Editing Islington (section)

===Market gardens and entertainments===
In the 17th and 18th centuries the availability of water made Islington a good place for growing vegetables to feed London. The manor became a popular excursion destination for Londoners, attracted to the area by its rural feel. Many [[public houses]] were therefore built to serve the needs of both the excursionists and travellers on the turnpike. By 1716, there were 56 ale-house keepers in Upper Street, also offering pleasure and tea gardens, and activities such as archery, [[Skittles (sport)|skittle]] alleys and bowling. By the 18th century, music and dancing were offered, together with billiards, firework displays and balloon ascents. The ''[[The King's Head Theatre|King's Head Tavern]]'', now a [[Victorian era|Victorian]] building with a theatre, has remained on the same site, opposite the parish church, since 1543.<ref name=social/> The founder of the theatre, Dan Crawford, who died in 2005, disagreed with the introduction of decimal coinage. For twenty-plus years after decimalisation (on 15 February 1971), the bar continued to show prices and charge for drinks in pre-decimalisation currency.

By the 19th century many [[music halls]] and theatres were established around [[Islington Green]]. One such was [[Collins's Music Hall]], the remains of which are now partly incorporated into a bookshop. The remainder of the Hall has been redeveloped into a new theatre, with its entrance at the bottom of [[Essex Road]]. It stood on the site of the Landsdowne Tavern, where the landlord had built an entertainment room for customers who wanted to sing (and later for professional entertainers). It was founded in 1862 by Samuel Thomas Collins Vagg and by 1897 had become a 1,800-seat theatre with 10 bars. The theatre suffered damage in a fire in 1958 and has not reopened.<ref name=social/> Between 92 and 162 acts were put on each evening and performers who started there included [[Marie Lloyd]], [[George Robey]], [[Harry Lauder]], [[Harry Tate]], [[George Formby, Jr.|George Formby]], [[Vesta Tilley]], [[Tommy Trinder]], [[Gracie Fields]], [[Tommy Handley]] and [[Norman Wisdom]].
[[File:Islington E Baker 1805.jpg|thumb|250px|An 1805 map of Islington]]

The Islington Literary and Scientific Society was established in 1833 and first met in Mr. Edgeworth's Academy on Upper Street. Its goal was to spread knowledge through lectures, discussions, and experiments, politics and theology being forbidden. A building, the Literary and Scientific Institution, was erected in 1837 in Wellington (later Almeida) Street, designed by Roumieu and Gough in a stuccoed Grecian style. It included a library (containing 3,300 volumes in 1839), reading room, museum, laboratory, and lecture theatre seating 500. The subscription was two guineas a year. After the library was sold off in 1872, the building was sold or leased in 1874 to the ''Wellington Club'', which occupied it until 1886. In 1885 the hall was used for concerts, balls, and public meetings. The [[Salvation Army]] bought the building in 1890, renamed it the Wellington Castle barracks, and remained there until 1955. The building became a factory and showroom for Beck's British Carnival Novelties for a few years from 1956, after which it stood empty. In 1978 a campaign began with the goal to redevelop the building as a theatre. A public appeal was launched in 1981, and a festival of avant-garde theatre and music was held there and at other Islington venues in 1982. What has become the successful [[Almeida Theatre]] was founded.<ref name=social/>