By day and night, Kazimierz is the beating heart of Krakow. It’s here that many visitors to the city head for a night out in the extensive network of bars or relax with a coffee in one of the pavement cafes. There are also curious souvenir shops, brimming […]
Arriving in the dark from Krakow, it’s McDonald’s golden arches and a giant illuminated KFC sign that are the first things that greet you on the main road leading into the city of Oswiecim. Soon a small shopping centre, featuring international brands such as H&M, appears at the […]
Dining in an authentic Polish milk bar is a real blast from the past. Order your dish from the limited choice available (probably involving pierogi – dumplings in one form or another) at the first counter, grab a tray and pick up your meal at the next […]
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 […]
The best way to understand why London’s East End docks closed for good in the 1980s comes if you take a 40 minute train journey east from Fenchurch Street. At the Port of Tilbury, piled up one of top of another are vast containers which are awaiting onward […]
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 […]
“The rozzers,” shouted one of the lads acting as a look out. And with that ‘Billy the bet’ abruptly ended a monologue about his illegal trade and vanished into the back streets of Walworth. Billy’s talk – on a street corner not far from the Old Kent Road […]
Past In The Present 