Lamb exterior. Image from https://www.thelamblondon.com/ Operating as a pub on the same site under the same name since the 1720s, the Lamb in Bloomsbury's Lamb's Conduit Street (both named after the local philanthropist William Lambe) certainly counts as Old London. Although it has been thoroughly restored, that was done in Victorian times, and it remains… Continue reading The Lamb, Bloomsbury [Old London]
Tag: london
London and the 17th century
I have never really liked the seventeenth century; maybe after having to study it at school, seemingly interminably. Rather too much plague, fire, civil war, religious persecution, and Dutchmen doing bad things on the Medway. Yes, of course, Christopher Wren and Isaac Newton, but even so. Sometimes, however, reading a single book can change one's… Continue reading London and the 17th century
Libraries of Science at the Royal Society
An interesting meeting with a full-house audience in the opulent surroundings of the Royal Society in Carlton House Terrace last week (14th March 2025). 'Libraries of Science' is an apt enough title, although the topics covered were mostly more specific. Talks focused mainly on aspects of the libraries of British learned and societies, from Antiquaries… Continue reading Libraries of Science at the Royal Society
Ravi Shankar Bhel Poori House [Old London]
Serving vegetarian Indian food on the same spot, and alleged with the same green coloured frontage, since 1982, Ravi Shankar Bhel Poori House certainly qualifies as Old London. One of a cluster of long-established restaurants on Drummond Street serving South Ian food for decades, it has survived economic gloom, pandemic, and the disruption of the… Continue reading Ravi Shankar Bhel Poori House [Old London]
Haxells Strand Palace [Old London]
At first sight, the modern, if Art Deco influenced, ambience of Haxells restaurant, within the Strand Palace Hotel, does not suggest Old London. But there is an interesting backstory. The hotel itself dates back to 1909, but took its present form in the 1920s, with a redesign in Art Deco style. The expanded hotel incorporated… Continue reading Haxells Strand Palace [Old London]
Spaghetti House [Old London]
Continuing our occasional look at eating places which might qualify as Old London, we come, as everyone wanting a quick meal in Central London does at some point, to Spaghetti House. This has something of a mixed reputation for food quality, but we cannot doubt its longevity. Founded in 1955 in Goodge Street, it is… Continue reading Spaghetti House [Old London]
A tree grows in Southwark
At the heart of Betty Smith's 1943 novel A tree grows in Brooklyn is the image of a Tree of Heaven growing in harsh urban surroundings. The tree's survival in the heart of a grom part of the city is a metaphor for people's ability to flourish in the most difficult environments. [EcoBrookyn say the… Continue reading A tree grows in Southwark
Documentation and the museum object
A rather sad post for the first one after a break. CityLIS PhD student Christopher Serbutt sadly died last year, after a long period of ill-health, so that there was a posthumous award. Titled The changing place of information: an examination and evaluation of how the context in which an object is set affects the… Continue reading Documentation and the museum object
Remembering Mr. Kemp: Gardening in a ‘book-making age’
I have a long-standing interest in the Victorian information environment, which is many ways still influences our own. In particular, I have been fascinated by how information-rich was the world of botany, horticulture and the design of parks and gardens in that period. Several of the leading garden designers were also prolific authors and editors,… Continue reading Remembering Mr. Kemp: Gardening in a ‘book-making age’
Google’s Global Media Literacy Summit
A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to attend Google's Global Media Literacy Summit for 2019, in the shiny new surroundings the of Google's London headquarters at King's Cross. Introducing the day, Ramya Raghavan, head of civics and news outreach at Google, made a point that I often try to emphasise: that our… Continue reading Google’s Global Media Literacy Summit
The Occasional Informationist 