The name ‘Southwark Cathedral’ may not roll off the tongues of tourists in the same way that St Paul’s cathedral and Westminster Abbey do, yet it still pulls in a sizeable number of visitors each year. On hot sunny days in the summer, people pour over from neighbouring […]
For the Evening Standard Canonbury Square was, in the 1950s, “London’s most beautiful square”. But not everyone at the time would have agreed, turning their noses up at the prospect of living in what are today pleasant Georgian-built terraces facing onto communal gardens. The area then was dirty, […]
Whatever day of the week you visit Canary Wharf, it seems to be busy. On weekdays, the 100,000 office workers that commute here make good use of the shopping mall, where they can pick up a sandwich at lunch and perhaps also a last minute birthday present for […]
Artists, poets, authors and other famous people have long been attracted to live in Highgate, one of north London’s hilltop villages. The City and other parts of central London are easily reachable, yet – thanks to the fact that it borders onto Hampstead Heath and other open spaces […]
Computer generated images showing residents enjoying bird’s eye views across London from a leafy roof garden set on top of a skyscraper is not unusual for marketing material in a city where architects and developers race to win over wealthy homebuyers with their glitzy projects. Toblerone Towers – […]
“Don’t run away with the idea that the Festival of Britain is going to be solemn,” wrote the newspaper editor Gerald Barry in early 1951. “Not a bit of it. It will afford us all the opportunity, as occasion allows, for some harmless jollification. After more than a […]
Standing on a raised gravelled bank a short walk from Plumstead station, the views in front of me could hardly be described as picturesque. Looking in one direction I could see some Southeastern trains parked up in their sidings, while looking the other way there was an expanse […]
In an area of London where so many buildings have been flattened and replaced by new homes, Reverdy Road and Alma Grove come as pleasant surprises. Just a few minutes walk from busy Old Kent Road, you find these parallel streets of well-looked after Victorian two-storey, terraced houses […]
“It’s a world away from the South Downs or the Lake District but Croydon could be set to become a new tourist hotspot thanks to the National Trust,” said the Evening Standard in a recent article. This is perhaps stating the obvious – national parks with green open […]
Open fields is probably the last thing you would expect to find in central London today. An area as developed as Seven Dials, just north of Covent Garden, is as typical as anywhere in the West End with upmarket boutiques and fine dining fighting to make use of […]
Past In The Present 