Ghosts, ghouls, vampires and zombies all visited Archway’s Navigator Square for the Halloween Spooktacular; with their unearthly presence a slightly surprising signal of the area’s revival.
The event, was complete with face-painters, pumpkin carving, monster-mask making and a band, happened because of last year’s £12 million transformation to the Archway gyratory, according to the Islington Council.
“We really think that these sorts of events show Archway is a place where people want to come and visit, and we think it’ll encourage people to visit the shops and restaurants nearby,” Barry Causton, the events manager for the Islington Council said.
The removal of the gyratory system at Archway roundabout means that pedestrians now have easy access to the remodelled Navigator Square; a change welcomed by one visitor to the Halloween Spooktacular.
“I really wouldn’t have come before,” Emma Bohan-Leigh said. “It was like standing in the middle of traffic.”
The council says it will use the revamped square as a model for other gyratory systems, but traffic flow wasn’t the main concern of most of the hundreds of visitors, especially the younger ones.
“I just liked having my face painted scary colours and the ghost pumpkin. It was great,” a 12 year-old at the Halloween Spooktacular, Daisha said.
Hywel Davies is a TV and radio journalist. He reports, mostly on international affairs, and is an experienced field and show producer and a highly skilled writer/sub-editor. . He has worked for CNN, the BBC, Arise TV, the Phnom Pehn Post, Deutsche Well and Al Jazeera. He’s lived in Zambia, the UK, China, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand and has travelled to more than 25 countries for assignments.
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