What is "Shoe Lane" in London?

[TheParser]

I have just read this written by a British journalist: "The Evening Standard [newspaper] was in a run-down building on Shoe Lane near the Holborn Viaduct."

(1) If it is a street, why did he use "on"? (I have read that the British usually use "in" when referring to streets.)

(2) If it is a district, why did he use "on"?

(3) I did some googling and discovered that some more recent results gave "on Shoe Lane" and some older references gave "in Shoe Lane." Is the use of the preposition a-changing?


THANK YOU

[5jj]

Some British journalists do affect an American style, and it may be that we are using 'on' more for streets. I'm not.

Shoe lane is, or was, a street. Collage

[TheParser]

Moderator 5jj:


Thank you SO much for the explanation and the link. (Some people are not aware of the bravery of Londoners during the unpleasantness of 1939 - 1945.)

In that book, someone was quoted as saying "ON Shoe Lane," and then a few pages later, the author wrote "IN Shoe Lane." It was very confusing, for we learners like consistency.

Thank you for explaining that some British people are adopting some American practices. Who knows? Maybe the British will even start to adopt some American spellings! :) [That is supposed to be a smile!]