Today packed with tourists and the spectacle of curated boutiques, stalls and pop-up performances, Covent Garden and St Giles were together London’s original and varied West End. While one developed in the 17th century as the city’s first exercise in refined neoclassical town planning, the other became infamous as the defining slum of the 18th century; chronicled by artist Hogarth and recounted by urban reformers. In service to one of the city’s most celebrated markets, they evolved as rough and tumble districts that in the twentieth century fought and won one of London’s greatest architectural battles. In this walk, The London Ambler recalls urban clamour and architectural change through the area’s best buildings and most eclectic streetscapes.
A London walking tour by The London Ambler - Mike Althorpe
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