101 Dalmatians|Stoney Street — The Taxidermist's Doorway Under the Arches

Jasper and Horace pull up on Stoney Street to collect Skinner, and the street does the work with no dressing at all. Brick warehouses, an iron railway viaduct overhead, half the daylight already taken by the arches carrying trains into London Bridge. A taxidermist's doorway fits here without anyone having to argue for it.

In 1996 this was still a working wholesale corner. Borough Market had sold fruit and vegetables to the trade for centuries and was well into its decline; the retail food market that now fills these arches began in 1998 and took years to become the weekend crush it is today. The film caught the street in its last quiet stretch, which is why it photographs as somewhere a man might skin things for a living rather than somewhere you queue for a cheese toastie.

Come on a weekday morning for the version the camera saw — shutters down, wet setts, the viaduct doing all the framing. Come on a Saturday if you want to eat. Either way, stand under the arch and listen for a minute: the trains go over often enough that everyone on Stoney Street has learned to raise their voice without noticing they do it.