Neighbourhood sights in London
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The Strand
From the time it was built, at the end of the 12th century, The Strand (from the Old English and German word for beach) ran by the Thames. Its grandiose stone houses, built by the nobility, counted as some of the most prestigious places to live, sitting as they did on a street that connected the City and Westminster, the two centres of power; indeed, its appeal lasted for seven centuries, with the 19th-century prime minister Benjamin Disraeli pronouncing it ‘the finest street in Europe’. Buildings included the now-no-more Cecil Hotel, the Savoy hotel, Simpson’s, King’s College and Somerset House. But modern times haven’t treated The Strand with the same sort of respect…
reviewed
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B
Isle of Dogs
Pundits can’t really agree on whether this is really an island; strictly speaking it’s a peninsula of land on the northern shore of the Thames, though without modern road and transport links it would almost be separated from the mainland at West India Docks. And etymologists are still out to lunch over the origin of the island’s name. Some believe it’s because the royal kennels were located here during the reign of Henry VIII. Others maintain it’s a corruption of the Flemish word dijk (dyke), recalling the Flemish engineers who shored up the area’s muddy banks.
The centrepiece of the Isle of Dogs is Cesar Pelli’s 244m-high Canary Wharf Tower, which was built…
reviewed
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C
Canary Wharf
Cesar Pelli’s 244m-high Canary Wharf Tower, which was built in 1991 at 1 Canada Sq and has been described as a ‘square prism with a pyramidal top’, presides over a veritable array of venues including a toytown and financial theme park. It’s surrounded by more recent towers housing HSBC and Citigroup, and offices for Bank of America, Barclays, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and more. It took a long time for the place to come this far. Canary Wharf Tower, still the tallest building in the UK and one of the largest property developments in Europe, had to be saved from bankruptcy twice before it reached today’s levels of occupancy.
reviewed
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D
Docklands
It's worth sparing a few minutes to glance around the strange sci-fi neighbourhood of Docklands. Sir Norman Foster's sleek Canary Wharf Underground station is monumental, while Cesar Pelli's 244m Canary Wharf Tower dominates the landscape.
reviewed
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E
Wapping
Once notorious for slave traders, drunk sailors and prostitutes, Wapping’s towering warehouses, built at the beginning of the 19th century, still give an atmospheric picture of the area’s previous existence. Although there’s nothing to actually mark it, down on the riverside below Wapping New Stairs (near the marine police station) was Execution Dock, where convicted pirates were hanged and their bodies chained to a post at low tide, to be left until three tides had washed over their heads. Among the more famous people who died this way was Captain William Kidd, hanged here in 1701, and whose grisly tale you can read about in the nearby Captain Kidd pub.
reviewed
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F
Primrose Hill
Wedged between well-heeled Regent’s Park and edgy Camden, the little neighbourhood of Primrose Hill is high on the wish list of most Londoners – but utterly unaffordable. With its independent boutiques (from interior design to bookshops, children’s clothes to pet accessories, not a franchise in sight), lovely restaurants and good pubs, it has a rare village feel.
The proximity of the gorgeous, eponymous park, with fabulous views of London, is another draw. On summer weekends, it is absolutely packed with revellers enjoying a picnic with a view; but on weekdays, there’s mostly dog walkers and nannies and it’s a lovely place to enjoy a quiet stroll or an alfresco…
reviewed
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G
Limehouse
There isn’t much to Limehouse, although it became the centre of London’s Chinese community – its first Chinatown – after some 300 sailors settled here in 1890. It gets a mention in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), when the protagonist passes by this way in search of opium. The most notable attraction here is St Anne’s, Limehouse. This was Nicholas Hawksmoor’s earliest church (1725) and still boasts the highest church clock in the city. In fact the 60m-high tower is still a ‘Trinity House mark’ for identifying shipping lanes on the Thames (thus it flies the Royal Navy’s white ensign).
reviewed
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Brixton
The years that most shaped contemporary Brixton were the post-WWII ‘Windrush’ years, when immigrants arrived from the West Indies. (Windrush was the name of one of the leading ships that brought these immigrants to the UK.) Economic decline and hostility between the police and particularly the black community led to riots in 1981, 1985 and 1995.
Although violence returned to Brixton during the London riots of August 2011, the mood today is upbeat. Soaring property prices have sent in house-hunters, and pockets of gentrification sit alongside the more run-down streets. Apart from some great restaurants and clubs, the big sights are the fantastic Brixton Village – a…
reviewed