Portland Road, Notting Hill: full of multi-million pound houses – the ultimate London banker’s streets. But it was once the worst slum in London. The Secret History of our Streets IV: Portland Road
Portland Road was built in the 1850s. ibid.
Portland’s first social housing project – Nottingwood House. ibid.
In 1957 the Rent Act had swept away rent control, enabling private landlords to charge whatever they like. ibid.
The dispersal of working people from Portland Road meant the demise of a hundred-year-old community. ibid.
The division between different parts of the street was becoming starker. ibid.
Portland Road was becoming fashionable. House prices were rising steeply. ibid.
Gentrification has swept across much of the Victorian housing stock in London. Reverdy Road in Bermondsey has largely resisted the middle class invasion. The Secret History of our Streets V: Reverdy Road
A street of eighty-five two-storey houses. ibid.
The Salters were part of a political movement that dominated the politics of the early twentieth century: it could be called Municipal Socialism. ibid.
The Solarium offered artificial sunshine to thousands of Bermondsey people. ibid.
The council felt The Blitz damage was an opportunity to continue the slum clearance. ibid.
The surgery on Reverdy Road closed in 1994. ibid.
To the East End – to a ring-shaped street called Arnold Circus. Arnold Circus was designed to improve the lives of the poorest in the city, but little here went according to plan. The Secret History of our Streets VI: Arnold Circus
More affluent residents are moving in. ibid.
This would be Britain’s first council estate. ibid.
Many worked in the garment trade. ibid.
In the centre of Arnold Circus was an open space. ibid.
Becoming a council tenant was celebrated as a step towards a better life. ibid.
By the mid-70s Brick Lane’s Jewish garment companies were becoming Bangladeshi owned. There were Bangladeshi shops. ibid.
A thriving Bangladeshi community has found sanctuary in Arnold Circus. ibid.
One of the most fashionable shopping streets in London. ibid.
Monies, companies and people are pouring into London like never before. Our capital is generating more than a fifth of Britain’s income and it’s pulling away from the rest of the country. Mind the Gap: London v the Rest, BBC 2014
Location ... seems to matter more than ever. ibid.
Britain is changing, becoming one country with two economies. There’s one called London and then there’s the rest. London is generating a fifth of Britain's income dominating our economy like never before. Mind the Gap: London v the Rest II
Today’s economy more than ever favours hubs. Places that are globally connected. ibid.
London has the size and the gravitational pull. ibid.
One big city is more productive than two cities half the size. ibid.
It is not the walls that make the city, but the people who live within them. The walls of London may be bettered, but the spirit of the Londoner stands resolute and undismayed. George VI
At the beginning of the twentieth century London is the capital city of the most extensive empire the world has ever seen. On her dominions the sun never set. London: The Modern Babylon, BBC 2012
Siege of Sidney Street, 1911: ‘The Great East-End Anarchist Battle: 700 Police and Military endeavouring to capture the Police Murderers’. ibid. Gaumont news caption
7London, thou art the flower of cities all! William Dunbar
I go to London, my favourite city in the world, and I feel at home. Boris Becker
I went to London because, for me, it was the home of literature. I went there because of Dickens and Shakespeare. Ben Okri
London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained. Arthur Conan Doyle
The man who can dominate a London dinner-table can dominate the world. Oscar Wilde
When the rains started a week after the outbreak of the fire allowing an early stock-taking, the scale of the devastation horrified even the pessimists. 13,200 houses had been destroyed, along with some of the most famous buildings of the City. Simon Schama, A History of Britain: Revolutions, BBC 2000
London was gripped by riots sparked off by the sky-rocketing cost of food. Perhaps Falstaff’s belly was a reminder of the good old days. Simon Schama’s Shakespeare I, BBC 2012
Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner
That I love London so
Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner
That I think of her wherever I go.
I get a funny feeling inside of me
When walking up and down
Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner
That I love London Town … Hubert Gregg, Maybe It’s Because I’m a Londoner, sung Davy Jones, Bud Flanagan et al
You’re Mr Sherlock Holmes, ain’t ya? I wouldn’t come down here if I was you. This is Limehouse and we don’t fancy your sort of bloke in these parts. Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror 1942 starring Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce & Evelyn Ankers & Hendy Daniell & Thomas Gomez & Reginal Denny & Montagu Love, director John Rawlins [based His Last Bow]
London has more billionaires than any other city in the world. Eamonn & Ruth: How the Other Half Lives, Channel 5 2015
This is Tottenham: on the surface an unremarkable suburb in north London with a famous football team. But for the last thirty years this place has been rarely out of the news. This is Tottenham, BBC 2015
More than 70% of people are from an ethnic minority. ibid.
It’s the most famous shopping street in the world in the heart of Britain’s capital city. A mile and a half long with thirteen million visitors each year. With some of the world’s most famous shops, biggest stars and busiest stations. Oxford Street Revealed s1e1, BBC 2014
London is the most visited city in the world. ibid.
Rickshaws: £5 per minute per person. ibid.
Abuses by the rickshaws on Oxford Street have kept Andy busy tonight. ibid.
The Oxford Street team even has specialist officers called Super Recognisers who have memorised the faces of the Street’s most active thieves. Oxford Street Revealed s1e2
Over a third of Oxford Street shops are flagship stores. ibid.
One of over 2,000 people injured annually when rushing on underground escalators. ibid.
Pride comes to Oxford Street but the crowds of spectators threaten to overwhelm it. Oxford Street Revealed s1e3
The two women aren’t Muslims at all; they are South Americans using Islamic dress to help them steal. ibid.
Police deal with teenage shoplifters. Oxford Street Revealed s1e4
On a corner in Oxford Street is the London College of Fashion. ibid.
Oxford Street is a competitive place to be if you are a department store. There are four flagships lining the street. Oxford Street Revealed s1e5
At the eastern end of the street is the temple of the Hare Krishna movement. ibid.