Chelsea's rural heritage seen on a Brompton G-Line

The other day I found myself cycling in the now rather fancy Chelsea. As I past this particular building, first seen on one of Ross’s brilliant quite interesting Sunday rides a few years ago, I decided to stop and take a few photos of my Brompton G-Line…and the building in question of course! Yes you read that correctly…rural. 

The cows head on the building were once the mooo-dels (sorry, I could not resist) for Wright's Dairy, which proudly served Londoners with milk, from the late 1700s.

Until the 19th century, Chelsea was the ultimate market garden for the bustling city, overflowing with corn, barley, fruit, and vegetables. It was the go-to place for root vegetables and the first part of Britain to successfully grow lettuce - who knew? By the 16th and 17th centuries, Chelsea caught the eye of the well-heeled, leading its lovely residential areas to gradually elbow out the farms by the late 19th century. It remains to this day quite a select area.

One farm that stubbornly held on was Wright’s Dairy, which got its start in 1796, boasting around 50 cows and a couple of goats - yes, goats! Imagine the milkshake possibilities!

As Chelsea got all posh, The Old Dairy had to pack its bags and move due to the rampant development in the late 1800s, setting up shop nearby while the fields behind continued to host a herd of happy cows. 

With better technology in terms of transportation and refrigeration strutting their stuff in the 20th century, farming was kicked out of the capital, but dairies decided to stick around for the party a bit longer. Wright’s Dairy eventually got swept up by United Dairies, which had a ‘merger-mania’ with Cow & Gate in 1959, creating a name change to Unigate. They just couldn’t keep their cows when they sold off most of their dairy business in the late 1970s.

Now, the real twist in all this happened in the 1960s when the dairy building hopped into a new career as a recording studio. Very rock ‘n’ roll! Sir Elton John, The Who, and even Pink Floyd strutted in - Pink Floyd recorded bits of their debut album here in 1967! 

The studio finally closed up shop in 1974 when the lease expired, and today it’s been transformed into a three-bedroom townhouse, where you can still spy those original tiles from the dairy shop days on the ground floor façade. 

Just imagine if the old dairy still stood, complete with its shop! I suspect it would attract heaps of locals, curious tourists, and sadly even a few influencers. While in full flight snapping photos, a local passed by giving me a puzzled look. When they asked what I was up to, I simply pointed upwards and said, “moo cow!” They chuckled and wandered off, clearly understanding the charm!

Until next time, stay safe out there people!