Clerkenwell Road: Warehouse to Hard House
A tour exploring the architecture and history of Victorian warehouses and the industries of the past along and around Clerkenwell Road, as well as the 19th-century drive to reshape London through the building of roads and railways.
Today this area is full of architects, designers and cafes, but in earlier times this was a place of warehouses and factories, from crystal glass manufacturing to clockmakers, printers to gin distillers. It went on to be home to some of the famous names of the 20th century, including Columbia Records, Kodak Cameras and Zetter’s Pools – not forgetting the legendary nightclub Turnmills. Traces and clues to this rich history still remain and we’ll see how many we can find.
Next tour is on 7 February: tickets and information here.
Newington Green and Mildmay
A tour developed in 2025 in the course of qualifying as a Clerkenwell and Islington tour guide. It looks at the area’s varying communities, from the dissenters and radicals of the 17th and 18th centuries to Victorian missionaries and 19th-century Jewish refugees – and asks why some have been celebrated and others forgotten.
Bloomsbury in Seven Squares
A tour developed in 2024 for Pushkin House as an introduction to Bloomsbury and its history as a development by the Bedford Estate, University of London, Coram Estate and ruthless entrepreneur Nicholas Barbon.
Bloomsbury Borderlands
A tour developed in 2024 for Pushkin House exploring the eastern side of Bloomsbury off the beaten track, from the October Gallery to Bramber Green, the art deco Daimler garage, early Peabody housing, the Lumen church, the failed Panarmion Project and more.
Leamouth & Silvertown
A tour developed in 2023 for Open City that looks at new housing and infrastructure developments around the Royal Docks and the way they use Docklands history as a marketing and design element.