London

Every year, millions of tourists, culture vultures and art lovers pour into the world’s museums. There are thousands of collections that attract over 100,000 visitors. Just over 60 institutions manage to draw over a million visitors. The premier league of museums are ten world class institutions that bring in between 3.5 and 9.3 million visitors. This is part two of a two-part piece highlighting the next […]

World’s most visited museums – part two

World’s most visited museums – part one

The London School of Economics and Political Science has always been a small institution with a big name. Although considerably smaller in student numbers, faculty and size of estate, it has usually punched above its weight. It does all this from a cramped corner of central London. Some of its buildings have seen better days, but in recent years there has been a push to a […]

LSE – to the future and beyond!

Part 2: Central London’s lost department stores (a walking tour in two halves) The first post in this series focused on the stately and grand former heart of the Debenhams department store empire on Wigmore Street. It is not the only central London department store to have disappeared. Today, we look at the history and demise of some iconic names from across the heart of the […]

Dearly departed department stores

Part 1: Debenhams of Wigmore Street Every year, millions of shoppers converge on London’s major department store. Selfridges, Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Liberty feature amongst the capital’s most visited tourist attractions. They are also serious commercial operations – Harrods turned over £651 million in 2012 alone. With the department store enjoying a new millennium renaissance, it is easy to forget that London has, over the past […]

Dearly departed department stores

The Greyhound Racing Association faced a grave problem in the late 1930s. The British seemed to have fallen out of love with dog racing, leaving stadia half full and the former cash cow looking as thin and exhausted as, well, a greyhound. Promoters came up with a breathtaking array of ideas to revitalise interest but none were as startling as the plan devised by Archer Leggett. […]

The great Romford and Harringay cheetah races!

My recent encounter with steam on the London Underground (see Tasting the past) made me wonder what the Victorians made of the new invention. In particular, what was it like for passengers on the platforms, in the stations and on the trains when a full timetable of steam belching locomotives was in action? The choice of words used to describe the early days of the Underground […]

An experience of Hades

Where does Kings Cross get its name from? Is there a cross with royal connections? And should it be called King’s Cross or Kings Cross. Kings Cross (or King’s Cross – see the end of this article) is one of London’s best known areas. Once infamous as London’s main red light district, it has gone through a period of derelict cool (derelicte?) playing host to some […]