At least once each Summer, I direct my steps eastwards from Spitalfields along the Mile End Rd towards Bow Cemetery, one of the “Magnificent Seven” created by act of Parliament in 1832 as the growing ...

Like an old book jammed into a crowded bookcase, the London Library sits wedged in the corner of St James’ Sq. Years ago, I had the privilege of a subsidised membership for a spell, and I loved to ...

Growing up in the large flat above the Spitalfields Fruit & Vegetable Market at 103 Commercial St, with school and the family business nearby, David Prescott had the run of the neighbourhood and he ...

Patrick Handscombe, born 16th March 1950, died aged 75 on 30th July 2025 Paddy Handscombe (1950-2025) I met Paddy when he returned to Dennis Severs’ House to have his portrait taken by Lucinda Douglas ...

Book now for tours of Spitalfields in August, September and October Charles Pertwee of Baddeley Brothers, the longest established engravers in the City of London & the East End, lent me his copy of ...

“I had always written, as a child,” admitted Sally Flood with a shrug, “but it wasn’t stuff you showed.” For years, when her thoughts wandered whilst working in the factory in Princelet St, Sally ...

CLICK HERE TO BOOK FOR FOR AUGUST, SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER In the East London volume of Charles Booth’s notebooks of research for his Survey into Life & Labour of the People of London (1886-1903), I came ...

Only recently did I learn that there is an abbey and a wood at Abbey Wood. Stunned by my own obtuseness, I set out to discover what I have been missing all these years. Visiting ruins was a memorable ...