London Icons

red coated guards leaving buckingham palace

Guards! Guards! (And the changing thereof)

21/04/2025 donbrown 0

All you need to know to catch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace (whether or not you go with Alice).

The Bright Red London Telephone Box

21/02/2025 donbrown 0

A redundant 20th century artefact, repurposed for the tourist economy. But enough about me, let’s talk about phone boxes. Go to Parliament Square and you […]

algerian coffee stores soho awning

The Algerian Coffee Stores – caffeinating London since 1887

22/09/2024 donbrown 0

I blush as I write this, but in over 40 years in London, yesterday was the first time I’ve ever bought anything in Old Compton […]

brunswick gardens plane tree

The London Plane – our very own tree

04/08/2024 donbrown 0

In Brunswick Gardens, a stone’s throw from the Coram foundation, is one of the ‘Great Trees of London‘, a huge, and 230 year old, London […]

Feeling Sorry for Marble Arch

10/05/2024 donbrown 0

If it’s possible to feel sorry for a pile of stones, the Marble Arch is probably deserving of sympathy. Like a Hollywood megastar now scratching […]

mi6 headquarters vauxhall

Spook Central – the MI6 Building at Vauxhall

23/04/2024 donbrown 0

Trains from Clapham Junction to Waterloo generally stop at Vauxhall, and whenever on the service I look at the passengers getting on or off at […]

Book Review | Public House: A Cultural and Social History of the London Pub

23/07/2023 donbrown 0

[This review was first published on The London Society website in February 2022] As a London Blue Badge Guide I take Americans around London – the Tower, […]

Duck Island Cottage – Westminster’s Swiss Chalet

15/05/2023 donbrown 0

It’s somehow absolutely typical of london that some of the closest neighbours to George Gilbert Scott’s huge Italianate Foreign Office building is a pair of […]

National Covid Memorial Wall

22/11/2021 donbrown 0

Along the Albert Embankment wall of St Thomas’ Hospital, directly over the Thames to the Houses of Parliament is an incredible piece of public guerrilla […]

The India Club

11/01/2018 donbrown 0

Dishoom does the ‘Indian Cafe’ experience very well indeed, and if you’re prepared to queue, serves some great tasting food and impressive cocktails. But if […]