Before 1965, the boundaries of the county of Hertfordshire stretched way into suburbia.
Just metres south of Southgate underground station (Piccadilly Line), the main road is met by a street called Crown Lane.
One only has to wander a little way along Crown Lane and, in 2015 at least, you could reach a point where Rodwins Dancewear Shoe shop lay directly opposite an emporium selling fried chicken.
It was at this obscure point that the county of Hertfordshire stretched furthest into what would become Greater London. Hertfordshire stopped here and Middlesex took over.
The 1965 reform of Greater London swept away these vestiges. A whole part of Hertfordshire containing Totteridge, High, East and Chipping Barnet, Osidge and this part of Southgate was swept away to become just part of the new London Borough of Barnet.
But here - just west of Rodwins and all the way to Tring, Royston and Bishops Stortford - folk could claim there were Hertfordshire folk, not Londoners...
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Before 1965, the boundaries of the county of Hertfordshire stretched way into suburbia.
