Queen’s Crescent Library gets a new look

RESIDENTS hoping to borrow a novel from Queen’s Crescent Library this week would have thought they were on the wrong street – after the public building was made to look like a fast-food takeaway.

The transformation unfolded as Kentucky Fried Chicken were given permission to film one of its wacky TV adverts, with the library mocked up as one of its branches. The familiar book display in the front window was swapped for neon lights promoting the fried food, with the children’s section closed from 2pm till 6pm on March 12.

The crews also temporarily covered up the wavy line street art in the market road. Towering cranes were moved in, alongside floodlights and an artificial rain machine on Monday and Tuesday – even though it was already bucketing down. The road was closed to traffic for 11 hours each day as filming continued.

KFC said the street art in the road will be restored once filming is wrapped, and a spokesperson said: “The rumours are true, we’ve been filming our latest ad in Camden’s lovely Queen’s Crescent.

“While we gained permission from the council to make some minor alterations to the area being filmed, these have now all been put back to normal.”

Film crews in Queen’s Crescent

The location manager for the shoot said the production company paid the library £2,000 to use the space and businesses in the area were compensated a total of £19,390. Local residents were hired as location marshalls and leftover props, along with eight bags of play sand, were donated to Rhyl Primary School.

The manager, who asked not to be named, said: “Camden Council like all councils are being defunded by the Tories and have been since 2010. The figures on the council cuts are shocking. Councils making revenue on things like filming is now essential in order for them to keep publicly run buildings and services like libraries running.”

Nearby kebab joint QC Flavas said it had received £150 compensation from the company.

Gill Self, manager of family-run convenience store Frank’s, said: “It was quite interesting to watch, what I did see of it. Just all the people moving around and all the equipment being moved. As to the filming, we didn’t see any of that as they were based more in the middle of the Crescent down the end.”

As for trade, she said: “[The crews] were pretty good actually and they were quite helpful. They tried not to disrupt too much. It was OK as far as we were concerned. What will impact us more is that [the council] is thinking of changing the parking times all down the side streets.”

KFC signs stuck on the library

Queen’s Crescent’s wavy lines were painted by Camden Council in 2021.

Children’s art charity the Sir Hubert von Herkomer Arts Foundation (HVH) then added a colourful road mural to the council’s project, which has since been removed when the road was dug up for cabling work around six months ago. Painted by children and designed with graffiti artists, the project was run by HVH who work with 565 children a year.

Across five sessions, pupils from Rhyl, Fleet, Gospel Oak,  Parliament Hill, Haverstock and Acland Burghley schools picked up a paint brush to add a splash of colour to the tarmac and shutters of the Queen’s Crescent shops to prevent gang tagging.

A council spokesperson said: “These lines were originally painted by the council and have worn over time. However, the lines were intended to be temporary and will not form part of the £1million works starting soon on Queen’s Crescent, where the council will install new and improved road surfacing and high-quality pavements.”