India Club continues their fight for survival
The India Club, at 143 Strand, is in trouble. And it’s not for the first time. First, for those who have not experienced its wonders, quick history lesson. The India Club was established in 1951, moving to its 143 Strand premises in 1964. It was the base of the India League (who organised for British…
Read MoreSpeculation and Urban Planning after the Great Fire
In the wake of the Great Fire of London (September 1666), many speculative entrepreneurs reinvented themselves as urban developers. These individuals were the major figures of the modernisation of London’s street network. Laying out regular streets over freshly-bought land and building rows of similar (if not identical) terrace houses proved the best way to maximise…
Read MoreADAM: “four artists in an office off the Strand”
10 Adam Street has a famous-looking front door. You can pose in front of its glossy black paint, brass metalwork, and stone steps, pretending to pay a visit to that other Number 10. However, I would suppose, the mood inside both buildings couldn’t be more different. Helen greets me when I arrive, with shoes off…
Read MoreLGBTQ+ History Month February 2021: do you have a story to share?
Hopefully, if you are reading this, you’ll know that Strandlines is a site dedicated to stories about and from the Strand area: from Trafalgar Square to where the Strand meets Fleet Street; Temple, Embankment and Charing Cross; and into the southern edge of Covent Garden. The editorial team are seeking stories, memories, art, short research…
Read MoreThe Strand in film: a story of change and eternity
Introduction In my earliest posts on Strandlines, I focused heavily on a bastion of Strand history: The Savoy. Over time I diversified my interests and desired to find the more niche and hidden stories of this great viaduct. Unsurprisingly, however, when I decided to look into depictions of the Strand in film over time the…
Read MoreCatch up with Maureen Duffy and Liz Mathews in conversation
On 25th November 2020, we held an online event to celebrate the launch of Strandlines‘s special collection on Maureen Duffy. We heard from Maureen about her latest work; the forthcoming publication of her first children’s book Sadie and the Seadogs, illustrated by Anita Joice, and her 20th novel, After Eve. Maureen also read two poems…
Read MoreStranded Series: Sotiris Polyzopoulos
The pandemic has undoubtedly emptied out London streets, all its buzzy hangout spots, workplaces and cultural epicentres. As essential workers continue to uphold the skeleton of the city and restaurants endeavour to provide the necessary sustenance (still managing to fit in a hello to the customers, often half in, half out, of alignment with the…
Read MoreTracing ‘Strand’ Across Land, Language and Time
Today, the name of London’s most recognizable street, the Strand, evokes images of Trafalgar Square’s lions, the iconic Somerset and Bush houses, and, most of all, busied sidewalks alive with Londoners. Those images, while impressive to locals and tourists alike, are tied rather arbitrarily to their street’s name. What brought the name to the place?…
Read MoreWho put the Villiers in Villiers Street? Art, culture and élite life on the seventeenth-century Strand
Villiers Street has always captivated me. Linking the Strand to the Embankment, it remains one of the most vibrant walkways in the area and it plays an important part in connecting people to some of central London’s main visitor attractions – historical buildings and palaces, galleries, theatres, cinemas, museums and parks. It has a buzzy…
Read MoreAlienation on the Strand; Solitude in Street Haunting
Woolf’s writing has been a part of my life for so long I no longer know if it taught me to see the world this way or just taught me to notice that I do. – Tracy Seeley There is perhaps no greater comfort nor reward granted by reading than resonance. It is an indescribable…
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