Knowledge of London

Pitt & Scott, a company specializing in fine art packing and shipping, had a location at 20-24 Eden Grove, Holloway, London N7. The company was established in 1876 by Francis Pitt and Douglas Scott, who was also a director.

Out and about at Priory Park, Southend, last night, Peter Doherty

Happy 82nd Birthday to Mick Jagger, born 26 July 1943, Dartford, Kent. "Alexa play Time is on My Side - by the Rolling Stones"

Then & Now: Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, 1953. Looking towards Harrods. The road has a rich history, including its use as a wartime command center during World War II at the disused Brompton Road tube station.  Any guess to the make of the Bradleys van?

The Catholic Church of Our Lady St. John’s Wood: Lodge Road, Lisson Grove, London. This Gothic building was built in 1836. There was significant damage caused by a V2 rocket during WW2,

Then & Now: The Crown, Seven Dials, Covent Garden c 1900 Grade II listed building, first established in 1833 and said to have been a haunt of Charles Dickens, when the area was full of crime. The dome at the top has gone but the clock looks original.

Kentish Town Police Station, Holmes Rd, opened in 1896. it was designed by Richard Norman Shaw, architect of the original New Scotland Yard. It was renovated in 1984. The arch on the right side once the entrance to horse-drawn Black Marias is now bricked up.

Cycling when London moved at a slower pace. Some might say rose tinted glass, but unless my memory is at fault it's how I remember it. "Let everyone debate the true reality, I'd rather see the world they way it used to be".

Troxy a Grade II-listed Art Deco on Commercial Road in Stepney. Built as a cinema in 1933, it closed in 1960 and became a training school for the London Opera Centre. In the 1980s it became a bingo hall. In 2006 the Troxy was converted to a live events space.

Ropers Garden and Ropers Orchard in Chelsea has a rich history rooted in its past as part of Sir Thomas More's orchard. In 1521, More gifted the orchard to his daughter Margaret and her husband William Roper upon their marriage.

London in the swinging sixties. The 1967 summer of love. A kaleidoscope of fashion on Carnaby Street which buzzed with youth culture, music, and art.

Where Am I? In past times before most people could read, model signs for taverns like this one for *The Castle" would be displayed outside. This one in the City of London is on the actual site which is now a modern office block. Where is it?

Calligraphy mural is greeting passersby on Northington Street, WC1, with a quote from a 14th century Persian poet Hafez or Hafiz, 1315-1390. It says, “I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.”