| Place | Story | Still exists? | Lat, Lon | Google Maps | place_id | Source article |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leicester Square Underground Station | Leicester Square tube station was the victim of a 'major branding takeover' by Apple, who purchased pretty much every last piece of advertising at one of the major west end tube stops to promote the iPod Shuffle. Apple created what they called the 'iPod Zone', with media critics floating the possibility that consumers might even forget the name of the station and just call it the 'Apple stop'. | n/a (area) | 51.51145, -0.12814 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ98Dokc0EdkgRy3-ajwvdD94 | the apple stop |
| Kew Gardens | Kew Gardens has been infiltrated by 'yellowflowered perfoliate Alexanders', which grow up to 1.5 metres tall and starve bluebells of light. The invading weed was first seen at Kew in the early Nineties and is found normally in North Africa, southern Europe and south-west Asia. In recent years the population has spread aggressively, and the manager of natural areas at Kew warned that if nothing is done it is inevitable the weed will escape Kew Gardens and spread throughout London. An army of volunteers has been brought in to bring the plants under control — not to eradicate them, but to ensure a good carpet of bluebells survives. | n/a (area) | 51.47874, -0.29557 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJQzRbYMUNdkgRfvuRYk-Rb9E | green army to |
| Thames Gateway Bridge (proposed), Newham to Greenwich | A planned £455 million toll bridge, officially called the Thames Gateway bridge, would link Newham and Greenwich. The Thames Gateway London Partnership claimed it would 'generate at least 17,000 jobs north and south of the river' and had the backing of the Mayor of London, who had greenlighted the project. Friends of the Earth opposed it, claiming the bridge would 'lead to more traffic congestion, air pollution and an increase in noise pollution', and cited a Transport for London environmental study suggesting the bridge would have 'little impact' on traffic at other local crossings, with traffic in the Blackwall tunnel 'remaining more or less unchanged'. The plans were going through a public enquiry, held at Charlton Athletic's stadium, The Valley. | n/a (area) | 51.52113, 0.03983 exact | map ↗ | ChIJXeJGRtGn2EcRApcBFp0JKsI | is it a flyover |
| London Eye | In what Londonist called 'surely the city's most troubled attraction', the London Eye became embroiled in a bitter ownership dispute when British Airways was accused of 'betrayal' over their decision to sell their third share to the Tussauds Group. Architects David Marks and Julia Byfield, who owned a third of the attraction themselves, had been negotiating with BA to buy their stake and had put together a funding package along with Tussauds, who also owned a third. The architects claimed they were 'frozen out' of discussions, saying BA had told them over a year earlier that they wished to exit 'elegantly' and had invited consensual bids. BA maintained there were no consensual bids put forward at any stage, adding that when they got involved in 1998 the Eye only had planning permission for five years. The total debt on the Eye stood at around £175m, though BA agreed to sell their stake along with the debt for £95m. Tussauds planned to invest £50m in the Eye over the next five years, creating 100 jobs in the process. | yes | 51.50319, -0.11952 exact | map ↗ | ChIJc2nSALkEdkgRkuoJJBfzkUI | the saga of the |
| Hestons' butchers, Kennington Lane | Up until a few months before the article was written, residents in Vauxhall could have gone to Hestons' butchers on Kennington Lane, but that moved premises recently along with several other small businesses due to the effect of the congestion charge. | n/a (area) | 51.48609, -0.12106 exact | map ↗ | ChIJl381_ewEdkgRICMBqcXSYR4 | what kate did n |
| Nobu, Mayfair | Nobu got a clean bill of health with the only black mark against its name being the fact that Madonna eats there. | yes | 51.50515, -0.15014 exact | map ↗ | ChIJtzlJgy8FdkgRe0mah9wlo_0 | ramsays kitchen |
| Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Chelsea | An inspector who visited Ramsay's three-star Michelin restaurant in Chelsea found several problems that fell foul of the 1990 Food Safety Act. The inspector demanded that the chef fix broken tiles — where scraps can accumulate — and split door seals, and stop storing cleaning materials next to food. Most embarrassingly for a chef with a spotless approach, Ramsay was ordered to 'thoroughly clean' the freezer. The restaurant was also breaking rules on electrical safety and did not have an accident book. Inspectors found a 'risk of contamination', and soap was missing from the ladies' staff lavatory. A spokesperson pointed out that these 'are all incredibly minor points and they praised the overall standards', and that their kitchens 'are completely immaculate'. | yes | 51.48540, -0.16201 exact | map ↗ | ChIJkUBQqPAFdkgRtPhH7EIvzJU | ramsays kitchen |
| The Ivy, West End | The Ivy got a bit of a kicking in health inspection reports for fruit flies behind the dishwasher and 'low-level mice activity'. | yes | 51.51284, -0.12809 exact | map ↗ | ChIJVcvKc80EdkgRyV3q0YIzDvc | ramsays kitchen |
| Tabard Square, Borough | A glowing beacon sits atop a tower block in Tabard Square, a new residential development near Borough Tube built on brownfield land. The beacon glows different colours depending on the barometric pressure — red for very high, green for very low. Not all local residents were pleased: some worried about light pollution, others thought it a waste of energy. | n/a (area) | 51.50084, -0.09098 exact | map ↗ | ChIJW474-VgDdkgRQoW7_CrfwlM | beacon for urba |
| Cable Street, Stepney, East End | The Battle of Cable Street was an event in which the police clashed with Jewish, socialist, Irish and communist anti-fascist protesters over a march through the streets of the East End by Mosley's Blackshirts (The British Union of Fascists). The decision to march through the then heavily Jewish East End was denounced as Jew-baiting by the Board of Deputies of British Jews. The Battle of Cable Street directly led to the passing of a public order act which forbade the wearing of political uniforms in public and is widely considered to be a significant factor in the British Union of Fascists' political decline prior to World War II. | n/a (area) | 51.51833, -0.10294 approx | map ↗ | — | battle of cable street |
| Frontline Club, Norfolk Place, Paddington | The Frontline Club is a media club for independent journalism and freedom of expression that prides itself on being completely devoid of air-kissing and bullshitting. Originally a collective of freelance journalists working in warzones, it is now a membership organisation for international photographers, journalists and cameramen. The club hosts weekly talks and double-bill screenings of ground-breaking documentaries. | yes | 51.51697, -0.17248 exact | map ↗ | ChIJOXTsD7MadkgRdbwHqMPYGVQ | managing a host |
| OBEY street art, Brick Lane | A newish poster from OBEY (aka Shepard Fairey) appeared round the back of Brick Lane, seemingly one of a pair, with a similar effort outside Cargo. The OBEY sticker attempts to stimulate curiosity and bring people to question both the sticker and their relationship with their surroundings. Because people are not used to seeing advertisements or propaganda for which the product or motive is not obvious, frequent and novel encounters with the sticker provoke thought and possible frustration, nevertheless revitalizing the viewer's perception and attention to detail. The sticker has no meaning but exists only to cause people to react, to contemplate and search for meaning in the sticker. Fairey's stylized Andre the Giant faces have appeared around the world and have a tidy cult following. | n/a (area) | 51.52459, -0.07204 exact | map ↗ | ChIJlRQJk7ccdkgRqdyu20-pC8Q | random graffiti 15 |
| Retro Bar, off the Strand, Westminster | The Retro Bar, off the Strand, is a delightfully lived-in gay bar playing rock and indie-pop music for a discerning crowd — except for the second Thursday of every month when the bar goes über-pop with a Eurovision theme. Douze Points has been running at the Retro for 8 years. | yes | 51.50913, -0.12358 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJ347Drc4EdkgRTjjRPSD3YDI | couldnt escape |
| White Cube, Hoxton Square | Damien Hirst's Beyond Belief exhibition spanned both White Cube galleries — at Mason's Yard in St James's and at Hoxton Square — running from 3 June to 7 July. The centrepiece was For The Love of God, a diamond-encrusted skull with a £50,000,000 price tag, expected to become the highest priced piece of art sold by a living artist. | n/a (area) | 51.53236, -0.10788 exact | map ↗ | ChIJORfJP0MbdkgR34k8XEPrDLU | pimp my skull |
| White Cube, Mason's Yard, St James's | Damien Hirst's For The Love of God — a diamond-encrusted skull — was on display at the White Cube gallery in St James's, expected to sell as the highest priced piece of art by a living artist, with a price tag of £50,000,000. Visitors needed to book timed tickets for half-hourly visitation rights, during which no more than five minutes of skull viewing was permitted, under strict supervision. Hirst's Beyond Belief exhibition spanned both White Cube galleries at Mason's Yard and Hoxton Square, running from 3 June to 7 July. | yes | 51.50761, -0.13716 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJj18fOtAEdkgRroT7k7wG8kI | pimp my skull |
| London Bridge Experience, London Bridge | The London Bridge Experience is a tourist attraction beneath London Bridge. The ground floor contains a small museum about the bridge, offering a potted history and a handful of artefacts. The rest of that level comprises the Experience itself, where visitors are taken on a theatrical trail through stories connected with the bridge — meeting a Roman foot soldier, William Wallace, a head preserver, Charles Dickens and several others, with the emphasis more on showmanship than education. Below that, the London Tombs dispenses completely with any notions of history: at no point in the bridge's 2,000-year chronology was it troubled by a rock monster, zombies or a giant python, but the Tombs offer genuine scares even to the most cynical of punters, with the living dead hiding behind every corner, strobe lighting used to disorientate, and an Aladdin's cave of dismembered body parts. | n/a (area) | 51.50624, -0.08725 exact | map ↗ | ChIJdxq8fQADdkgR6SHZ_hyIT_M | london bridge e |
| St Magnus the Martyr, City of London | St Magnus the Martyr, across the water from the London Bridge Experience, houses a splendid replica of London Bridge in its nave. | yes | 51.50936, -0.08639 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJtRgreFQDdkgR00eJFdcpTHY | london bridge e |
| Falafel Hut, Shepherd's Bush Market | Falafel Hut in Shepherd's Bush Market has been serving what Londonist describes as one of the tastiest falafels west of Beirut for about five years. Throughout that time the price had always been £2.50 — until the price leapt to £3, a whopping 20 per cent week-on-week increase, making it a handy unofficial economic indicator of west London's inflation. | yes | 51.50313, -0.22656 exact | map ↗ | ChIJBQaBRdIPdkgRAZUBTPq71bc | londonomics fal |
| Cork Street, Mayfair | Tucked away behind the Royal Academy near Green Park is Cork Street — a street of galleries, a street of expensive, established galleries. It is technically Mayfair, the opposite end of the contemporary art scene from a group show in a Peckham squat. | n/a (area) | 51.51032, -0.14147 approx | map ↗ | — | tucked away beh |
| Tate Modern underground oil tanks, Bankside | Back in the days when Bankside Power Station actually burned oil, it stored its fuel supply in a trio of enormous round tanks lying beneath the rear of the building. Nobody can afford such a quantity of oil these days, but the tanks are still down there, and Tate Modern has big plans for them. While one of the tanks will remain sealed off for 'back-of-house operations,' the other two are to become, respectively, a display space and a performance space. They are odd and cavernous enclosures — the display space will provide a home for works that are too small for the Turbine Hall and too big for anywhere else. This is only the first step in a long-brewing £18 million plan called Transforming Tate Modern. Eventually a new eleven-storey tower of art will rise above the tanks, giving the impression that the Tate has run up against an iceberg. Planning permission is already in place. The tanks themselves are pure industrial functionalism, untouched by the imaginative hand of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, but they are a unique corner of our always fascinating subterranean London. | successor now: The Tanks | 51.50760, -0.09936 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJlRl2MakEdkgR55tr4CNv_B8 | revealed tate moderns secret art du |
| Brent Museum, Willesden Library | Brent Museum is one of London's lesser-known museums, housed in Willesden Library. When blogger Diamond Geezer paid a visit to the small collection, he was the only person there — not even a member of staff. The museum was chosen to host an exciting exhibition featuring the iconic Gayer-Anderson Cat, one of the British Museum's great treasures, marking the first time the cat had been displayed at another museum venue. The display focuses on the ancient Egyptian practice of dedicating metal statues of gods in temples, centred around the iconic bronze Gayer-Anderson Cat, revealing how objects can be read in different ways using archaeological, historical and scientific research. | yes | 51.54688, -0.22881 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJ6d8m_VEQdkgRd6p89dXjD1Y | cat god appears in willesden librar |
| Brown and Root Tower Block, Colliers Wood | Despite regularly featuring in London's 'most hated building' lists, the crumbling Brown and Root tower block that squats above Colliers Wood tube station can afford to be smug: its precarious position atop the Northern line guarantees it a stay of execution from the wrecker's ball. The derelict edifice is accused of all manner of ills, from being the site of amateur porno shoots to 'creating hurricane-like winds' in the vicinity. Planning permission for a conversion into apartments has been granted, but with the economy crumbling as much as the monolith's masonry, the eyes of local residents were set to be sore for some time to come. The block does, for good or ill, put Colliers Wood on the map. | n/a (area) | 51.41715, -0.17842 exact | map ↗ | ChIJq6r6UxoGdkgR7EXdRTE_UDM | colliers wood tower transformation |
| Joseph's Bookstore, Temple Fortune | Amid the kosher delis and unbelievably good bakeries of Temple Fortune sits Joseph's Bookstore. As you'd expect from the location, they carry a large selection of Jewish titles, covering history, faith, politics, popular culture, art and texts in Hebrew. For a relatively small shop in the zone 3 suburbs, they also have an impressive events list — previous guests include David Baddiel, Andrew Marr, Jonathan Freedland, Maureen Lipman and Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. The art on the walls is for sale, and, in a nice twist on wedding lists, those wishing to mark a passage into adulthood in literary fashion can set up tailored Bar/Bat Mitzvah lists. Despite its specialism, this is not solely a 'Jewish bookshop' — there are large sections of fiction, art, science and Islam. Joseph's is also one of the fine bookshops to eschew a Starbucks and have its very own eaterie: Cafe Also serves tasty Mediterranean food. | yes | 51.58603, -0.20003 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ-cXLl8UQdkgRvPKG9JaRB5Y | biblio text josephs bookstore |
| The Eagle, Farringdon | The Eagle in Farringdon is described as the original gastro-pub, where chef Tom Norrington-Davies was one of the leading lights before opening his own restaurant. | yes | 51.52438, -0.11009 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJh9q2bE8bdkgRpzHKqYGtiJY | chefspective tom norrington davies |
| Trafalgar Square, London | Ken Livingstone banned pigeons from their ancestral home of Trafalgar Square. Members of Stitch London inundated the Square with tens of hand-made knitted birds, reclaiming the space for dove-kind. | n/a (area) | 51.50804, -0.12807 exact | map ↗ | ChIJH-tBOc4EdkgRJ8aJ8P1CUxo | tiny perching pigeons in trafalgar |
| Nambucca, Holloway Road, North London | Nambucca on Holloway Road was a music venue where musicians played their early shows. It burnt down a couple of years after opening. It was a great place, and a big loss on the North London indie scene. | n/a (area) | 51.56099, -0.12367 exact | map ↗ | ChIJTVHCyqYbdkgRij-Mm8mEjBw | listen up interview alan pownall |
| East London Boats, Mile End Park canal | East London Boats offers punting along the canal in Mile End Park — a simple and elegant joy, seeing east London glide by from the comfort of a shallow wooden boat, pushed through the water by an upright pole-wielding punter. The business was founded by David Carruthers, who acquired boats from a punting station in Bath and set the operation up himself. The aim was to make the waterways more usable and fun. According to Carruthers, punts originated in London for transporting cargo, before steam engines were invented and took over their role. There are also racing punts, extremely narrow, still raced at Kingston on Thames. The chauffeurs have basic knowledge of the local area, and any singing can be coaxed out of them with simple bribes. | n/a (area) | 51.52716, -0.03852 exact | map ↗ | ChIJrwQdoCUddkgRXWX9GKQRqlY | londonist interviews david east lon |
| 16 Montpelier Road, Ealing | Ghost hunter Andrew Green had an early ghostly encounter in the tower of a house on 16 Montpelier Road, Ealing. The house was a sort of suicide house — people kept throwing themselves from the seventy-two foot high tower. Green discovered that 20 suicides had taken place there and caught the image of a spooky girl glaring out an upstairs window when he photographed the house. This is thought to be the ghost of 12-year-old Annie Hinchfield, who started the whole thing by throwing herself from the tower in 1887. The house has since been demolished and flats built in its place, but Green found that the occupants were still troubled by unusual noises. | unknown | 51.52289, -0.30085 exact | map ↗ | — | fortean london a ghost in every bor |
| Avenue House, East End Road, Finchley | Avenue House in East End Road, Finchley had a creepy and inconvenient ghost during the Second World War. An upstairs room had been converted into a women's dormitory for female switchboard operators. A ghostly presence would approach one bed in particular. | n/a (area) | 51.59682, -0.19511 exact | map ↗ | ChIJqWxM8qwQdkgRRm4CSN9URlA | fortean london a ghost in every bor |
| Bell Lane, Enfield | A ghostly coach called the Enfield Flyer hammers along Bell Lane in Enfield. It dashes towards people and disappears just as it's about to hit an innocent pedestrian. The ghost, carrying two female passengers wearing large hats, disappears as it approaches the river Lee. It has been suggested that it is the ghost of a coach that crashed into the river and perished one ill-fated day. | n/a (area) | 51.50914, -0.12354 exact | map ↗ | — | fortean london a ghost in every bor |
| Chatterton Road, Bromley | People in the London Borough of Bromley regularly report seeing a man dressed in a blue RAF uniform walking along Chatterton Road. 'The person didn't seem to look at us at all when he passed by but I felt very uncomfortable. I was so uneasy I turned my head around as soon as we had passed but he had gone,' reports one witness. | n/a (area) | 51.51264, -0.08460 approx | map ↗ | — | fortean london a ghost in every bor |
| Hall Place, Bexley | The Haunting of Hall Place in Bexley provided the sounds of ghostly footfalls and slamming doors for a journalist. Candidates for the haunting include the mansion's White Lady, supposedly the ghost of Lady Constance At-Hall, who threw herself from the tower after seeing her husband killed by a stag, and Edward of Woodstock, the Black Prince, whose ghostly appearance at Hall Place always bodes badly for Britain. | unknown | 51.45051, 0.16068 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJXWKPXWqu2EcRLpWx6U35Z9Y | fortean london a ghost in every bor |
| John Snow pump, Broadwick Street, Westminster | The City of Westminster has a memorial to one of London's finest pieces of social and scientific history. John Snow had the handle removed from the water pump on Broadwick Street in September 1854, thus preventing the further spread of cholera from the pump. Through his research, using ghost maps to track the pump down, Snow proved that cholera was a water-borne disease and not an air-borne one. The ghost of the diseased pump subsequently appeared on Broadwick Street, and apparently ceased appearing when the replica memorial pump was installed. | n/a (area) | 51.51329, -0.13658 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ5R9G69QEdkgRSoPhLRCq7rU | fortean london a ghost in every bor |
| Leadenhall, City of London | The City of London is alive with ghosts, none better than the ghost of Old Tom the Goose. He escaped being slaughtered at Leadenhall in the 19th century and became a popular figure honking around the inns of the area begging for scraps. He died in 1833 at the age of 38 but, according to Haunted London Pubs, he honks there still. | yes | 51.35149, -0.09867 exact | map ↗ | ChIJURt2jFIDdkgRsxERfqYhtSo | fortean london a ghost in every bor |
| Purley Arms, Purley, Croydon | The Purley Arms in Purley was haunted by the ghost of a man whose back was broken by a falling beer barrel in 1830. He had passed his time messing about with beer pumps and, when they were invented, juke-boxes. Two clairvoyants, an astrologer and a journalist eventually aided the ghost in going free from the pub, though another spirit remained to distil 'its protection and loving warmth over the whole pub'. | unknown | 51.35149, -0.09874 exact | map ↗ | ChIJq0MyG1QHdkgR0VUewoMvfDw | fortean london a ghost in every bor |
| St Mary's Church, Neasden Lane, Brent | Neasden, once named the 'loneliest village in London', is haunted by a jovial monk in black robes in the churchyard of St Mary's Church on Neasden Lane, and by a spectral priest who causes annoyance to all by regularly rattling the vestry door handle. | n/a (area) | 51.54898, -0.24980 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJWXWWqaURdkgRc8Zpc5b-nBY | fortean london a ghost in every bor |
| Turpin's restaurant, Heath Road, Camden | Singer Lynsey de Paul sensed a ghost while out to dinner with James Coburn at the restaurant Turpin's on Heath Road. She said to Coburn 'There's a ghost here', sensing a girl who had been strangled in the 1700s. She tested the waiter by asking if a girl had been stabbed to death in the pub, and the waiter came back to say a girl had been strangled, not stabbed, and other people had asked to be moved from that table. | n/a (area) | 51.55877, -0.17841 exact | map ↗ | ChIJnftELdgbdkgRG0yRRMqFfcQ | fortean london a ghost in every bor |
| Valence House, Dagenham | The borough council of Barking and Dagenham lists the ghost of Agnes de Valence of Valence House, murdered at home and still haunting her Dagenham pile. A dagger was found in the moat of Valence House; it is supposedly the one that did for Agnes. | yes | 51.55834, 0.13421 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJBZCYlFKk2EcRT8gE6G5bw5w | fortean london a ghost in every bor |
| London Zoo, Regent's Park | London Zoo saw its first baby gorilla born in 20 years on 26 October. The baby was born to first-time mother Mjukuu, with 'aunties' Zaire and Effie present at the birth and remaining with Mjukuu throughout. The baby's own father had died in March of that year, and the zoo's staff were making every effort to assist a smooth introduction to Kesho, the dominant male of the group. | n/a (area) | 51.53529, -0.15343 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJV_iXMtcadkgRqBI84CY_crE | london zoos latest arrival |
| ROA's Giant Rabbit mural, Hackney Road, East London | Among all the artists who decorate the streets of east London, ROA and his monumental animal portraits are perhaps the most distinctive. His giant rabbit on Hackney Road faced a removal order from Hackney Council, who deemed it a blight on the local environment. The decision was particularly strange given that the work was painted with permission from the building's owners. Other nearby art — including mushrooms by Christiaan Nagel, various pieces by Eine, and a giant toaster — were presumably also threatened by the council's order. A petition was set up to help save the rabbit. | n/a (area) | 51.53118, -0.06892 exact | map ↗ | ChIJp14tyMAcdkgR1s7ezktyyco | splitting hares roas giant rabbit f |
| Manor House Library, Lee | The beautiful grand property in Manor House Gardens was renovated and converted into a library — a delight to local bookworms. The library houses its books within stunning listed architecture and has escaped the recent cutbacks that have hit many others in the borough. | yes | 51.45727, 0.00444 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ82g5jdOp2EcRXyAf7tq96lI | top 10 things to do in the borough of lewisham |
| Lee Valley Regional Park | The Lee Valley Regional Park is a corridor-shaped area of green space that snakes for 26 miles along the River Lee from Ware in Hertfordshire right down to Bow in the East End. At 10,000 acres, it is not an insignificant slice of nature for the south-east. The park's unusual shape allows it to house riverside trails, open romping ground, nature reserves and urban green space. | n/a (area) | 51.71912, -0.00365 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJgWjPInkgdkgRUK8A4l8XHmA | lee valley by bike explore a lesser known slice of london greenery |
| Lee Valley White Water Centre, Waltham Cross | A brand new sports facility, the Lee Valley White Water Centre near Waltham Cross, opened to the public in April 2011. It was built as part of the area's preparations for the Olympics, and the park was playing a part in the games. | yes | 51.68883, -0.01722 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJXQCH6BwgdkgRiAZGP-MQP14 | lee valley by bike explore a lesser known slice of london greenery |
| 12 New Cavendish Street, Marylebone | Wilkie Collins was born into a wealthy family on 8 January 1824 at 12 New Cavendish Street. | n/a (area) | 51.51852, -0.15119 exact | map ↗ | ChIJbVcLQdIadkgR9ne5ssOZGVs | london literary locations wilkie collins |
| 17 Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park | Wilkie Collins's literary career really started to take off while he was still living with his mother and brother at 17 Hanover Terrace near Regent's Park. | n/a (area) | 51.52809, -0.16332 exact | map ↗ | ChIJIxDQvacbdkgRTgpKucY7KFk | london literary locations wilkie collins |
| 30 Porchester Terrace, Bayswater | Wilkie Collins's family moved to 30 Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, in 1830, where he attended Maida Hill Academy. | yes | 51.51282, -0.18480 exact | map ↗ | ChIJMfuC7qoadkgRXktONKpub3Y | london literary locations wilkie collins |
| 82 Wimpole Street, Marylebone | Wilkie Collins died of a stroke on 23 September 1889 at 82 Wimpole Street. | n/a (area) | 51.51709, -0.14795 exact | map ↗ | ChIJP1xcZ9MadkgRYs30L-QPS4c | london literary locations wilkie collins |
| 90 Gloucester Place, Marylebone | Wilkie Collins's most permanent London abode, from 1867 to 1888, was at 90 Gloucester Place. Like Dickens, he lived at over 20 addresses in London, most of which were in the Marylebone area. | successor now: Z Hotel Gloucester Place | 51.51986, -0.15853 exact | map ↗ | ChIJg8wF-csadkgRc3EviWbFyNU | london literary locations wilkie collins |
| Finchley Road junction with West End Lane and Frognal, NW3 | The junction of Finchley Road with West End Lane and Frognal in NW3 is the setting for a crucial scene near the beginning of Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White. It is here where the main character, Walter Hartright, is walking home from Hampstead late one night when he comes across a mysterious woman, Anne Catherick, dressed all in white, who demands to know which way London is. He directs her down Finchley Road towards Regent's Park and off she goes. | n/a (area) | 51.55289, -0.18824 exact | map ↗ | ChIJJZU94IEadkgRCIlAhJetP4Y | london literary locations wilkie collins |
| Kensal Green Cemetery | Wilkie Collins is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. Being unconventional till the end, he insisted on a simple funeral. His grave has a plain stone cross on a base inscribed with 'the author of The Woman in White', which he acknowledged as his finest work. Both of his common-law wives are in the grave with him — but he's not in the middle, as he died first. | n/a (area) | 51.52819, -0.21723 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ85JQfjwQdkgRrqZktv60F_8 | london literary locations wilkie collins |
| Lower Thames Street area, City of London | In Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone, there is a murder in a pub called the Wheel of Fortune in the fictional Shore Lane that leads into Lower Thames Street, just west of the Tower of London. The diamond-thieves manage to board a Rotterdam-bound boat from Tower Wharf, which is at the eastern end of Lower Thames Street. | n/a (area) | 51.50904, -0.08010 exact | map ↗ | ChIJc0rP8VEDdkgR-Fy9TwUNINQ | london literary locations wilkie collins |
| Portland Place, Marylebone | In Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone — claimed by T. S. Eliot as the first and the best of the modern British detective novels — the leading female character Rachel Verinder's residence is in Portland Place, just up the road from Broadcasting House. | yes | 51.52056, -0.14544 exact | map ↗ | ChIJNblsotYadkgRByepirfJ_kA | london literary locations wilkie collins |
| Hampton Court Palace | Roundels commissioned by Thomas Wolsey and installed on the gatehouse walls of Hampton Court Palace have been found to be made of London clay following a research and restoration project. The eleven terracotta roundels, made by Italian Giovanni da Maiano around 1520, have long been thought to depict Roman emperors. It was presumed that they were shipped from Italy, but analysis has shown they are in fact made from good old London clay, indicating the little-known Renaissance artist set up a London workshop. Rather than depicting Roman emperors, the roundels' subjects may be 'military heroes and leaders including Scipio, Pompey, and a youthful Alexander the Great'. | yes | 51.40361, -0.33776 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJR4IwDg4LdkgRNVpLiUw0UQ4 | restoration of hampton court roundels reveals london origin |
| Power to the People artwork, Paddington Station | Power to the People, created by art collective Acrylicize for The Office Group's main meeting space on Platform 1 at Paddington mainline station, is made up from 2,500 genuine train tickets each terminating at Paddington and collected in the space of one afternoon. The tickets radiate out to form the impression of a power button. Sadly, it's not readily accessible to the public. | n/a (area) | 51.51890, -0.17337 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ08Axua0adkgRB_LT1Epx2P8 | londonist underground a wall of train tickets |
| Catford Bridge Tavern, Catford | The Catford Bridge Tavern was protected because of how quickly it had become vital to the community. | n/a (area) | 51.44461, -0.02450 exact | map ↗ | ChIJF_P1mT0CdkgRk92gUxZl3iY | saving londons pubs |
| The Castle, Battersea | The fight to revive The Castle in Battersea was ongoing, with Wandsworth Council due to decide whether to list the pub as an Asset of Community Value. | former venue historical story · site now: New residential development | 51.47288, -0.17328 exact | map ↗ | — | saving londons pubs |
| The Hope, Carshalton | Staff and regulars bought The Hope in Carshalton, turning it into a real ale pub. | yes | 51.36702, -0.16717 exact | map ↗ | ChIJby_YZeoHdkgR0CObkyu_mIQ | saving londons pubs |
| St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, City of London | St Bride's Church in the City was undergoing a £200,000 restoration. The famous spire — Sir Christopher Wren's tallest church steeple — was cracked and crumbling. Its tiered profile supposedly influenced the shape of traditional wedding cakes. Enough money had been raised for the first phase of the restoration, but further funding was still needed to carry the works to completion and to bring the interior back to its full glory. | n/a (area) | 51.51377, -0.10554 exact | map ↗ | ChIJR41y27IEdkgRl9dPArSjwII | stbrides |
| Stoats Nest Village Bus Stop, Coulsdon | Stoats Nest Village bus stop in Coulsdon (served by route 466) takes its name from a street, which took its name in turn from a village. Note the Finnegans Wake-style lack of apostrophe: this is not 'a nest belonging to some stoats', but something verb-ier. At one point, this Surrey hamlet actually had its own railway station, Stoats Nest & Cane Hill, just south of Purley. This closed in 1983, but some spoilsport had changed its name years ago — first to Coulsdon & Smitham Downs, then to Coulsdon West, and then, after all of three weeks, to Coulsdon North. How the village itself got its name is not entirely clear. | yes | 51.32329, -0.12892 exact | map ↗ | ChIJTY05KKP9dUgRLx_IwMeLGPE | the next stop is stoats nest village |
| British Library, frames on first floor | The anonymous 'frames' on the first floor of the British Library, which anyone can pull open and look at, hold some surprising secrets. The Library owns a 2d 'Blue Mauritius', of which just 12 exist. Only the island's first set of stamps, in 1847, read 'Post Office' down the side, before it was changed to 'Post Paid' — and no one really knows why. When one last changed hands it fetched £1,053,090. The frames also hold several other rarities, and the world's first stamp, the Penny Black — not rare at all, since about 68 million were printed, but the pre-paid stamp invented by Sir Rowland Hill enabled the Post Office to streamline its complicated charges and ordinary people loved it. | yes | 51.52997, -0.12768 exact | map ↗ | ChIJlRMXcDsbdkgRJdsP3nlUkBg | londons top postal curiosities |
| British Postal Museum and Archive Store, Debden | The best place to see postboxes in London — with the added bonus that it's indoors — is the British Postal Museum and Archive Store in Debden. It's only open for tours, usually on the first Wednesday of the month. There's an entire 'Pillarbox Alley', Rowland Hill's desk, a 'hen and chickens' penny-farthing (one big wheel, four small ones) and a mail coach. | yes | 51.52475, -0.11393 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ_8tIHgCh2EcRCPRTNTNnWKM | londons top postal curiosities |
| Bruce Castle, Tottenham | Rowland Hill had strong Tottenham connections. His father had set up a progressive school in Birmingham, at which Hill taught from the age of 12. The school moved to Bruce Castle in Tottenham in 1827 and Hill ran it for 12 years. The museum there now has some postboys' coaching horns, quirky items made out of stamps, historic postboxes and collecting tins. | yes | 51.59915, -0.07547 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJNas2LB4cdkgR2GPsdv4C1YE | londons top postal curiosities |
| First Postmark plaque, Princes Street, NatWest | One of Rowland Hill's predecessors as a postal innovator was Henry Bishop, Postmaster General to Charles II. In 1661, after complaints that letter-carriers were delaying the post, he came up with a handstruck date stamp so they could no longer do so. It was first used in the General Letter Office just off Post Office Yard, and there is now a plaque on the Princes Street side of NatWest to commemorate it. The stone even has a small AP/19 'Bishop Mark', because the first day of use was 19 April. | n/a (area) | 51.51361, -0.08936 exact | map ↗ | — | londons top postal curiosities |
| Mail Rail, Mount Pleasant to Whitechapel and Paddington | The British Postal Museum and Archive, crammed into a small site behind Mount Pleasant post office, was planning a new interactive museum that would also open up part of Mail Rail — the underground railway that shuttled from Whitechapel to Paddington. Visitors would be able to ride in the tiny carriages under the city. The museum was scheduled to open in 2017. | yes | 51.52404, -0.11313 exact | map ↗ | ChIJOWOp7VIbdkgR6wNdWJreFaU | londons top postal curiosities |
| Sir Rowland Hill Statue, King Edward Building, King Edward Street | Sir Rowland Hill's statue stands proudly outside the former King Edward Building on King Edward Street, for years the Post Office's main hub. Two London streets are named after him: one off Haverstock Hill, Hampstead, and one off White Hart Lane, Tottenham. | n/a (area) | 51.52086, -0.15033 exact | map ↗ | ChIJxzDFhNEadkgRfLwJRhLjAG8 | londons top postal curiosities |
| Two-Monarch Postbox, Gray's Inn Road | London contains the only postbox in the country with the symbol of two monarchs. It's on Gray's Inn Road, at the Holborn end, and was erected in 1901 under King Edward VII. It has a lovely, florid, swooping ER VII cipher. However, at some point one of the doors was replaced, and it also has an older VR (Victoria Regina) cipher as well. | n/a (area) | 51.52341, -0.11408 exact | map ↗ | ChIJCSaLw2MbdkgR_amnsNRMxNg | londons top postal curiosities |
| Smithfield, City of London | Smithfield has been a livestock and then meat market for almost 1,000 years, and the site of countless executions — it's surely the bloodiest place in London. Still today the smell of flesh is overwhelming. | yes | 51.51940, -0.10140 exact | map ↗ | ChIJP-efSFIbdkgRHa0DkmQD50Q | nightwalks |
| Bermondsey Abbey, Bermondsey Square | The regeneration of Bermondsey Square was held up for years and years after an old abbey was discovered under the ground — Bermondsey Abbey — which was dedicated to Saint Saviour. That was the start of Bermondsey, and everything else was built around it, because Bermondsey was basically just a marsh. | n/a (area) | 51.49980, -0.08170 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ9RTE5S8DdkgR7L9axpi708k | a tour of bermondsey with saint saviour |
| Marshalsea Prison, Borough High Street | The remains of Marshalsea Prison, a debtor's jail, are still there behind Borough High Street. Dickens's father was locked up there, and it was mentioned in Little Dorrit. | n/a (area) | 51.50166, -0.09160 exact | map ↗ | ChIJeWKw-VgDdkgRiVQuXKXnpMs | a tour of bermondsey with saint saviour |
| The Blue, Bermondsey | The old-fashioned part of Bermondsey is known as The Blue. The area is thought to be called that because it was built for the Scottish dockers who worked on the river — and that's what started Millwall Football Club: it was the Scottish dockers' team, and they wore blue. | successor now: Blue Anchor | 51.49239, -0.06364 exact | map ↗ | ChIJD2mObRYDdkgRPBAB9OsnhvM | a tour of bermondsey with saint saviour |
| St Pancras International | Almost everyone would agree that St Pancras International is London's most impressive rail terminus. The great arched train shed, designed by William Henry Barlow, was the largest single-span structure in the world at the time of its construction in 1868. This is matched up with George Gilbert Scott's fairytale castle, originally known as the Midland Grand Hotel, and now reborn as residential apartments and the five-star St Pancras Renaissance London Hotel. | yes | 51.53112, -0.12587 exact | map ↗ | ChIJJe2YjTsbdkgREt0yqM9vLbk | video secrets of st pancras international |
| The Luminaire, Kilburn | On the site where The Luminaire stood, the 'Luminaire Apartments' now sit, with a one-bed flat available at £375 per week. | yes | 51.46483, -0.29855 exact | map ↗ | ChIJkenYTQARdkgRcT2HnYokK88 | we need to change the debate on londons venues |
| SOAS Japanese Roof Garden, Brunei Gallery, Bloomsbury | Tucked away on a roof off the western corner of Russell Square is a small, but perfectly formed, Japanese garden, above the Brunei Gallery at SOAS, part of the University of London. Built in 2001, it's a quiet space enclosed on all sides, with a little raked gravel section and wisteria hanging above benches. The garden is dedicated to forgiveness — the kanji character carved into the base of the water basin — and is perfect for a spot of contemplation. The stage area is occasionally used for tea ceremonies or musical performances. | yes | 51.52235, -0.12926 exact | map ↗ | ChIJSyUp2jEbdkgRsTznK93_GMo | londons little gardens soas japanese roof garden |
| Marian Goodman Gallery, London | Marian Goodman, one of the world's largest art dealers, opened a London branch at 5-8 Lower John Street. Since opening, there had been a string of exhibitions featuring big name artists with mediocre works, until the William Kentridge show finally delivered on the reputation of the gallery's brand. | yes | 51.51101, -0.13732 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ11tJ5W4FdkgRLc9qLrTtMME | william kentridge |
| Goodge Street Deep-Level Shelter, Chenies Street, Camden | Originally conceived before the Second World War as part of an express Northern Line route through the capital, the two parallel tunnels beneath Goodge Street underground station were instead built as a deep-level air raid shelter between 1940 and 1942. Each tunnel had decks equipped with bunks, medical posts, kitchens and toilets, and the shelter accommodated up to 8,000 people. In late 1942, part of the shelter was used as headquarters for General Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, and much of the D-Day invasion was planned here. The tunnels were used after the war as an army transit shelter, and after a fire later that year, the shelter became a storage facility. | n/a (area) | 51.52134, -0.13549 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ1aeNCwAbdkgRWb_XqrOgbXY | historic photographs of london |
| Boleyn Ground (Upton Park), Newham | West Ham's Boleyn Ground — better known as Upton Park — was the club's home for 101 years before they relocated to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford. The historic stadium is being taken over by Barratt Homes and Galliard Homes, who aim to transform it into a residential village, imagined to be in the same vein as Highbury. | n/a (area) | 51.53192, 0.03943 exact | map ↗ | ChIJjwYCBE2n2EcRgogzC7Ajm4g | footballstadiums |
| Griffin Park, Brentford | Griffin Park — over 100 years old — is the home Brentford FC are set to leave, moving a mile down the road to Lionel Road South. The old stadium will be turned into 75 family homes plus a memorial garden celebrating Brentford FC's history. Griffin Park is home to the legendary Griffin Park pub crawl, made up of four pubs, which fingers crossed will pull in enough punters to stay open. | n/a (area) | 51.48843, -0.30309 approx | map ↗ | — | footballstadiums |
| Kingsmeadow, Norbiton | AFC Wimbledon's Norbiton ground Kingsmeadow, with a 4,850 capacity (2,265 seated), will be sold to Chelsea for the bargain price of £2m, to be turned into a 4,800-seat ground for ladies' and academy matches. | n/a (area) | 51.40527, -0.28189 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJ7cLURd8LdkgRwB1wZTBmsNs | footballstadiums |
| Olympic Stadium, Stratford | The Olympic Stadium in Stratford is already one of the most famous in the world. As West Ham move in, the 'here's one we made earlier' behemoth will accommodate 54,000, as opposed to the very exact 35,016 of the Boleyn Ground. West Ham will have to play nice and share with athletes from time to time, and the stadium is set to get a hefty lick of claret and blue. | successor now: London Stadium | 51.53867, -0.01646 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJWbXodWkddkgRlM62BUak_Oc | footballstadiums |
| Plough Lane, Wimbledon | AFC Wimbledon are swapping Kingsmeadow for a 20,000-capacity new build at Plough Lane, Wimbledon — a big upgrade. Revenue from football tickets will be bolstered by the likes of 602 new homes, a retail space, a squash and fitness club, and car and cycle parking. The characterful greyhound stadium that currently stands at Plough Lane will be going to the dogs. | n/a (area) | 51.43154, -0.18669 exact | map ↗ | ChIJXbAvVyUHdkgRoi0Gv3NTPxw | footballstadiums |
| Stamford Bridge, Chelsea | Chelsea FC are applying to expand Stamford Bridge from a 41,600 stadium to a 60,000 one. Club owner Roman Abramovich has called on the services of Swiss architectural giants Herzog and de Meuron, whose early mock-ups show a brick-ribbed structure inspired by gothic architecture and the stadium's nearby Victorian-era brick terraces. Herzog envisages it as 'a castle, or a medieval walled village'. | n/a (area) | 51.48172, -0.19095 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJPW-XS4YPdkgR-GWlHng4qkg | footballstadiums |
| White Hart Lane, Tottenham | Spurs' plan is to build a brand new ground partially on the site of the current White Hart Lane — the club is also buying up extra land next to the stadium. The new ground will be the biggest club ground in London at 61,000 capacity, which is, in part, reckoned to be to spite rivals Arsenal whose stadium holds a meagre 60,432. The complex will also feature 579 new homes, a hotel, a community health centre and a Spurs museum — and the NFL will play there too. Assuming everything goes to plan, Spurs will have to play the 2017/18 season away from home so the builders can get on with their work. | n/a (area) | 51.60454, -0.07075 exact | map ↗ | ChIJX2EvBqIedkgRnWKZxRjqHDA | footballstadiums |
| South London Botanical Institute, Tulse Hill | This unassuming Victorian house on Norwood Road in Tulse Hill is home to the South London Botanical Institute, a herbarium, library and botanical garden. It's a little-known place — only a small sign outside differentiates it from the other houses on the busy road — yet it's been here for over 100 years. The SLBI was founded by Allan Octavian Hume in 1910. He lived in Crystal Palace and bought this house as a base for his botanical collection. When Hume bought it, the house was in the heart of the countryside, separated from the centre of London by fields. Hume spent years in India, where he developed a fascination with birds; on returning to the UK he donated his collection of 6,000 bird skins to the Natural History Museum at Tring, and turned his attention to plants instead. His legacy can be seen throughout the house: a portrait of Hume hangs over the mantlepiece in the events room, and Indian-issued postage stamps bearing his face are prominently displayed. The wallpaper in the events room was specially designed by local artist August Akerman — the plants woven into the design can all be found in the garden and herbarium, and a peony was incorporated as a nod to the design of the fireplace in the same room. The wallpaper is in the style of William Morris, to reflect the time period of the house. In the hallway hangs a beautiful wooden clock, a replica of one that Hume himself owned in India. The library is a satisfyingly old-fashioned room emitting a sort of faded grandeur: floor-to-ceiling wooden shelves cover each wall, filled with books about botanicals, from fungi to mosses, with some leather-bound tomes as old as the Botanical Institute itself. | n/a (area) | 51.44223, -0.10523 exact | map ↗ | ChIJa-Ue0A8EdkgRgGe20XnVJ_U | visit london s other botanical garden |
| Horsenden Hill, Perivale | Horsenden Hill in Perivale is the largest open space in Ealing and one of the highest points in the capital. Once you've huffed and puffed your way up 276ft, you'll be rewarded with superb views of the city. At some stage in its past, wild boar, bears and wolves roamed round formerly dense woodland — now you're more likely to bump noses with the butterflies that flit around the meadows and grassland. In spring the oak and willow trees of Perivale Wood are rooted in a bed of bluebells. Nearby Paradise Fields is a wetland area for swans, herons and goldfinches. | n/a (area) | 51.54798, -0.33112 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJWyvGrQgTdkgRjYK9U-ic80k | spend summer in the countryside without leaving the city |
| The Ballot Box Pub, Perivale | The Ballot Box Pub on Horsenden Lane North in Perivale is so called because of its use as a polling station for canal boatmen in the 19th century. | yes | 51.54918, -0.32979 approx | map ↗ | — | spend summer in the countryside without leaving the city |
| Fishmongers' Hall, London Bridge | Fishmongers' Hall, beside the modern London Bridge, contains an ornate chair made from the wood of the medieval span of Old London Bridge. The nearby Watermen's Hall has to make do with a simple fragment. | n/a (area) | 51.50944, -0.08766 exact | map ↗ | ChIJBwTljJkDdkgR09KMjfilVUk | whatever happened to old london bridge |
| Ingress Abbey, Greenhithe, Kent | Ingress Abbey was built by James Harmer, a wealthy solicitor whose role as a City alderman left him well placed to buy stones from the demolished medieval London Bridge. According to the Harmer Family website, the fragments were used as 'core stone in the middle of the structure' and on the southern perimeter wall — so the southern perimeter wall is potentially the genuine article, and visitors can sit on a piece of the medieval London Bridge along the A226. | yes | 51.45203, 0.28964 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ56Jk3Mm22EcRmtZbkdVuSjk | whatever happened to old london bridge |
| King's Arms pub, Newcomen Street, Southwark | The quiet, unassuming King's Arms on Newcomen Street in Southwark sports an actual set of King's arms — the Royal coat of arms which adorned the southern gateway of Old London Bridge from 1730 until demolition. | n/a (area) | 51.50292, -0.09091 exact | map ↗ | ChIJRRjStFkDdkgRiO1BpWCKSKw | whatever happened to old london bridge |
| Old London Bridge | The medieval London Bridge crossed the river between the 13th and 19th centuries. For much of its existence it was overloaded with housing, shops, chapels and even a palace. Those buildings caused such a supreme bottleneck that in 1722 the Lord Mayor instigated a 'keep left' rule for traffic — often said to be the origin of Britain's left-side driving. The buildings were swept away in the 1760s to create a wider roadway, and the bridge itself was removed and replaced between 1824 and 1831. Much of the stonework was reportedly dumped in the river following demolition, while other medieval stone was reused in properties around London and further afield. | n/a (area) | 51.50890, -0.09407 exact | map ↗ | ChIJHR314qkEdkgRFGmoLum9tpk | whatever happened to old london bridge |
| Pedestrian alcove from Old London Bridge, Courtlands Estate, East Sheen | A less well-known alcove from Old London Bridge survives at the south-western end of the Courtlands Estate in East Sheen, Richmond, where it once formed a garden decoration for a posh house called Stawell House (pronounced 'shawl'). The house is long gone but the alcove remains. A second niche once occupied the site, along with some balustrades from the bridge, but these were spirited away in the 1930s during construction of the estate. | n/a (area) | 51.46169, -0.28633 approx | map ↗ | — | whatever happened to old london bridge |
| Pedestrian alcove from Old London Bridge, Guy's Hospital courtyard | A pedestrian alcove from Old London Bridge can be found in the courtyard of Guy's Hospital in the modern London Bridge area. It is currently occupied by a seated statue of John Keats. | n/a (area) | 51.50331, -0.08685 exact | map ↗ | ChIJi7ccWVcDdkgRYTy6QMHZuiA | whatever happened to old london bridge |
| Pedestrian alcoves from Old London Bridge, Victoria Park | Two of the distinctive pedestrian alcoves that once graced Old London Bridge in Georgian times — 14 of which were added to the bridge after its medieval buildings had been cleared from the roadway — can be found at the eastern end of Victoria Park. | n/a (area) | 51.55794, -0.03119 exact | map ↗ | ChIJMQ4xaacddkgR7R8dERJA87c | whatever happened to old london bridge |
| St Magnus the Martyr church, City of London | A collection of stones thought to be from Old London Bridge can be found in the courtyard of St Magnus the Martyr. The church once stood at the northern mouth of the bridge and is full of historical reminders. Inside there is a magnificent model of the medieval span, and timbers preserved from a Roman bridge at this site. | yes | 51.50936, -0.08639 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJtRgreFQDdkgR00eJFdcpTHY | whatever happened to old london bridge |
| Greenland Docks, Surrey Quays | Plaques dotted around Greenland Docks document the area's past in the whaling trade. The bubber boiling houses that once stood here gave off quite a whiff. The long-lost Grand Surrey Canal also once flowed through Surrey Quays, its route now traced by Paul Talling's walks — which sell out well in advance. | n/a (area) | 51.49473, -0.03875 exact | map ↗ | ChIJb4zARt0CdkgR8X9Z7P1fojQ | what is there to do in surrey quays |
| Nunhead Cemetery, Nunhead | Poet Chris McCabe has restyled himself as a literary detective to discover the lost poets residing in Nunhead Cemetery, one of London's Magnificent Seven cemeteries. His book Cenotaph South: Mapping the Lost Poets of Nunhead Cemetery documents his findings. McCabe also combed through the other magnificent six cemeteries, discovering 12 other poets. A special edition of the book contains a map of his findings, illustrated by Frances Ives. The cemetery's ruined Anglican chapel is the venue for a reading by McCabe. | n/a (area) | 51.46248, -0.05003 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ1URFFKwDdkgRXzYNQkWcmnM | a map of london s lost poets 1234 |
| Peckham Rye, Peckham | In the course of his research into the lost poets of London's Magnificent Seven cemeteries, poet Chris McCabe made an important discovery about William Blake's vision of an angel on Peckham Rye. | yes | 51.47188, -0.06937 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ3yXqFqADdkgRf4UHh_PWJi4 | a map of london s lost poets 1234 |
| Tower Hamlets Cemetery, Mile End | Tower Hamlets Cemetery is the venue for the Dead Poets Social Club, a collaboration between poet Chris McCabe and publisher Penned in the Margins. The series of after-dark performances takes place in the cemetery from 5–7 December. | n/a (area) | 51.52314, -0.02722 exact | map ↗ | ChIJNyXO_0kddkgRE_bmUIVAcwc | a map of london s lost poets 1234 |
| Archibald Low's military laboratory, Paul Street, Shoreditch | Archibald Low, the inventor and futurologist, reportedly survived two assassination attempts in 1915 while working from his military laboratory on Paul Street, Shoreditch — a few doors down from the Londonist office, as it happens. The Germans were aware of Low's work at this time, which led to the attempts on his life. | n/a (area) | 51.52610, -0.08431 exact | map ↗ | — | archibald low the londoner who invented drones and guided missiles |
| Wembley | Archibald Low's rocket-powered motorbike was first demonstrated to a 'crowd approaching cup final proportions' at Wembley on 3 October 1946. The vehicle — described as the only rocket cycle in the world — performed well, travelling at increased speed with fire and sparks shooting out the back. Low saw the rocket cycle as a transport solution for the future, but it proved wildly impractical. | successor now: Wembley Stadium | 51.56302, -0.27979 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJ32wbIysRdkgRt-8yxj6h6Nk | archibald low the londoner who invented drones and guided missiles |
| Full Circle artwork, King's Cross tube station | In 2009 the London Underground got its first permanent work of art for a quarter of a century: Full Circle by Knut Henrik Henriksen (born 1970), installed in the remodelled passages of King's Cross tube station. Found at the end of a corridor on the Northern line, it consists of nothing more than a lip-shaped piece of metal, upended like a lopsided crescent moon. The title is the key: that lip of metal represents the missing piece of any tunnel on the London Underground — the part that completes the full circle. Most of the subterranean tubes were bored out with circular cutting heads, yet the lower part of that cross-section is never seen, always filled with track beds and rails while pedestrian passages are levelled off to provide flat floors. The piece hides in plain sight, easily mistaken for a random bit of wall panelling, and millions ignore it every year — all of which, once you are in on the concept, makes the work even more special. | n/a (area) | 51.53066, -0.12317 exact | map ↗ | ChIJoWUrbDwbdkgR12j3NK1BLC8 | bet you never noticed this conceptual art in king s cross tube |
| David Attenborough mural, tropical fish shop, St Matthew's Row, Bethnal Green | On St Matthew's Row in east London, a mural of naturalist David Attenborough adorns the side of a tropical fish shop. The painting was created by urban artist Jerome, known as @ketones6000, and took around two days to complete. This isn't the first time the artist has used the building as his canvas: the Attenborough effort covers his previous work, which paid tribute to the first world war's fallen heroes — the poppies from the old mural have been woven into its successor. When the shop owner came out for a look, the artist explained: 'It stops me from doing the bad things.' | successor now: Wholesale Tropicals | 51.52514, -0.06726 exact | map ↗ | ChIJV1SghsgcdkgRPfomREpEyL0 | david attenborough mural painting bethnal green road |
| Golden Lane Estate, City of London | Golden Lane in the City of London rubs shoulders with the elite of London's housing estates — alongside the likes of the neighbouring Barbican, and the Alexandra & Ainsworth estate in South Hampstead. It's earned a reputation as a modernist microcosm of everything that's right with post-war architecture. The estate was designed by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon and built in a quarter of the City that was obliterated by second world war bombing. Some apartments retain their original 1950s/60s features — such as kitchens with dark-stained hardwood work surfaces, and floors that are part quarry tile, part finger parquet. Resident Joan Flannery has lived there since November 1969, and still remembers moving in: 'It was fantastic as there was central heating!' The author Stefi Orazi, who lived on the estate for almost a decade, saw a decline in its maintenance and increasing frustration from residents who felt unheard by those running the estate — but concluded: 'The sense of community, however, is still very strong — and like nowhere else I have experienced before or since.' | n/a (area) | 51.52245, -0.09600 exact | map ↗ | ChIJdV6zUVYbdkgRW3lOBiuz4kM | golden lane estate inside photos |
| The Standard, Walthamstow | 'Together for Ukraine' is an 80-metre-long artwork adorning the side of former music venue The Standard in Walthamstow, the work of street artist Maser. He used recycled paint delivered from landfill to smother The Standard in his version of the Ukrainian flag, in his dazzle style. The Standard itself has been closed for over a decade but will be redeveloped later into a new venue and shared living accommodation. The mural was created in partnership with Wood Street Walls, an organisation working to empower local communities and artists in public spaces. | former venue historical story · site now: The New Standard | 51.58163, -0.03429 exact | map ↗ | — | street art together for ukraine maser walthamstow |
| Euston Station Arch and Great Hall, London | The giant arch at Euston station was demolished in the 1960s, to much anger. Many of the stones have been recovered from an east London waterway, and there are tentative plans to rebuild the structure. The Great Hall was another casualty of the same 1960s rebuild — a sad loss to London's architecture and character. It was unrivalled in scale and almost palatial in its execution, but stood in the way of modernisation and was torn down along with the arch. Euston station was entirely rebuilt in a more efficient but less inspiring style. The station is once again being reworked, with towers designed by Richard Seifert — the man behind Centre Point and Tower 42 — under demolition as part of the works for HS2 and a general station revamp. | n/a (area) | 51.52846, -0.13321 exact | map ↗ | ChIJCcCyUiQbdkgRtyrFRSkbaCE | euston arch gates national railway museum york |
| National Railway Museum, York | The ornate iron gates from Euston's demolished arch were saved from destruction and are now on proud display at the National Railway Museum in York. Alongside them, visitors can see a dedication plaque that was for many years on show in Euston's Great Hall. The museum also holds a freestanding clock, the station bell, a statue of George Stephenson, and an architectural model of the 1960s Euston rebuild — now out of date as the station is reworked again. | yes | 53.96071, -1.09775 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ_8xY8gUxeUgRM928WFlA-Ns | euston arch gates national railway museum york |
| Great Comp Garden Folly Tower, Platt, Kent | The tower on the Crescent Lawn at Great Comp Garden is not what it appears. Surrounded by trees and bushes on three sides and open lawn on the fourth, the folly is no longer whole — crumbling stone walls of various heights leave two staircases open to the elements, moss covering many surfaces, plants wrapping their tendrils around anything they can get a grip on. Despite putting on a thoroughly convincing show, these are not real ruins. They were installed in the 1970s–80s by Roderick Cameron, created from materials excavated when the gardens were being laid out. | yes | 51.28713, 0.33872 exact | map ↗ | ChIJqxjZkkhK30cRQFLFcfW10no | great comp garden kent sevenoaks maidstone tonbridge visit photos review |
| Great Comp Garden, Platt, Kent | Great Comp Garden is a 7-acre plot of greenery surrounding a 17th century manor house in the Kent countryside, describing itself as 'near Sevenoaks' but so tranquilly remote that many Sevenoaks residents have never heard of it. It was once the home of Roderick and Joy Cameron, who bought the property in the 1950s and made the garden into what it is today. There are memorials to them dotted around the site, and they are buried under the Square Lawn, right outside their former home. The manor house is a private residence and its interior is off-limits to the public, though its country cottage-style chimney can be seen from all over the garden. | yes | 51.28713, 0.33872 exact | map ↗ | ChIJqxjZkkhK30cRQFLFcfW10no | great comp garden kent sevenoaks maidstone tonbridge visit photos review |
| Italian Garden, Great Comp Garden, Platt, Kent | The Italian Garden at Great Comp was inspired by Roderick Cameron's time stationed in Italy during the second world war. Entered through a brick moon gate to the side of the Square Lawn, it is a walled garden where hedges and walls have been used to create something of a mini maze, with urns, sculptures, busts and Corinthian columns among the greenery, and one wall bearing memorial plaques to the Camerons and others involved in Great Comp over the years. The highlight is a small pond ripe with water lilies and small fish, a fountain at one end and a brick viaduct running over its centre, all watched over by a palm tree. | yes | 51.28713, 0.33872 exact | map ↗ | ChIJqxjZkkhK30cRQFLFcfW10no | great comp garden kent sevenoaks maidstone tonbridge visit photos review |
| Old Dairy Tearoom, Great Comp Garden, Platt, Kent | The Old Dairy Tearoom at Great Comp Garden is housed in a barn-like structure that, as the name suggests, was once the estate's dairy, and it has retained many of its original features. | yes | 51.28713, 0.33872 exact | map ↗ | ChIJqxjZkkhK30cRQFLFcfW10no | great comp garden kent sevenoaks maidstone tonbridge visit photos review |
| The Alexandra, Wimbledon | The Alexandra in Wimbledon is famous for serving up a free Christmas dinner to anyone who'd be on their own on Christmas Day. | yes | 51.42203, -0.20809 exact | map ↗ | ChIJC0QsCrcIdkgRotDLmPbOU7c | what open london christmas day restaurants cafes pubs museums |
| River Thames, London | Winters in London used to be much colder. Just over 200 years ago, the River Thames would freeze so solidly that frost fairs were held atop its iced waters, with London in the grip of a 'mini ice age' at the time. Changing climate isn't the only reason the Thames no longer freezes — the Victorians narrowed the river significantly by building embankments, meaning the water now runs much faster, so is much less likely to freeze over. | yes | 51.56316, -0.69431 exact | map ↗ | ChIJB4W7m_i7dkgRohLOLKSh8J0 | will it snow in london at christmas white christmas |
| Crocker's Folly, St John's Wood | Harking back to the speculative and moneyed Victorian era, the urban legend suggests that Frank Crocker heard that a new terminus for the Great Central Railway was to be established in St John's Wood. With rail travel being quite the thing, he thought building a splendiferous hotel nearby would be a total no-brainer. In order to attract the well-heeled travellers he spared no expense, using over 50 types of marble, flamboyant crystal chandeliers, soaring marble columns and the innovative concept of a women-only bar — hints of Versailles meeting a classic gin palace aesthetic. Unfortunately for Frank the railway never came to fruition in the locale, so the hotel festered slightly off-grid once complete in 1898. It was later often frequented by England cricketing legends from nearby Lord's. Originally known as The Crown, the pub was renamed Crocker's Folly to remember the misplaced financial stake, and poor old Frank Crocker's ghost is said to haunt the premises to this day. Beautifully renovated and reopened as a restaurant in 2014, it's well worth a visit to enjoy the palatial ambition and grandeur alone. | unknown | 51.52573, -0.17502 exact | map ↗ | ChIJM2y6BrAadkgRb4nPrDPCSo0 | fallen pubs london no longer exist |
| Eleanor Bull's Tavern, Deptford | Eleanor Bull has become famous for owning the house in which esteemed wordsmith Christopher Marlowe met his maker. There is much conjecture as to whether it was actually a tavern, or simply a well-kept house down Deptford way. The date was 30 May 1593, and the 29-year-old Marlowe had been enjoying a day of feasting and boozing with a selection of men thought to be from the British intelligence service. Receipt of the 'reckoning', as it was known, was too much to bear for Ingram Frizer, who stabbed Marlowe just over his right eye, killing the self-proclaimed atheist almost instantly. Frizer escaped with a royal pardon, leading to claims of a state cover-up. Marlowe himself ended up buried in an unmarked former plague pit just down the road within 48 hours. Did he really die? Or was his death faked and did he move to Europe and pen the poems and plays later attributed to William Shakespeare? Where could such befuddled, gossipy murkiness occur but in a timeless London tavern? | unknown | 51.48080, -0.02311 area | map ↗ | — | fallen pubs london no longer exist |
| Mooney's, The Strand | Stroll along the bustling Strand and stand opposite 395. Look down and you'll likely see a tourist tat-fest; but look up and you get some idea of the grand pub that once stood here. It's not difficult to imagine the long, panelled bar being thronged by those in search of hand-pumped Guinness with an oyster or two on the side. The barmen came directly from Dublin to ensure the finest pull, and the humble food offerings drew regular and repeat clientele. Patrons included commuters dashing across Waterloo Bridge, market porters from Covent Garden slaking their hard-won thirst, or journalists popping to Bush House or Savoy Hill for a BBC recording, not forgetting those coming from or going to the many theatres hosting plays, ballets and operas in the area. As journalist Maurice Gorham put it: 'anybody who is interested in London pubs should not rest from searching until he has once leaned his elbows on the pink marble bar at Mooney's on The Strand.' | former venue historical story · site now: Stanley Gibbons | 51.51109, -0.12086 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJa7MYyssEdkgRW0GxGFyDvWw | fallen pubs london no longer exist |
| The Tabard Inn, Southwark | The Tabard was the famous starting point for Geoffrey Chaucer's 29 Kent-bound pilgrims in his 14th century Canterbury Tales — often marking their first time away from the confines of the religious order. Finding themselves in the heart of the Southwark 'stews' (brothels), awash with 'Winchester geese', bawdy and humorous tales abound. The landlord of the pub himself joins the group to judge the quality of each forthcoming tale, and promises the prize of a fine dinner to the winning narrator. The inn would have provided stables, board and lodging just to the south of the City of London. A place of loose laws lost in time to a large fire in 1676, with the later reincarnation pulled down in 1873 to make room for the burgeoning railway at London Bridge. The stagecoach era was coming to an end, and the requirements for such characterful offerings were simply no longer there. Visitors to the George Inn can see a picture of the Tabard in the downstairs bar. | former venue historical story · site now: redeveloped | 51.50416, -0.09028 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ5aPdZUkDdkgRDaX4evXcCiQ | fallen pubs london no longer exist |
| Bar Italia, Soho | Bar Italia is London's longest running coffee shop, having opened at a time when Soho had a huge Italian community. Those regulars might have left but Bar Italia's popularity endured, as the word spread about its dedication to quality coffee. The building also has a historical gem — the upstairs room hosted the first public demonstration of television, by John Baird. Bar Italia is also well known thanks to Pulp's tune from their seminal album, Different Class. | yes | 51.51341, -0.13124 exact | map ↗ | ChIJBbKU6NIEdkgRkC_IDZgxT1Y | where to get a drink when london s sleeping |
| Polo Bar, Liverpool Street | Polo Bar dates back to 1953 when Bruna Inzani opened a cafe serving proper British café food. Over 65 years later not much has changed, apart from the addition of a 24-hour alcohol licence. In the wee hours of the morning, a cavalcade of characters come through — well, not the door, it doesn't have one — proving how perennially open it is. | n/a (area) | 51.51746, -0.08005 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJM2nE97IcdkgRR7nvciwgIWY | where to get a drink when london s sleeping |
| Alleyn's Regent's Park (former convent) | Alleyn's Regent's Park school is housed in a beautiful former convent on the doorstep of Regent's Park and London Zoo, which has undergone a multi-million-pound build and refurbishment programme. Notable spaces include The Bear Pit — a beautiful former chapel now used as a space for the performing arts. | n/a (area) | 51.53668, -0.14678 exact | map ↗ | ChIJF5-FsuAadkgRwsZTcn4Z-U4 | north london independent schools alleyns hampstead regents park |
| Alleyn's School, Dulwich | Alleyn's School in Dulwich dates all the way back to 1619, when it was established as part of Edward Alleyn's College of God's Gift charitable foundation. Today it is a co-ed independent school with a longstanding commitment to a values-led education. | yes | 51.45538, -0.08125 exact | map ↗ | ChIJc9kvkpIDdkgRFVkPPoiTS5U | north london independent schools alleyns hampstead regents park |
| Abbey Road zebra crossing, St John's Wood | The Abbey Road album was supposed to be called Everest, with a cover featuring the Fab Four striding in the Nepalese foothills — but the Beatles couldn't be bothered. Its cheapo stand-in, a zebra crossing 10 seconds' walk from their London recording studio, became perhaps the most iconic album cover ever. On that wham-bam photo shoot in August 1969, just a month before the record was rolled out, a policeman was hired to stop traffic and the photographer Iain Macmillan had a stepladder. These days, hundreds come to Abbey Road every day to follow in the exact footsteps of the Beatles, with the crossing watched by a 24-hour webcam. London's pedestrians might take perverse joy in watching cars, cabs and HGVs rev, stall and beep as Beatles fans edge out into the road, then retreat to the pavement, unsure who's got right of way — there's giggling, the odd scream. | n/a (area) | 51.53206, -0.17733 exact | map ↗ | ChIJCUF3TwsbdkgR9J_H_dhgxg0 | why the hell do people go to abbey road |
| Goldhawk Road, Shepherd's Bush | The character of Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever — the hit 1977 film — was not based on a real Brooklyn disco-goer, as journalist Nik Cohn had claimed. Two decades after the film premiered, Cohn admitted that Vincent (the character's original name) had never existed. Instead, as Tom Holland explains in an episode of The Rest Is History podcast, Cohn had based him on a Mod he knew in Shepherd's Bush — a one-time king of Goldhawk Road — named Chris, whom Cohn had got to know in 1965. The original Tony Manero wasn't consumed by glitter balls and Donna Summer but motorbikes and the Small Faces. By adapting Chris's debauched tales of swigging from whisky bottles, violent bust-ups and back seat fumbles, Cohn projected 1960s Shepherd's Bush onto the canvas of 1970s Brooklyn — and came up with the blueprint for the gritty film that would scoop an initial $85 million at the box office. | n/a (area) | 51.50000, -0.23877 exact | map ↗ | ChIJu_9n-jMOdkgR1LFO8Ew7zq4 | saturday night fever shepherd s bush |
| Hyde Park | The last wild ravens in London were noted in Hyde Park exactly 200 years ago. A breeding pair were forced out by a park-keeper in 1826 and, according to noted naturalist William Henry Hudson, that was the last the capital saw of wild ravens. | n/a (area) | 51.50736, -0.16411 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJhRoYKUkFdkgRDL20SU9sr9E | ever spotted a raven in london not including the tower |
| Tower of London | The Tower of London maintains a group of at least six ravens who, according to tradition, protect the Tower from destruction. Consequently, their wings are clipped and they rarely leave the site. The legend about the Tower crumbling if the ravens flee probably dates from the time of the Second World War — there is no record of any raven at the Tower before the mid-19th century. | yes | 51.50881, -0.07859 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ3TgfM0kDdkgRZ2TV4d1Jv6g | ever spotted a raven in london not including the tower |
| Grosvenor Square, Mayfair | Grosvenor Square has been a part of central London since the 1720s, and was home to the US Embassy from 1938 until 2017. Built as part of a residential development by the Duke of Westminster between 1725 and 1731, Mayfair's Grosvenor Square spent much of its life as a private garden, only becoming a public park post-Second World War, thanks to the Roosevelt Memorial Act 1946. As it stands, the space is a welcome — if somewhat uninspired — park consisting of lawns sliced up by symmetrical pathways, and sprinkled with plane trees. In recent winters, the square has become the setting of the charitable Ever After Garden. Now the square is about to undergo perhaps its largest transformation yet — only the fourth redesign of the garden in its 300-year history. The garden closed on 8 June for just over a year, to be radically overhauled to designs by architects Tonkin Liu, with planting overseen by horticulturalist Professor Nigel Dunnett, who worked on the Tower of London's Superbloom project. An oval lawn will be reinstated at the centre, in a nod to the garden's original design, while its fringes will be planted with woodland-inspired spaces featuring 44 new trees, miniature wetlands, and 70,000 plants including primroses, bluebells and honeysuckle. A new education building, children's play areas, two new pavilions with public toilets, and a café kiosk will also be added. The square's memorials — to Franklin D Roosevelt, the Eagle Squadrons, and the 67 British victims of the September 11 attacks — will remain. | n/a (area) | 51.51153, -0.15139 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ-_Xhli0FdkgRwYbM2r7CmPA | grosvenor square transformation woodland |
| Billingsgate Market | The word 'Billingsgate' came to mean foul, loud and vituperative language, so called from the abuse for which the fish-women at Billingsgate Market were once widely renowned. The usage dates to the 17th century. | yes | 51.50906, -0.08405 exact | map ↗ | ChIJuT3_kVEDdkgRBKMjaO7Bf1k | 20 forgotten words london ian rawes book honk conk squacket |
| London Stock Exchange | At the London Stock Exchange, a cry of 'fourteen-hundred' was used to warn that a stranger was in the building. The cry is said to have had its origin in the fact that for a long while the number of members never exceeded 1,399, and it was customary to hail every newcomer as the fourteen-hundredth. The usage dates to the late 19th century. | yes | 51.51505, -0.09903 exact | map ↗ | ChIJm5qCU6sEdkgRsl6FX7gRpf4 | 20 forgotten words london ian rawes book honk conk squacket |
| Smithfield Market | At Smithfield Market, the meat porters had a practice known as 'ringing-in': if any of their number arrived late and attempted to do so unnoticed, he was thwarted by the massed banging of knives and other metal implements. The custom dates to the early 20th century. | yes | 51.51940, -0.10140 exact | map ↗ | ChIJP-efSFIbdkgRHa0DkmQD50Q | 20 forgotten words london ian rawes book honk conk squacket |
| 67-73 Riding House Street, Fitzrovia | It was in London, at 67-73 Riding House Street, that Olaudah Equiano finally sat down to write his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African — published in 1789. The harrowing tale was a catalyst in ending slavery. It's commemorated in a green plaque. | n/a (area) | 51.51949, -0.13892 exact | map ↗ | ChIJhdfCmAYbdkgRBznXAgZ-VUA | 9 great london immigrants |
| Handel & Hendrix House, Brook Street, Mayfair | George Frideric Handel's Brook Street residence neighbours that of another great musician, Jimi Hendrix, with both now twinned as an unlikely museum. | n/a (area) | 51.51297, -0.14590 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJ8TcYbCsFdkgREJn6RlCbKjw | 9 great london immigrants |
| Highgate Cemetery, Highgate | Karl Marx is commemorated across London — including by that left-leaning memorial in Highgate Cemetery. | n/a (area) | 51.56692, -0.14678 exact | map ↗ | ChIJcVGPC04adkgRz3sYF-jM_pk | 9 great london immigrants |
| Karl Marx's flat, Dean Street, Soho | After Belgium and Paris decided they didn't want Karl Marx, London took him into its bosom — and he stayed for the rest of his life. From his flat on Dean Street, Marx wrote his magnum opus Das Kapital. London is also where he went on his infamous lamp-smashing pub crawl. | n/a (area) | 51.51546, -0.13354 exact | map ↗ | ChIJH-wyyCwbdkgRXXZpSOIdcFY | 9 great london immigrants |
| London Aquatics Centre, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park | The Baghdad-born architect Zaha Hadid made her mark on the capital with the spaceship-like London Aquatics Centre. Zaha Hadid Architects remains in Clerkenwell. | n/a (area) | 51.54019, -0.01055 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ02-cWoin2EcRMsHab0BRUEE | 9 great london immigrants |
| SS Great Eastern slipway remains, Millwall | You can still pose by some of the chains of Brunel's ship the SS Great Eastern at the remains of the slipway in Millwall. | yes | 51.49805, -0.02511 exact | map ↗ | ChIJEZx9ohsDdkgRIA8Tj1oiuaM | 9 great london immigrants |
| Selfridges, Oxford Street | Harry Gordon Selfridge gave London its first 'democratic' department store and revolutionised consumerism in the city. He also may be guilty for getting Londoners hooked on Coke — Selfridges once had an American soda room. Selfridge pleaded with London Underground bosses for a tunnel for shoppers leading from Bond Street station to his store; they said he could have it if he paid for it. | n/a (area) | 51.51459, -0.15281 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJDUkDWC0FdkgRvr1r4roiH4E | 9 great london immigrants |
| Serpentine Sackler Gallery, Hyde Park | Zaha Hadid made her mark on London with the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, and most memorably, the spaceship-like London Aquatics Centre. | n/a (area) | 51.50704, -0.17130 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJI_k6J08FdkgReCkpoIvEi8k | 9 great london immigrants |
| Thames Tunnel, Rotherhithe | Working together on the Thames Tunnel, the Brunel father-and-son team created their finest London legacy — it remains in use today, as part of the Overground network. Put simply, London would not function as it does today without these two great Frenchmen. | yes | 51.50424, -0.05633 exact | map ↗ | ChIJgZw0EkIDdkgR4nZPh9w-mmU | 9 great london immigrants |
| Tower of London, City of London | William the Conqueror gave a charter of independence to London with one hand, while with the other he built the Tower to show his 'beloved subjects' that, in spite of their liberties, he was their master. The Tower of London remains a jewel in the city's crown. | yes | 51.50881, -0.07859 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ8ewpOEwDdkgRHgWkQtdCOYE | 9 great london immigrants |
| 19 Cleveland Street, West End | In 1889, a gay brothel was uncovered at No.19 Cleveland Street in London's West End, operating close to Tottenham Court Road. Teenage telegraph messenger boys from the General Post Office were servicing the needs of leading members of the aristocracy. Among the clients was Lord Arthur Somerset, the Prince of Wales's private equerry, and it was rumoured that Prince Albert Victor — Queen Victoria's grandson — was also a visitor. The Establishment closed ranks: the Prince of Wales's fixers put pressure on the government to close down the police investigation and keep it out of the press. But it soon became international news. Six years later, the sparks from the Cleveland Street scandal led directly to the greatest sex scandal of the 19th century — the prosecution and imprisonment of Oscar Wilde for gross indecency. It set the template for how gay men in Britain were mistreated until homosexuality was legalised in England and Wales in 1967. Inspector Frederick Abberline, who had led the unsuccessful Jack the Ripper investigation the year before, was put in charge of the Cleveland Street case. It was to be his last big case, and he finished his police career frustrated at being hampered by higher powers in his probing of it. | n/a (area) | 51.51936, -0.13758 exact | map ↗ | ChIJJ21NzNcadkgRE3PMq-XLCP4 | cleveland street gay sex scandal |
| Out of Order by David Mach, Kingston upon Thames | David Mach's Out of Order still delights visitors to Kingston upon Thames with its riff on toppling dominoes — a sculpture made from phone boxes. | yes | 51.41083, -0.30048 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ_Ri_auoLdkgROmr8bFL-zm8 | stained glass phone box embankment knight |
| Stained Glass Phone Box, Embankment | A stained glass figure of a knight watches over the inside of an old BT phone box on Embankment, opposite Middle Temple Lane. The incongruous window was first clocked in autumn 2019 and has been delighting and befuddling passers-by ever since. The appearance of a knight here — a stone's throw from Temple station and the Middle Temple area — isn't strange in itself; it can be presumed to be a nod to the Templars, an ancient order of knights who once resided in the area and eventually gave it its name. Like the stained glass warrior, Templar knights also wore white mantles with red crosses. The real mystery is how the knight got there and why. Historians such as David Hay, trustee at Sainsbury Archives, have scratched their heads over it, while investigative efforts led to ruling out BT having anything to do with the work, despite this being a BT phone box. The skilled artist is yet to fess up. | yes | 51.52274, -0.10299 exact | map ↗ | ChIJfYi0DO8bdkgRUVJ1IO-Wn4k | stained glass phone box embankment knight |
| Astoria nightclub, Charing Cross Road | During a Crossrail dig beneath the Astoria nightclub in January 2017, a cache of pickles, jam and ketchup pots was discovered. | n/a (area) | 51.51558, -0.13031 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ2Xe4MBEbdkgRXvgrGYkgZb4 | things that have been dug up in london |
| Bedlam burial ground, Liverpool Street (Crossrail) | Crossrail digs at Liverpool Street uncovered a plague pit, which led to the identification of the DNA of the bacteria that caused the 1665 plague. The 'Bedlam burial ground' revealed was 3,000 bodies from between 1569 to at least 1738 — a veritable city of bones. A gold sequin from 1501 was also found at Liverpool Street during the Crossrail works. | n/a (area) | 51.51925, -0.08109 exact | map ↗ | ChIJUSjtYCQhe0gRaFlTJAbaEaE | things that have been dug up in london |
| Cheapside, City of London | Cheapside in the City was 'the Oxford Street of its day' — a thoroughfare selling souvenirs, slightly flashier and better-made than the ones we get now. In 1912, 340-odd buried trinkets — including brooches, rings, tankards and salt cellars — were brought to the surface at Cheapside, and gleamed in the London sun once more. 101 years after it was found, the Cheapside Hoard went on display at the Museum of London, where an oversized copy of one of the flashiest brooches slithered along the wall. | yes | 51.45074, -0.00606 exact | map ↗ | ChIJoWjBRlUDdkgRTwv0szX39kk | things that have been dug up in london |
| Crofton Roman Villa, Orpington | A less flashy Roman excavation lies in Orpington. Crofton Roman Villa saw the light again in 1926, and is now the fascinating skeleton of a roomy Roman farmhouse. | yes | 51.37292, 0.08794 exact | map ↗ | ChIJnbkRh2ur2EcRRJmgBQrUBio | things that have been dug up in london |
| Crossbones Graveyard, Southwark | Crossbones, which lies in the shadow of The Shard, yielded bodies bearing evidence of syphilis, smallpox, tuberculosis and Paget's disease during a 1990s excavation. These were paupers' bodies, and the excavation is still commemorated with candlelit vigils — amazing how historical digs can strike a chord in the hearts of the living. | yes | 51.45732, 0.00448 exact | map ↗ | ChIJmdtwBFgDdkgR19w2JwWoX4s | things that have been dug up in london |
| Curtain Theatre, Shoreditch | The Curtain Theatre in Shoreditch — an erstwhile hangout of Shakespeare's — was unearthed in more recent years. | former venue historical story · site now: redeveloped | 51.52370, -0.08067 exact | map ↗ | ChIJsfBLOB0ddkgRCb_Iz2-85A8 | things that have been dug up in london |
| Guildhall Art Gallery, City of London | It wasn't until 1985 that the Roman amphitheatre beneath Guildhall Art Gallery was revealed. | yes | 51.51559, -0.09172 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJO5PUzaocdkgRTGkFgDwBqHA | things that have been dug up in london |
| Rose Playhouse, Bankside | Bankside's Rose Playhouse was discovered in 1989, and (sort of) saved by Dustin Hoffman. | yes | 51.50724, -0.09534 exact | map ↗ | ChIJGfqGyqkEdkgRFYBeMMB0LDg | things that have been dug up in london |
| Seething Lane, City of London | Samuel Pepys buried his prize Parmesan cheese in a Seething Lane garden — 'I did dig another [pit], and put our wine in it; and I my Parmazan cheese, as well as my wine and some other things.' He never revealed if he dug it up again. Maybe it's still down there, ageing nicely. | n/a (area) | 51.51056, -0.07952 exact | map ↗ | ChIJS6BnX6scdkgRZRvjBscyBtc | things that have been dug up in london |
| Spitalfields Roman Woman excavation site, Spitalfields | The Spitalfields Roman Woman was uncovered in 1999. She was found in a lead coffin decorated with scallop shells, and laying on a pillow of bay leaves. In an echo of the Temple of Mithras unearthing, 10,000 came to see the skeleton when it went on display at the Museum of London. | n/a (area) | 51.51974, -0.07607 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ_ckOE7QcdkgR4Bug3A4RwXc | things that have been dug up in london |
| St Pancras Old Church, London | A series of walrus bones were dug up in a coffin at St Pancras Old Church. It wasn't a whole walrus, mind. | yes | 51.53495, -0.13019 exact | map ↗ | ChIJe_96pR0bdkgRSR26hguTjWs | things that have been dug up in london |
| Temple of Mithras, City of London | The Temple of Mithras — a place where young Romans probably sacrificed animals and bathed in the blood — bubbled once more to the City's surface during rebuilding works in 1954. 400,000 Londoners flocked to see the temple before it was scooched out of the way so an office block could be built on the site. The temple will soon be ensconced in the Bloomberg headquarters, though you'll still be able to see it. A deeper dig around the Temple of Mithras in 2013 unearthed all kinds of goodies, including an amber amulet shaped like a gladiator's helmet. | successor now: London Mithraeum | 51.51242, -0.09055 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJB9JfU60cdkgR4Sf2_6-NZ4w | things that have been dug up in london |
| Vanbrugh Castle, Greenwich | Vanbrugh Castle is an imposing red-brick pile on the eastern edge of Greenwich Park, designed by John Vanbrugh around 300 years ago. Vanbrugh (1664–1726) also gave us Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard, but this one he created for himself. Built in a light Gothic style, it actually looks a bit like a castle — not many people were building in Gothic at the time, so Vanbrugh was either ahead of the curve, or a few centuries behind it. The Castle was built as a private home and serves as such today — four private and very expensive flats. Back in 1993, a five-bedroom apartment could have been yours for £400,000; today the price is £2.5 million. The novelist Mary Anna Needell (popular in Victorian times) was born here in 1830, and Alexander Duckham, master of lubrication, bought the house in the early 20th century. He eventually donated it to the RAF Benevolent Fund, who used it as a school for boys whose fathers had been killed in service. So it remained until the 1970s, when it was briefly abandoned before conversion to flats. The turrets, towers and crenellations are said to resemble those of the Bastille, the long-vanished Parisian fortress and prison. An Illustrated London News edition from 1906 records that the place was once known as The Bastille, and the connection can be traced back as far as 1792. It's certainly possible: Vanbrugh spent over four years of his 20s imprisoned in France as a possible spy, several months in the Bastille itself. On the other hand, Vanbrugh Castle is hardly a dead-ringer for the Bastille — more likely its architect channelled a number of influences. Whether true or not, the Bastille connection is now received wisdom, and even celebrated by the local community: the Friends of Greenwich Theatre held a Bastille party in the grounds in 1989, to commemorate 200 years since the revolution — complete with faux guillotine and hosted by gameshow presenter Lesley Crowther. Like any old building in London, Vanbrugh Castle comes with stories of secret passages. A letter to the Kentish Mercury in 1905 asserts that 'There is — or as about 20 years ago — a subterranean passage from the Castle, but where it leads I cannot tell; some say as far as Crooms Hill.' Crooms Hill is the other side of Greenwich Park, half a mile away — which seems unlikely, though the whole Greenwich and Blackheath area is riddled with old tunnels and sealed-off caverns, so some kind of passage can't be ruled out. | yes | 51.48037, 0.00475 exact | map ↗ | ChIJbcN2Iymo2EcRLEsZXE4U8e0 | vanbrugh castle greenwich s very own bastille |
| A pub in Holborn, London | The Football Association was born in London in 1863 in a pub in Holborn. The FA gradually managed to codify the sport by persuading clubs to sign up to a set of standardised rules — rules which would evolve and ultimately govern the game worldwide. | unknown | 51.51758, -0.11451 exact | map ↗ | ChIJA7_adjUbdkgR_XPGaE3twAI | what happened to london s football teams that competed the first ever fa cup |
| Kennington Oval, London | The first ever FA Cup final was played at the Kennington Oval in front of about 2,000 people, with a familiar Saturday-afternoon kick-off time of 3pm (ish). London side Wanderers beat Kent's Royal Engineers 1-0. The result was all the more impressive given that the much-vaunted Engineers were pioneering a radical new footballing manoeuvre called 'passing'. The play itself would doubtless have been unrecognisable as the beautiful game we enjoy today — this was a sport of low tactics, and no goalkeepers, or even crossbars. | yes | 51.48376, -0.11497 exact | map ↗ | ChIJV5-mhJIEdkgRmHI3O4IrEdU | what happened to london s football teams that competed the first ever fa cup |
| Battle of Britain Bunker, former RAF Uxbridge | An underground room in west London at the former RAF Uxbridge was used to help the RAF secure victory during the Battle of Britain — the first conflict in history fought solely in the air. As the battle raged between the RAF and Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe in 1940, the Bunker coordinated the air defence of London and the whole of south-east England, helping to prevent a German invasion and shaping history. The original 1940s space sits 60ft below ground, accessible via 76 steps. A visitor centre and exhibition details its role in some of the most important chapters of the conflict, including the evacuation at Dunkirk, the ill-fated Dieppe Raid and the early stages of D-Day. The exhibition features first-hand accounts from people who worked in the Bunker, alongside original artefacts including aircraft wreckage and telecommunications equipment. | n/a (area) | 51.54090, -0.46506 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJ3VgiQPpxdkgR1vgUXrF-DKM | battle of britain bunker |
| British Museum, Bloomsbury | The British Museum covers 18.5 acres — the equivalent of nine football pitches — making it the largest museum in London. It's also the most visited, squeezing in nearly seven million guests per year. The collection contains roughly eight million objects, but only 1% of these can be shown at any one time, with around 80,000 objects on display. | yes | 51.51941, -0.12696 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJB9OTMDIbdkgRp0JWbQGZsS8 | london s biggest museum |
| National Gallery, Trafalgar Square | The National Gallery is 46,396 metres squared and has around 2,300 exhibits on display — including a secret room with 800 paintings alone. Taking the opposite approach to the V&A, it may have the most space per exhibit of any major London museum. | n/a (area) | 51.50893, -0.12830 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJeclqF84EdkgRtKAjTmWFr0I | london s biggest museum |
| Victoria and Albert Museum, Kensington | The V&A has a collection of 4.5 million objects and puts more on permanent display than the British Museum — 1,197,637 objects (and almost the same again in books and periodicals) — despite having 6.5 fewer acres of space. The V&A is also the only London museum to have a Room 101, though this has nothing to do with George Orwell; a sculpture inspired by Orwell's Room 101 did temporarily reside at the museum. | yes | 51.49664, -0.17218 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJw1d-sUMFdkgRH2XN_U0Jt54 | london s biggest museum |
| Charles Dickens Museum, Doughty Street | The Charles Dickens Museum is the late writer's only remaining house, where visitors can see where he ate, slept and put pen to paper. The quaint museum was redeveloped in 2012 with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Among the developments was a cosy café with a walled garden, where visitors can sit by original gravestones of Dickens' pets. | n/a (area) | 51.52359, -0.11629 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJlwm8OUgbdkgRWsaTM35CDTM | londons top museum cafes |
| Geffrye Museum (Museum of the Home), Kingsland Road | The Geffrye Museum is in a row of almshouses surrounded by gardens, just behind Hoxton station. The museum takes a look at how homes have been used and furnished from 1600 to the present day. Within the grounds is a café set in a modern pavilion, overlooking the beautiful period gardens. | n/a (area) | 51.53153, -0.07644 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJKUrjG7wcdkgRbfTuKDBgWXI | londons top museum cafes |
| V&A Café (Gamble, Morris and Poynter Rooms), Victoria and Albert Museum | The V&A Café boasts the world's first museum restaurant, opened in the 1860s. At the end of a long plain white corridor, visitors find three magnificent, interlinked refreshment rooms — the Gamble, Morris and Poynter rooms — all named after their designers and each reflecting the varying tastes of the Victorian era. | yes | 51.49664, -0.17218 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJw1d-sUMFdkgRH2XN_U0Jt54 | londons top museum cafes |
| Crown and Sugar Loaf, Bride Lane, City of London | The Crown and Sugar Loaf is a tiny boozer easily missed down Bride Lane, squeezed in between more famous neighbours the Old Bell and the Punch Tavern. It was once part of the latter, but got 'walled off' after a dispute among the co-owners. Inside, it's almost like a stage set for a typical Sam Smiths pub: dark wooden panels, cut-glass mirrors and a sculpted ceiling. The pub's obscurity means you can usually get a seat or bar stool, despite the limited space. | n/a (area) | 51.51402, -0.10500 exact | map ↗ | ChIJbQVkW60EdkgRdYJrwKyiyHA | crown and sugarloaf |
| Vauxhall Pleasure Grounds, Vauxhall | Mother Kelly's bar backs on to the so-called Vauxhall Pleasure Grounds — a rekindling of a name first used in the Georgian period. | former venue historical story · site now: Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens | 51.48744, -0.12091 exact | map ↗ | ChIJiz6WaewEdkgR5ujsA9NCZpM | mother kelly s vauxhall |
| Camden Town rail bridge, Camden High Street | The famously decorated rail bridge that spans Camden High Street is an iconic bit of placemaking that dates back to the 1980s, when John Bulley was commissioned to spice up the bridge. The two painters depicted are based on John's co-workers. | n/a (area) | 51.54176, -0.14579 exact | map ↗ | ChIJTzdR__QbdkgRRv2wehMMprk | oddities to spot in camden town |
| Deep-level shelter, Buck Street, Camden Town | On Buck Street stands a peculiar building built in the early 1940s as the portal to a high-speed underground railway, but which instead ended up as a bomb shelter. It was just one of 13 such buildings dotted along the Northern line. After the war, the money wasn't there to complete the railway. The deep level shelters have since found other purposes, such as document storage and subterranean farming. | n/a (area) | 51.54009, -0.14297 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJx1gomOEadkgRDkN-_n2gwZ8 | oddities to spot in camden town |
| Interchange Building (Dead Dog's Hole), Camden | The red-brick Interchange Building has been a Camden landmark since the early 20th century. This vast warehouse was a hive of local industry, built over the place where canal met railway. The canal entrance still exists and is spanned by a recently refurbished pedestrian bridge that carries the towpath off towards Regent's Park. The space beneath is known informally as Dead Dog's Hole, on account of the unfortunate animals whose fate it was to wash into its maw. It was once possible to kayak into this aquatic cavern and gain access to an extensive network of abandoned horse tunnels, but a barrier now prevents such urbex adventures. | successor now: Interchange Building | 51.54092, -0.14781 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ-wKgr-YadkgR7OshSpbeWJA | oddities to spot in camden town |
| Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, Camden | The Roundhouse on Chalk Farm Road is one of London's best known music venues, but few people notice the Antony Gormley statue sticking up from the roof. It has been there since the late Noughties. | n/a (area) | 51.54325, -0.15187 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJPcr-g-UadkgRHjOPc3ITZdo | oddities to spot in camden town |
| TV-AM Building (former), Camden Lock | The rooftop eggcups on this lockside building were the symbol of TV-AM, a pioneering breakfast show that ran on ITV for much of the 1980s, and was broadcast from this location. The building was designed by Terry Farrell's architectural practice. The client wasn't too keen on the rooftop eggcups and agreed only to include them if Farrell paid for their installation. | n/a (area) | 51.54137, -0.14349 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ5z3qh-EadkgR-Idkywepzmg | oddities to spot in camden town |
| Wood-block paving, Camden Town | Many decades ago, much of London's road surfaces were made from tarred wooden blocks. Almost all have now been replaced by tarmac, but rare survivors can still be seen in Camden — one near the station and another further along near the Camden Town rail bridge. | n/a (area) | 51.54092, -0.14479 exact | map ↗ | ChIJiyTbQwAbdkgRU9vB5WJzhCM | oddities to spot in camden town |
| Crossness Pumping Station, Bexley | Built by Sir Joseph Bazalgette, the Crossness Pumping Station is an ornamental ironworks wonderland and home to the station's heavy duty engines — named Queen Victoria, Albert Edward (King Edward VII), Prince Consort, and Alexandra (wife of Edward VII). | n/a (area) | 51.50887, 0.13820 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ54NJR3qv2EcR7PMhqnso9Io | things you never knew about the borough of bexley |
| Hall Place, Bexleyheath | A building known as Hall Place was first the stately home of the At-Hall family, who took their name from Hall Place in the 14th century. The house was passed down and sold a number of times until it passed into the hands of Sir John Champneys, a former Lord Mayor of London, in 1537. Champneys then built the grey castle-like half which we see today, with stone from the nearby ruins of Lesnes Abbey. The outside boasts an impressive checkerboard effect made of flint and rubble, which was a popular type of masonry at the time. The red brick half of the house was the bright idea of Sir Robert Austen, who acquired the houses in 1649 and made little to no effort to match the two sides. | n/a (area) | 51.45051, 0.16068 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJXWKPXWqu2EcRLpWx6U35Z9Y | things you never knew about the borough of bexley |
| Lesnes Abbey, Erith | The ruins of Lesnes Abbey, founded in 1178, are still visible today not far from Erith. From almost the very beginning, the abbey struggled with financial hardship. Many of its buildings were completely neglected, and efforts to rebuild in the early sixteenth century could not do much to improve the crumbling structure. The final blow came from Henry VIII, who wanted to raise funds for Cardinal Wolsey's College at Oxford and received permission from the Pope to close every monastery in England and Wales with less than eight inhabitants. As Lesnes only housed an abbot and five canons, it was one of the first to be abandoned. | successor now: Lesnes Abbey Woods | 51.48925, 0.12874 exact | map ↗ | ChIJxTNaARKv2EcRhqHFJtXAAUU | things you never knew about the borough of bexley |
| Red House, Bexleyheath | Red House in Bexleyheath was artist and textile designer William Morris' Palace of Art. It was designed by Morris and his architect friend Philip Webb for Morris' family, with its variety of windows, roofs and chimneys, and saw many a talented artist through its doors while he was in residence. After only five years, Morris was forced to sell the house in 1865 due to the financial burden of its upkeep. He apparently vehemently vowed never to return to it, for to see the house again would 'be more than he could bear'. | n/a (area) | 51.45548, 0.13035 exact | map ↗ | ChIJASYThe2u2EcRj3jF9RCXI38 | things you never knew about the borough of bexley |
| Welling, Bexley | The reason why Welling is called Welling is something of a debated topic with four possible theories. The first is that in the era of horse-drawn vehicles, when Bexley was part of Kent, by the time you reached Welling you were said to be 'well in' to Kent. The second — favoured by local historians — is that the name probably derived from 'Welwyn' meaning 'place of the spring', as there was an underground spring to be found at Welling Corner. The third theory supposes that the name may have something to do with the Willing Family who lived in the area in 1301. The fourth suggests that Welling was 'more properly Wellend', as the way to Welling was rife with highwaymen and if you reached the town in one piece with all your possessions, it was indeed a well end. | unknown | 51.46225, 0.10974 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ5zYG_9Cu2EcR0BtOs-dufh8 | things you never knew about the borough of bexley |
| HMS Belfast, South Bank, London | HMS Belfast is a giant warship moored near Tower Bridge. No other surviving British vessel witnessed historic events of the same magnitude — from the Arctic Convoys and Normandy Landings of the Second World War, to the Korean War and beyond. She has nine decks to explore, each packed with maritime marvel and powerful stories from her launch in 1938 through to her arrival in London in 1971. | yes | 51.50659, -0.08146 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJ53DRz08DdkgRrg8CSNPPXws | imperial war museum |
| Fountain Court, Middle Temple, London | In Fountain Court chuckles a single jet of crystal water close to the Thames, described by one writer as a 'pert squirt'. It stands in a courtyard shaded by 17th century black mulberry and plane trees. Charles Dickens certainly came to Middle Temple, and the fountain appears in one of his novels as a meeting place for John Westlock and Ruth Pinch — described in The Life And Adventures Of Martin Chuzzlewit as a welcoming contrast to the smoke and grime of the capital. | yes | 51.51245, -0.11215 exact | map ↗ | ChIJKaUEiLQEdkgRGrY6B_bwC8k | middle temple history explore |
| Middle Temple Hall, London | Middle Temple Hall is described as the finest Elizabethan hall in England. Built between 1562 and 1573 and financed by treasurer Edmund Plowden, whose larger-than-life marble bust stares across the dining room, the hall is 101 feet long and 41 feet wide. It retains its original function as a dining room and ceremonial place of debate, and hosted a performance of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in February 1602. When the floorboards were taken up in 1764, hundreds of tiny dice yellowed by age were found to have fallen through the chinks, evidence of gambling among former diners. The fabled double hammer-beam oak roof has an almost surreal appearance; beneath it are windows with original stained glass from the 1570s (removed during the war) and whitewashed walls with empty suits of armour facing each other on either side. The Bench Table at the front is constructed from three 29-foot planks from a single oak cut down in Windsor Forest, reputedly a gift of Queen Elizabeth I. The table described as the 'Cupboard' has an 18th century base while its top is said to have been made from the hatch of Francis Drake's ship The Golden Hinde, though there is no documentary evidence to this effect. On the night of 15 October 1940 a landmine exploded in Elm Court, shattering the heavy oak Renaissance screen at the back of the hall; the remains were gathered into 200 sacks and pieced back together like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle, so well that you can't see the joins. Dickens belonged to the Inn but fell foul of a regulation requiring a minimum number of dinners to be eaten at the Hall each year. | yes | 51.51253, -0.11134 exact | map ↗ | ChIJq6pqxrQEdkgRuvlI3SLBTZg | middle temple history explore |
| Middle Temple, London | Middle Temple is one of the four Inns of Court (the others being Inner Temple to the east, Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn). This is where barristers get their training, carry their briefs in sheaths of paper tied with a pink ribbon — a tradition dating from 1787 — and are called to the Bar. All trainee barristers must belong to one of the Inns to qualify. The entrance lies at 222-225 Strand, opposite the Royal Courts of Justice, where a doorway nestled between rose-granite pilasters leads through a mosaic floor panel into a Victorian glaze-tiled passageway with wrought iron girders and heavy lamps. Both Middle and Inner Temple Inns were bombed during the war, and while the area is often described as a portal to a bygone age, much of what you see is reconstructed. Middle Temple lost 122 of its 285 sets of chambers. Number 2 Essex Court was built in 1677 and is largely unaltered from that time — a fine example of the Inn's archaic romance. | yes | 51.51193, -0.11102 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJaQuOgbMEdkgRZYnE3dOw278 | middle temple history explore |
| Temple Church, Middle Temple, London | Temple Church comprises two churches: the Round Church, built by the Templars and consecrated in 1185, and the Hall Church (the chancel) built on its south side in 1236-40, intended as a burial place for Henry III, though in the end he was buried in Westminster Abbey. The Round Church was designed to recreate in London the shape and sanctity of the Round Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem — all Templar churches followed this circular idea, for to stand in the rotunda was, to the medieval mind, to be at the centre of the world. The recumbent marble effigies of knights in full armour belong to the most powerful men of the Crusades; to be buried here was to be buried in Jerusalem. Close to the effigies stand Geoffrey de Mandeville and Saer de Quincy, two of the 25 surety barons charged with ensuring King John stuck to the Magna Carta. William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke — acclaimed the 'greatest knight that ever lived' — is also buried here. The church was spared the Great Fire of 1666 thanks to a change in the wind. Christopher Wren, who married his first wife here, directed a makeover in Classical style. In 1683, a famous 'Battle of the Organs' erupted: Inner Temple backed a Frenchman, Renatus Harris, while Middle Temple put forward a German, Bernhard Schmidt ('Father Smith'). Both organs were installed and played; the contest lasted a year, with cheating and sabotage, before Judge Jeffreys decided in favour of Smith's organ in 1684. Harris reused his materials in organs for St Andrew's, Holborn, and Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. Smith's organ was silenced by the bombs of the Second World War, and what remains today are a few melted pipes kept in the Vestry. A magnificent 1920s wind-chest from a Scottish ballroom, donated by Lord Glentanar, now surpasses even Smith's instrument. | yes | 51.51326, -0.11026 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJRfyrbbMEdkgR79OO2x9D8is | middle temple history explore |
| Thresher & Glenny, Fleet Street, London | Thresher & Glenny is a tailors established in 1755 that equips barristers with their court attire — stiff white wing collars with bands, stuff gowns and bespoke shirts. The Royal Warrant inside was first granted by King George III in 1783, and they have held on to it ever since. | n/a (area) | 51.51345, -0.11139 exact | map ↗ | ChIJp6nAYbMEdkgRVYpj2uoLDqk | middle temple history explore |
| The Hand & Flower, Olympia | The Hand & Flower is named after the Victorian pickpocket Edwin Hand — who was so keen to prove his suitability to marry his 'flower' that he actually bought this property with his stolen wealth. | yes | 51.49587, -0.20803 exact | map ↗ | ChIJjfrDAusPdkgRH2Qfn6RV1sY | ten of the best london pubs with accommodation |
| The Pilot, Greenwich | The Pilot, a nautically-themed pub in Greenwich, featured in Blur's Parklife video, and now hosts Shakespeare plays in the garden. | yes | 51.49623, 0.01035 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ27grNBio2EcRqgZgN5Poq20 | ten of the best london pubs with accommodation |
| The Windmill, Clapham Common | The Windmill is a 17th century tavern which stands isolated on the east side of Clapham Common. | n/a (area) | 51.45761, -0.14418 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJOURKcHwFdkgRqfDY5N2gv6Y | ten of the best london pubs with accommodation |
| Ambrose Godfrey plaque, Southampton Street, Covent Garden | A plaque on Southampton Street remembers Ambrose Godfrey, an 18th century chemist who lived and worked on this site. He's credited with inventing the fire extinguisher in the 1720s — incredibly, the design involved a chamber of gunpowder. | n/a (area) | 51.51044, -0.12176 exact | map ↗ | ChIJKboW6MsEdkgRplSCsGAKifY | things to look up for in london |
| Chiltern Firehouse, Marylebone | Atop the Chiltern Firehouse is a brilliant feature of the original Victorian Fire Station: a watchtower from which firefighters would scan London for fires. It's so ornate, it looks more like a castle. | yes | 51.51874, -0.15497 exact | map ↗ | ChIJAYkvus0adkgR-BHnv8lER38 | things to look up for in london |
| Chimney disguised as lamppost, Tower Bridge | One lamppost along Tower Bridge looks a little different from the rest: it's a chimney hiding in plain sight. Once connected to a guard room beneath the bridge, the Clean Air Act of 1956 banned coal fires, leaving it redundant. | n/a (area) | 51.50546, -0.07536 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJSdtli0MDdkgRLW9aCBpCeJ4 | things to look up for in london |
| First gas-powered street lighting plaque, Pall Mall | Pall Mall bore witness to the world's first demonstration of gas-powered street lighting. The light itself is no longer in situ, but a green plaque records the occasion. The street's name comes from 'Paille Maile', an obscure lawn game — like croquet — popular with the Stuart court. | n/a (area) | 51.50611, -0.13612 exact | map ↗ | ChIJq6jhP9cEdkgRK-PM8xQtoxs | things to look up for in london |
| Former Booth's gin distillery reliefs, Britton Street, Clerkenwell | In the 19th century, Britton Street in Clerkenwell was dominated by Booth's gin distillery, one of the largest in London. Although demolished in 1978, you can still look up to see carvings celebrating gin production, created by Frederick W Pomeroy in 1903. | n/a (area) | 51.52152, -0.10423 exact | map ↗ | — | things to look up for in london |
| Former Wrights Dairy, Old Church Street, Chelsea | Around the King's Road, cow heads look down as a surprising reminder of Chelsea's rural past. They once promoted Wrights Dairy which, from the late 1700s, had around 50 grazing cows providing milk for Londoners. The heads can be found on the old dairy HQ and former shop on Old Church Street. | n/a (area) | 51.48795, -0.17459 exact | map ↗ | ChIJQ8kGSG8FdkgR41Qd4gkWEkk | things to look up for in london |
| Ignatius Sancho plaque, Charles II Street, St James's | Between two mighty government buildings — The Treasury and the Foreign Office — is Charles II Street, where a plaque remembers Ignatius Sancho, who escaped slavery in Greenwich and became a self-made businessman, as well as the first known person of African descent to vote in a British election, in 1774. | n/a (area) | 51.50798, -0.13314 approx | map ↗ | — | things to look up for in london |
| Jewish Daily Post building, Aldgate High Street, Whitechapel | Along Aldgate High Street, beside Gunthorpe Street, the ornate symbol of the Jewish Daily Post — established 1926 and based here until 1935 — is a reminder that this area of Whitechapel was once the epicentre of Jewish London. | n/a (area) | 51.51416, -0.07552 exact | map ↗ | ChIJxx7AWksDdkgRU7ET2gD2t1c | things to look up for in london |
| Thomas Becket figure, Cheapside, City of London | Along the historic thoroughfare of Cheapside, the City's Medieval shopping street, a little figure stares down at passers-by: Thomas Becket, born here around 1120. Son of a Mercer (whose Livery Hall is found around the corner), he rose through the ranks to become Archbishop of Canterbury, only to be brutally martyred in his own cathedral in 1170. | yes | 51.51471, -0.09738 exact | map ↗ | ChIJvXddLKsEdkgRIhJdLayGduA | things to look up for in london |
| Waterloo Station memorial entrance, Waterloo | Outside the main entrance of Waterloo Station, the whole entrance is in fact a massive first world war memorial with huge sculptures by Charles Whiffen. There are two groups: one depicting the skeletal Goddess of War surrounded by misery, while the other is a happier scene of peace and prosperity. | n/a (area) | 53.47495, -3.02550 exact | map ↗ | ChIJdbMgnGYke0gRj9b5av4uNz0 | things to look up for in london |
| Angel station, Islington | Angel station reopened in 1992 after an extensive rebuild. The station had previously featured an island platform serving both running lines. The southbound line was diverted through new tunnel and the old track filled in, to create a super-wide platform. The station also features the network's longest escalators. | n/a (area) | 51.53274, -0.10587 exact | map ↗ | ChIJa19vLUMbdkgRvNevcYH4F6M | a brief history of the northern line |
| City Road station, Old Street | City Road station opened in November 1901 as part of the Northern line's northward push, but closed after just 21 years' service in 1922. It never reopened, although it might be useful nowadays to serve the preposterous number of tower blocks that have shot up on its doorstep. | n/a (area) | 51.53005, -0.09880 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ00D6RVkbdkgRNyCTTDQXC94 | a brief history of the northern line |
| King William Street station, City of London | King William Street in the City was the first northern terminus of what would become the Northern line, with trains running frequently between Stockwell and King William Street from December 1890. Cars were known as padded cells, thanks to a lack of windows (other than narrow slits); according to one anonymous press man, the subterranean journey "smacked somewhat of Jules Verne". In 1900, the station was bypassed by new tunnels and closed forever more. The old tunnels are still down there. | n/a (area) | 51.51267, -0.08842 exact | map ↗ | ChIJeTVTgVQDdkgROOBGx7cPH68 | a brief history of the northern line |
| Moorgate station, London | In February 1975, the Northern City line branch suffered the worst peacetime tragedy on the London Underground, when a train failed to stop at Moorgate and smashed into the end of the tunnel. 43 people were killed and over 70 were badly injured. No fault was found with the train or tracks and the enquiry attributed the accident to driver action. This section of the Northern line was decoupled from the network in October of that year — under plans that predated the crash — to be run by British Rail. It still operates today and has never rejoined London Underground. | n/a (area) | 51.51869, -0.08900 exact | map ↗ | ChIJEWNLkKscdkgRaKnhSHUvRNo | a brief history of the northern line |
| Northern line extension, Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station | Construction began on the Northern line extension to Battersea Power Station in November 2015 — the first extension of the Northern line since the second world war, and the first in south London for almost 100 years. The extension opened in September 2021, including a new station at Nine Elms. A further extension to link up with Clapham Junction has been safeguarded but not yet approved. | n/a (area) | 51.48202, -0.14449 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJ4Z9Tf_0EdkgRXVFCTtu_oJY | a brief history of the northern line |
| Tower Subway, Tower Hill | In 1870 the Tower Subway was bored beneath the Thames beside the Tower of London. It was the first project to use the new tunnelling techniques developed by James Greathead, and the first deep-level tunnel to feature a railway — albeit one that was very short-lived, and pulled by cable. It served as a practice run for all that was to come on what would eventually become the Northern line. | n/a (area) | 51.50854, -0.07905 exact | map ↗ | ChIJYRsYAUwDdkgRWD9yGC0gqek | a brief history of the northern line |
| Chelsea King's Road (proposed Crossrail 2 station), London | The only brand new station planned for Crossrail 2 would be Chelsea King's Road. There was already some nimbyish resistance to the plan when the article was written. | n/a (area) | 51.48394, -0.17725 exact | map ↗ | ChIJu8b0_84FdkgRgrU0ojpOcyY | euston st pancras station where when crossrail hs2 |
| Euston St Pancras (proposed Crossrail 2 station), London | Crossrail 2 plans would create a combined 'Euston St Pancras' station by linking the existing stations at Euston and King's Cross St Pancras. The linking up would be achieved with two new platforms, 250 metres long and 20 metres below the ground, situated between the two stations and running beneath Somers Town — a neighbourhood directly behind the British Library. Cross-passage walkways would link one platform to the other. Crossrail 2 entrances and ticket halls would be installed in St Pancras station and at King's Cross, while an entirely new station entrance and ticket hall would be built in Grafton Place near Euston station. 30 Crossrail 2 trains would run through Euston St Pancras each way per hour during peak hours, meaning 14,000 more passengers would fit in — a 25% reduction in crowding. The area was already set to become even more of a transport hub, especially with HS2 having been given the go-ahead, linking Crossrail 2 with the Victoria and Northern lines as well as high speed services to the Midlands and the north. | n/a (area) | 51.52846, -0.13321 exact | map ↗ | ChIJCcCyUiQbdkgRtyrFRSkbaCE | euston st pancras station where when crossrail hs2 |
| Northern line extension tunnels, Battersea to Kennington via Nine Elms | The 6.4km of tunnels created for the Northern line extension are the widest tunnels on the tube network, with a 5.2 metre diameter — 1.6m larger than the standard 3.6m of current tube tunnels. The reason for this extra width is that the new tunnels have something no tube tunnel has had before: a walkway. A 1m wide path runs alongside the tracks to allow passengers to evacuate on foot in an emergency, or to allow emergency services to access the train from nearby stations. The tunnels are the work of two tunnel boring machines, named Amy and Helen after astronaut Helen Sharman and aviation pioneer Amy Johnson. Tunnelling took place between April and November 2017, on two 3.2km tunnels between Battersea and Kennington via Nine Elms. | yes | 51.48009, -0.12909 exact | map ↗ | ChIJxb9PmvAEdkgRcPtq-xeSQAQ | northern line extension tube tunnels widest |
| Alexandra Palace, Wood Green | Alexandra Palace was the setting for the Sinclair C5's launch in January 1985, in which six of the electrically-assisted pedal capsules shot out of boxes, and were driven around by attractive women dressed in grey sci-fi boiler suits. The C5, claimed its creator Clive Sinclair, was the future of travel. They were dubbed a "plastic hip bath on wheels", and were ultimately spurned by the public, who didn't much fancy looking like a wally or being crushed beneath the wheels of a 10-ton truck. The opening ceremony was probably the most fun anyone ever had in a Sinclair C5. | unknown | 51.59499, -0.13022 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJjcL5pQ4bdkgR7Xfm-JuT_Kw | strange commutes |
| Atmospheric Railway, Forest Hill to West Croydon | For a brief moment, the Atmospheric Railway looked like it just might be the future of train travel. Pioneered by the Samuda brothers Joseph and Samuel, and running on a line between Forest Hill and West Croydon, the atmospheric trains were powered by a vacuum in a tube, which the train was connected to, and thereby propelled forwards. The trains were quick (70mph+), quiet and fuelless — well the trains themselves were, anyway; the system also called for whacking great coal-powered pumping stations peppered along the line. Even Isambard Kingdom Brunel took note, trialling his own atmospheric line in Devon. The trains had a tendency to conk out and require a push from the passengers, only to then shoot off without said passengers. The atmospheric experiment was nixed in 1847, but in the meantime, thousands of Londoners had used it (or at least tried to use it) to get into work. | n/a (area) | 51.43954, -0.05517 exact | map ↗ | ChIJIZu0s9EDdkgRn4ijIQTKsPY | strange commutes |
| Gardners' Market Sundriesman, Spitalfields | Gardners' Market Sundriesman opened in Spitalfields in 1870 and is now a fourth-generation family business. Paul Gardner — London's Paper Bag Baron — runs the shop at 149 Commercial Street, dealing in brown bags, white bags, paper bags, vacuum-sealed bags, takeaway bags and Christmas bags, 150 years on. | n/a (area) | 51.52111, -0.07551 exact | map ↗ | ChIJK1ZourYcdkgRWlU7P5ACLds | paper bag baron london |
| Science Museum, South Kensington | The Science Museum was founded in 1857 as part of the South Kensington Museum, and gained independence in 1909. | yes | 51.49722, -0.17673 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJP9oAE0MFdkgR3iKGFKZO1SE | science museum |
| The Angel pub, Rotherhithe | The Angel is an unreformed survival from another age. It perches isolated on the river wall, opposite the remains of Edward III's palace — of which it used to be part, on a diagonally opposite site. Inside, The Angel follows the usual soothing pattern of Sam Smith's pubs, with dark-wood partitions and small drinking spaces, as though isolated in time from another era. There's no website, and visitors have been admonished for taking photos in here, as though it might steal the soul of the place. Upstairs there is a larger, sumptuously furnished dining space with exquisite views over the Thames, or you can sit out on the narrow balcony. It is said that this is the spot from which Turner painted the Fighting Temeraire. | unknown | 51.50066, -0.05905 exact | map ↗ | ChIJu6FqNjsDdkgRS8MOuaNPjD0 | the angel |
| The Boot pub, London | A pub has stood on this site since 1724, and was mentioned as a house of interesting repute in Charles Dickens' Barnaby Rudge. As related in Rudge, The Boot was the headquarters of the anti-Catholic Gordon rioters of 1780, a disturbance that led to widespread turmoil in England and demonstrated the problems faced by not having a professional police force in the country. Kenneth Williams, who grew up in the streets hereabouts, was a notable customer. The Boot was named in the Top 50 best pubs in the 2008 Rough Pub Guide, which is commemorated in a plaque on the wall that includes a still from Carry On at Your Convenience. The pub is decorated with all manner of unlikely objects, from tea boxes to matchboxes to curious brass pots. | yes | 51.52765, -0.12423 exact · in DB | map ↗ | ChIJcWQqMDobdkgRnjbqNLBxPPw | the boot |
| Williams Ale And Cider House, Artillery Lane | Williams Ale And Cider House is tucked away down wee Artillery Lane, opposite the commuter hellhole that is Liverpool Street. The place has its own spot in London's quirky history: it is named after a Victorian landlord known for his draconian rules. Under its former guise as The Ship, the pub sported his list of regulations, which included no loud talking, and the curious bar on any customer being served more than once in a drinking session. | n/a (area) | 51.51840, -0.07850 exact | map ↗ | ChIJ_xlJsrMcdkgRvo7jys8KrBI | williams ale and cider house |