvey Island trivia.
• The ‘towers burning at the break of day’ referred to in All Through The City burn no more. The Estuarine skyline changed for ever in 2012 when the Coryton Refinery closed and the flame was extinguished. Seven hundred jobs were lost and the iconic towers are now set to be demolished.
• Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations features a reference to the Lobster Smack pub, a drunken stumble from the jetty on the front of Down By The Jetty. This spot was notorious for smugglers and bare-knuckle boxing, and remains a romantic draw for Wilko: “Up by the Lobster Smack, I feel just like Wordsworth felt about Windermere…”
• Another significant Feelgood haunt was the Admiral Jellicoe, where you could ask for “Feelgood measures” – one step up from doubles. Alternatively, you’d find the band back at Feelgood House, a redoubtable bachelor pad that boasted a bar and floodlights on the lawn, for whenever the desire arose to play croquet in the middle of the night (which was surprisingly often).
• Lee Brilleaux was a sartorial sight to behold as he stalked the streets of Oil City; in addition to his suit obsession, he had a passion for “foot furniture”. He’d be pleased to know that shoesmiths Jeffery West have created a shiny, pointy clodhopper named ‘The Brilleaux’.
• Another Canvey star is the mysterious Canvey Island Monster. This unlovely “fish with feet” (and sharp teeth), washed up in 1953, presumably having drifted from somewhere exotic. An artist’s impression online is evocative of an angry Mr Blobby.
• January 31, 1953 was the night of the Canvey flood, which took 58 lives and saw the Island evacuated (evacuees included the young Feelgoods, minus Lee Brilleaux, who hadn’t yet moved to Canvey). The tidal surge forced many to take to their rooftops during the freezing night as the waters reached the ceilings of their bungalows.
• Canvey Islanders are a proud bunch, leaping to the Island’s defence whenever it’s voted one of the UK’s worst places to live. Among other things, it has been dubbed “a great place to take your kids – if you hate them”.