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Much like this week, fifty years ago London baked in one of the hottest seasons of the 20th century.The heatwave of 1976...
22/06/2026

Much like this week, fifty years ago London baked in one of the hottest seasons of the 20th century.

The heatwave of 1976 brought temperatures regularly exceeding 30 degrees, severe drought, water rationing and forest fires across southern England. It was also linked to a significant rise in hospital admissions and a 20% increase in "excess deaths."

Half a century on, London is facing another serious heat event.

The Met Office has issued a Red weather warning for extreme heat across central and southern England and Wales, in effect from Wednesday morning through to Thursday evening. Unlike 1976, this heatwave is accompanied by exceptionally high humidity, making conditions significantly more oppressive than the temperature alone suggests.

The current UK June temperature record of 35.6°C, set that same summer, is now likely to be broken.

📷 Shadwell Park, The Highway, E1. Paul Trevor

🌞 Happy Summer Solstice! The longest day of the year - and Londoners have always known how to make the most of it.Before...
20/06/2026

🌞 Happy Summer Solstice! The longest day of the year - and Londoners have always known how to make the most of it.

Before the festival wristband, before the overpriced pint in a plastic cup, there was Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. From 1729, this was where Londoners came to dance, drink, gossip and gawp on long summer evenings just like this one.

Think of it as the Glastonbury of Georgian London - live music, outrageous outfits, a crowd that mixed duchesses with labourers, and more than a few people who'd had one too many by midnight. Fireworks instead of a headline act. Balloon rides instead of the healing field. And a 'Dark Walk' that made the Stone Circle look tame.

Some things about a big British night out never really change 🎆

🎨 Illustration of an 18th-century evening at Vauxhall Gardens, London, 1809, by Bluck, J., Pugin, Auguste Charles, Rowlandson, Thomas

With the World Cup underway, we think it's the perfect time to 'bring it home' and look back at some of London's lost gr...
17/06/2026

With the World Cup underway, we think it's the perfect time to 'bring it home' and look back at some of London's lost grounds ⚽

From the pubs on every corner of Brentford's Griffin Park, to the roar of the Chicken Run at West Ham's Boleyn Ground, to the art deco grandeur of Arsenal's Highbury... London's football history is full of grounds that shaped the game and the communities around them.

How many of these do you remember? 👇

📷 Millwall play Charlton at The Den in the 1970s
📷 The main stand at Hendon FC's Claremont Road, 1996
📷 West Ham United fans gather outside Boleyn Ground before their final home game in 2016
All images courtesy of alamy.com

Can you identify this mystery object from our collection?It's from the 16th century, made of copper alloy and measures 2...
15/06/2026

Can you identify this mystery object from our collection?

It's from the 16th century, made of copper alloy and measures 225mm wide (overall).

Check back for the answer tomorrow!

Today we remember Grenfell 💚 On 14 June 2017, Grenfell Tower - home to a vibrant, multicultural community in North Kensi...
14/06/2026

Today we remember Grenfell 💚

On 14 June 2017, Grenfell Tower - home to a vibrant, multicultural community in North Kensington - was engulfed in flames in just hours.

72 lives lost. Families, neighbours, friends, a community shattered in a tragedy that should never have happened.

We remember those lost and we stand with the bereaved, survivors and all who continue to be affected.

It's World Gin Day 🍸Did you know that before gin became the drink of botanicals and tonic water, it nearly brought Georg...
13/06/2026

It's World Gin Day 🍸

Did you know that before gin became the drink of botanicals and tonic water, it nearly brought Georgian London to its knees?

In the early 1700s, a perfect storm of falling spirit taxes, a ban on French brandy imports and no licensing rules meant gin flooded the city. By the 1720s, it was estimated Londoners were drinking a pint each per week - men, women and children alike. In parts of St Giles, one in five houses was a gin shop.

Parliament eventually stepped in with a series of Gin Acts from 1729 onwards, introducing licences, taxes and escalating punishments for illegal sellers. The 1751 act was strict enough to finally turn the tide — though the price of corn rising made gin more expensive too, which helped.

William Hogarth captured the crisis in his 1751 engraving Gin Lane — deliberately sold cheaply at a shilling so ordinary Londoners could see the consequences of gin addiction for themselves.

🎨 Gin Lane by William Hogarth, 1751

Did you know the Globe Theatre was built from stolen timber? 🎭When the lease ran out on London's first playhouse in Shor...
11/06/2026

Did you know the Globe Theatre was built from stolen timber? 🎭

When the lease ran out on London's first playhouse in Shoreditch, Shakespeare's company dismantled it under cover of darkness and carted the wood across the Thames to Bankside, where they used it to build the Globe in 1599.

This Friday marks 427 years since it opened, and it wasn't the only iconic stage on London's streets - the Rose, the Swan, the Curtain and the Fortune all had their own remarkable stories too.

Curious? We have the full history of Tudor London's incredible theatre scene 👇

🎨 Playhouse. The Bear Garden, the Globe Theatre, Bankside, Southwark, 1825. E.J. Roberts

Did you know that Spitalfields Market has been feeding Londoners for more than 400 years? 🍓 What started as a small comm...
08/06/2026

Did you know that Spitalfields Market has been feeding Londoners for more than 400 years? 🍓

What started as a small community market has now evolved into a swanky tourist destination in Tower Hamlets.

Spitalfields Market was a rural trading site in open fields in the 1600s. It was named after the medieval hospital of St Mary Spital, historically referred to as Spittel or Spitel. Archaeological excavations on the site between 1991 and 2007 revealed cemeteries stretching back to Roman times.

The market was first licensed to sell produce in 1638. As the wider Spitalfields area grew, it attracted waves of immigrants to the area, including French Huguenot weavers, who made ‘Spitalfields silk’ a desirable global commodity.

Spitalfields Market has reinvented itself a number of times. It went from serving locals fresh produce to becoming a major wholesale fruit and vegetable market. In 1991, the wholesale business was moved east to a purpose-built space in Leyton, Waltham Forest.

Today, the fruit and veg stalls have been replaced with restaurants and upscale shops, which share the lively market with stalls selling art, clothing and antiques.

📷 Inside Spitalfields Market at lunchtime. Courtesy of alamy.com
🎨 Priory and hospital St Mary Spital. Faith Vardy/MOLA

Pageant and protest - 49 years ago today 👑💥 While up to one million people lined the processional route to catch a glimp...
07/06/2026

Pageant and protest - 49 years ago today 👑💥

While up to one million people lined the processional route to catch a glimpse of Queen Elizabeth II travelling in the Gold State Coach, and an estimated 500 million more watched the event worldwide on TV, not everyone celebrated the Queen's Silver Jubilee.

Some welcomed the celebrations as a distraction from the economic struggles of the ‘70s. But others objected to their cost.

From nostalgic street party pics to anti-establishment anthems, our collection includes a mixture of objects both commemorating and protesting the Silver Jubilee in 1977.

Did you or your family mark the occasion? Let us know in the comments below 👇

📷 Jubilee street party, Deptford, courtesy of Alamy
📷 The S*x Pistols perform, 1977, courtesy of Alamy
📷 The Queen goes punk: Silver Jubilee issue of punk fanzine Jolt 2
📷 Elizabeth travelling up Ludgate Hill in the City of London, courtesy of Alamy
📷 Tin of Smith Kendon travel sweets issued to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 1977

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