“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 […]
“Woolwich is a great place to invest in property,” more than one person said when I was house hunting last year. “The arrival Crossrail will send house prices soaring and it will help to continue the much-needed regeneration of the town centre,” I was told. Walking along the […]
When the first residents moved in to the Totterdown Fields Estate, a 39-acre site close to Tooting Common, in the early 20th century, they would have found a standard of living that they could previously only have dreamed about. The new homes were well-built, with indoor toilets and […]
Walking down Upper Street in Islington would give you the impression that the borough is extremely wealthy. On any day of the week, the upmarket restaurants and shops on this busy stretch seem to be booming. But not all of Islington have been taken by the elite as […]
Trudging through woodland is unlikely to be top of everyone’s list when it comes to choosing a place for a walk. As many a hiker will tell you, there is little better than being rewarded with a panoramic view from high up on the top of a hill […]
The John Snow in Soho is like many other pubs in central London with people drinking knee deep on the pavement outside when the weather is good. Inside there is little that makes this establishment any different from many others in and around the city. Serving a good […]
Bermondsey Street is a busy stretch of upmarket cafes, galleries and craft shops that is gentrifying fast. Lying in the shadow of the Shard, it’s an area of prime real estate, with developers sitting on vacant properties waiting for prices to rise as the ambitious re-building of London […]
With rubbish strewn on the roadside, lorries thundering by to waste incinerator plants, distribution centres and oil storage depots, this is hardly the most picturesque part of London. Exploring on a Saturday morning, there are not many souls about as I weave my way around this desolate area […]
Seeing the concourse of Charing Cross – London’s fifth busiest station – deserted in broad daylight was surreal in itself. But what made the experience of wandering round here on a Sunday afternoon even more bizarre was the fact that, though no trains were scheduled to leave or […]
Past In The Present 