Eric Patcham

Eric has lived in London for over 20 years.

Fox Found in MP’s Stationery Cupboard

They have conquered the suburbs. They have mastered the railway lines. They know when the bins go out. Now London's…

2 weeks ago

Pickering Place: London’s Smallest Public Square

London is very good at hiding things in plain sight. Entire alleys vanish between shopfronts. Courtyards sit behind blank doors.…

4 weeks ago

Inside the South London Lab Helping to Save the World’s Coral Reefs

London is miles from the sea and even further from the warm, bright waters where tropical coral reefs usually belong.…

1 month ago

Spa Road Station: London’s First Railway Terminus Was a Cramped Bermondsey Afterthought

London’s railway age did not begin beneath the grand iron ribs of King’s Cross, nor in the Gothic drama of…

1 month ago

Lincoln’s Inn Fields: London’s Largest Public Square

At roughly 4.5 hectares (about 11 acres), it is significantly larger than Leicester Square or Trafalgar Square.

2 months ago

The Hackney Turks and Tottenham Turks: London’s Long-Running Turkish Gang War

One of the most disturbing examples in modern London crime is the long-running feud between two rival Turkish/Kurdish organised-crime groups:…

3 months ago

The London Bank Job Inspired by Sherlock Holmes

One of the strangest Sherlock Holmes stories ever attached to Baker Street did not come from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s…

3 months ago

RastaRolla: The Penny Farthing Rider Turning Heads Across London

If you’ve spent enough time walking the streets of London, you may have spotted one of the city’s true originals: RastaRolla,…

3 months ago

The Carlton Tavern: The London Pub Ordered to be Rebuilt

The extraordinary story of the London pub that rose from the rubble.

3 months ago

Hampstead Heath Seeks Volunteer Shepherds as Sheep Return to the Heath

A small flock of sheep is returning to Hampstead Heath and volunteers are being sought to help look after them.

4 months ago

Gypsy Hill: The Queen of London’s Underworld

In that murky half-light between fact and legend stands one of the most vivid figures of the old London underworld:…

4 months ago

London’s Ghost Stations: The Secret Platforms Beneath Your Commute

Threading quietly through clay and darkness, sits a parallel version of the Underground: a network of stations that no longer…

4 months ago

London’s Cosmic House

London’s Cosmic House is one of the strangest, cleverest private houses in the city: a Holland Park villa turned postmodern manifesto, cosmic…

4 months ago

Little Tehran: The Persian Heart of North London

London is full of unofficial capitals. Southall has long been called Little India. Golders Green has its Jewish bakeries, delis…

4 months ago

London’s Varied Wildlife

London’s wildlife is a reminder that even in one of the world’s most densely populated cities, nature has a way…

4 months ago

New Banksy appears on Pall Mall

A new Banksy has appeared in Central London. This time its not graffiti but a sculpture

4 months ago

Shepherd Market: Mayfair’s Beautiful Secret

Tucked behind the polished theatre of Piccadilly and a short, knowing stroll from Green Park, Shepherd Market sits like a secret that never…

5 months ago

Things to Do in Islington: A Smart Guide to North London’s Quiet Show-Off

Islington doesn’t advertise itself loudly. It just gets on with being one of London’s most liveable, walkable, quietly self-assured neighbourhoods.

5 months ago

Is Canning Town Worth Visiting? A Guide to One of East London’s Most Changed Corners

Canning Town has never really traded on charm. It is not one of those parts of London that arrives gift-wrapped…

5 months ago

The London Tree Slowly Eating a Postbox

London does eccentricity well, but sometimes the city doesn’t even need to try. In Chelsea, on the corner of Drayton…

5 months ago

The Grenadier: Belgravia’s Hidden Pub

There are pubs you stumble into, and pubs you have to find. The Grenadier belongs firmly to the latter

5 months ago

Walthamstow Market Guide: London’s Longest Street Market

Walthamstow Market is one of those places that makes central London feel oddly over-rehearsed. It is louder, messier, more practical…

5 months ago

The London Pub That Floods

The White Cross isn’t just any riverside pub. It’s a pub where the river sometimes rises and takes over, transforming…

5 months ago

When Hampstead Heath Held a Ski Jumping Competition

London has many things—domes, towers, hidden rivers—but it does not have mountains. Or a ski jump. And yet, in March…

5 months ago

Shakespeare’s Lost London Home—Found at Last

For centuries, William Shakespeare drifted through London like a well-documented ghost. We knew the theatres. We knew the patrons. We knew the…

5 months ago

Things to Do in Walthamstow: A Guide to East London’s Restless Edge

Walthamstow doesn’t present a single version of itself. It flickers between market-town noise and marshland silence, between neon scripture and…

5 months ago

Tulse Hill: London’s Quiet Enigma

Five miles south of Charing Cross, where London’s noise begins to loosen its tie, lies Tulse Hill — a pocket of the…

5 months ago

Is Wembley a Nice Place to Live? A Local Guide

Wembley is not subtle. It announces itself with arches, crowds, and the low hum of something about to happen. Even…

5 months ago

Gerry’s Pompeii: London’s Secret Cement Garden

London has a habit of hiding its strangest stories in plain sight. Not behind ticket barriers or museum glass, but…

5 months ago

Is Deptford a Nice Place to Live? A Local Guide

Deptford doesn’t ease you in. It’s not polite about itself. It doesn’t soften the edges. It’s loud in places, quiet…

5 months ago

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