Take a walk in north Bloomsbury and you feel as though you have stepped back in time into a 'seat' of learning. With it's boundary in the north being the Euston Road that houses the British Library, Bloomsbury is home to the British Museum, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, the British Medical Association, the University of London's Senate House Library and its colleges (University College London, Birkbeck, Institute of Education, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, School of Pharmacy, School of Oriental and African Studies and the Royal Veterinary College. Notable hospitals include Great Ormond Street Hospital, the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, University College Hospital and the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital.
British Museum
Perhaps the single most important building in Bloomsbury is the British Museum. Now fantastically restored with it's unique conservatory style lobby it is building to visit over and over again. The Museum opened to the public in 1759 - with the exception of two world wars it has remained open ever since with visitors increasing from 5,000 per year to an impressive 5 million annually today. Just around the corner and challenging it for sheer presence is UCL's Senate house. If you approach this building by walking east along Store Street from Tottenham Court Road, it is impossible not to be impressed with its stature. Completed in 1937 and designed by Architect Charles Holden it is reckoned to be Britains second skyscraper - after 55 Broadway, London Underground's HQ - also by Holden. Hitler was said to have intended to use Senate House as his headquarters in the event the Germans had invaded. It is easy to see why this building inspires as it towers in it's art deco splendour over the smaller buildings of UCL all around it.
There is plenty more to Bloomsbury than academia - although University and Medical buildings do cover much of the straight roads from Euston Road to Russell Square. The business of the area has traditionally been that of publishing, and it is in this area that many of our historically famous writers have chosen to live. Dickens lived in Doughty Street to the east of the area at No 48 - now the Dickens Museum and also at Gower St, as did Charles Darwin. The Bloomsbury Group of writers (the clue is in the name) had its origins in the Apostles Society which used to meet at 46 Gordon Square in the early 1900's. Members included Virginia Woolf and E M Forster. The members of the Bloomsbury Group had a reputation for leading a risque lifestyle with more than a dash of elitism. Members of the group lived at Brunswick Square, Gordon Square, Mecklenburgh Square and Tavistock Square. The company Bloomsbury Publishing is the home of Harry Potter.
Bloomsbury can be accurately described as leafy. It is famous for it's formal squares of which there are many. Bedford Square is the first as you walk from Tottenham Court Road, it has a boutique hotel and yo sushi. One block north is Store Street with the excellent Busaba Eatai Thai Restaurant. One of the many Alan Yau restaurants in London - Busaba has a modern and elegant dining room finished in dark wood with colonial style ceiling fans. Now that the redevelopment over the road has ceased Store Street is once again a great walking road with cafes lining its south side as you approach Gower Street.
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Senate Building |
Russell Square is London's second largest. Bedford Square is Bloomsbury's oldest complete Georgian Square, and Bloomsbury Square, which was the first junction of roads in London to be called a square, was created in 1657. The area also boasts a recreational park used by children and adults accompanying children in Coram's Fields. This is a real gem for children - founded in the 18th century by Thomas Coram and still catering for the needs of the areas children today.
Bloomsbury Square and Liverpool & Victoria Building
Bloomsbury is a desirable residential area typified by Georgian architecture. The streets between Southampton Row and Grays Inn Road are dotted with Mews that you could hear a pin drop in. Rows of fantastic Georgian houses prevail, some squares such as Mecklenburgh square where DH Lawrence once lived are so peaceful it is hard to believe that you are still in central London. It has two acres of grade ll listed garden including a border created using native New Zealand plants.
In recent years the Brunswick centre has been thoroughly refurbished providing the area with a massive Waitrose and modern al fresco drinking and dining set within this modernist architectural oddity. The style was sometimes referred to as 'brutalism' - so much so that the Brunswick was one of the locations used by Stanley Kubrick in the film 'A Clockwork Orange'. Since it's renovation however it has shown that such concrete constructions from the late 60's can find a place to be used well today. Here you will find Carluccios, Yo sushi and many other respected chains offering great seats in the sun when it shines. With a cinema, The Renoir and a fresh modern atmosphere the Brunswick Centre refurbishment has proved to be a hit. The area immediately around the centre also seems to have benefited from this injection of life. Marchmont Street which was already a mini high street, is developing it's own brand of café society with a colourful and varied selection of small cafes, restaurants and bars. In particular, enjoy Mediterranean food in a relaxed setting at Balfours. One of the most successful restaurants in Bloomsbury is the Italian Ciao Bella in Lambs Conduit Street - this place is usually so packed that you might have to queue.
Although it might have been overtaken in recent years, The Spaghetti House in the traffic free and attractive Sicilian Avenue has been serving Italian food since 1955, in the summer when the tables are outside it is hard to beat for location. There are a great many cafes and cheaper restaurants in Bloomsbury catering for the tourist trade which in this part of London is at it's most intense around Southampton Row which forms part of the area known as Museum Mile.
From Euston Road all the way up to and past Russell Square, the 'cross streets' passing west to east in Bloomsbury are largely given over to small hotels or bed and breakfast. It is not until you reach Guilford Street, south of Russell Square that you really experience the peace and tranquility of this district.
St Pancras
Southampton Row caters largely for the tourist trade with a couple of large hotels and many cheap and cheerful places to eat. Russell Square has it's own café where you can grab a bite and a glass of wine and spend a little time people watching. This is a perfect place to relax in spite of its busy central location. Just a short walk from here is the Tavistock Hotel - and beneath it is Bloomsbury Bowling, What was once an underground hotel car park is now a 50's themed 8 lane bowling alley - this venue is so popular it is worth checking when you can play. It is rare for an area to have two bowling alleys but Bloomsbury does. If you cant get a lane at Bloomsbury Bowling, check out the All Star Lanes at Victoria House, Bloomsbury Place.
Head further south and you will happen across Lamb's Conduit Street, This street and the surrounding area has a truly continental atmosphere. Similar to the Marais area of Paris (only much more peaceful) this street has carved it's own niche. With tailors Oliver Spencer, Connock and Lockie, a tapas bar, Cigala, an excellent real ale pub - The Lamb, a very good bike shop , Bikefix and an incredibly busy Italian Resaurant - all with it's own pedestrianised street make this one of the destinations in Bloomsbury if not London itself. Stylish, smart and more than a little bit trendy. Very rarely will you find such a fantastic selection of quality small retailers in one place. Kennards the Grocer , a vinyl record store called Cube, a city in one street. You will not find chains in this place, small independent and seemingly immune to the influences of the modern homogenized high street.
The further south you go in Bloomsbury the more you get involved in the legal profession. Lincolns Inn and Lincolns Inn Fields are just south of Holborn and back onto the Gothic Royal Courts of Justice. Walk a little further north east and you will find Grays Inn. These two inns of court (the others being Inner and Middle Temple between the Strand and the thames have grounds which evoke a feeling of history more than anywhere else in London except perhaps for the Tower of London.
There are many nursery schools in Bloomsbury and plenty of places of further education, however there are no primary or secondary schools in the district.
Lambs Conduit Street
Bloomsbury has some important Churches. St Geroges Church, in Bloomsbury Way next to the Thistle Hotel, due to rapid development in the Bloomsbury area in the latter part of th 17th Century the Church Commissioners decided that the area required a new Parish church. Former pupil of Sir Christopher Wren, Nicholas Hawskmoor was appointed to design and build the church. It was the 6th and last of his London Churches and was built between 1716 and 1731. Hawksmoor is an interesting character. He was mysterious and loved to use pagan symbols in his Architecture, some say that his churches are more suited to funerals than weddings. Sometimes known as the 'the devils architect' he has posthumously become embroiled in a series of conspiracy theories - the myth that somehow Hawksmoor's London churches form an invisible geometry of power lines in the city was first mooted in Iain Sinclairs poem Lud Heat and then expanded upon by Peter Ackroyd in his murder thriller 'Hawksmoor'. A key factor in the renovation of many of Hawksmoor's churches appears to be the use of the spaces for the performance of music, three of his churches are so used - St Lukes in Old Street (now the rehearsal space for the LSO), Christ Chuch in Spitalfields and St Georges Bloomsbury.
St Giles in the Fields Church which stands in the shadow of Centrepoint in St Giles was built in the Palladian style in 1734,is also a venue for lunchtime recitals as well as evening concerts. The first recorded church on this site was in 1101, and the first victims of the great plague of 1655 were buried here. Although St Giles today has been cleaned up it was once perhaps the most disreputable and dissolute area in central London.
St Pancras
Bloomsbury is well served by public transport. Tube stations: Tottenham Court Road, Chancery Lane, Holborn, Euston and Kings Cross are all on its boundary. With a plethora of bus routes along it's main roads, which make up some of the main arteries in London, and Russell Square tube roughly at it's core it is highly accessible. The refurbished St Pancras is just to the south making international and national rail travel instantly available. And as if to reinforce the romance of rail travel a new brasserie has opened in the awesome station The St Pancras Grand bringing a taste of continental rail travel to London. Once the St Pancras hotel and apartment renovations have been completed the surrounding area will doubtless continue to change for the better.
Cool, sophisticated and steeped in academic history, bookish Bloomsbury has plenty to offer the resident or visitor.
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BLOOMSBURY QUICK LINKS
Bloomsbury Bowling
All Star Lanes at Victoria House
Cigala
Busaba Eatai
Carluccios
Yo sushi
The St Pancras Grand
The Bountiful Cow
Villandry Kitchen
Smithy's Wine Bar and Restaurant
Strada - Brunswick
Spaghetti House - Sicilian Avenue
Tavistock Tandoori
Hummus Bros
All Star Lanes - Bloomsbury
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PUBS |
There are more than 25 pubs in Bloomsbury, here is a selection of some with consistently high on line reviews:
The Lamb
Marquis of Cornwallis
The College Arms
The Museum Tavern
The Queens Larder
The Swan
All Bar One
The Bloomsbury Tavern
The Crown
The Dolphin Tavern
The Rugby Tavern
The Museum Tavern
Point 101
A list of all the Pubs in the area
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BARS AND MEMBERS CLUBS |
Bloomsbury Bowling
All Star Lanes at Victoria House
Truckles (wine bar)
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SHOPS/DELIS/CAFES |
Oliver Spencer
Connock and Lockie
Bikefix
Kennards the Grocer
Cube Lambs Conduit St
British Library,
British Museum
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Dickens Museum
Coram's Fields
St Georges Church Bloomsbury Way
Bloomsbury Bowling
All Star Lanes at Victoria House
St Giles in the Fields
Sir John Soanes Museum Lincolns Inn Fields
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HOTELS |
My Hotel/Yo Sushi
Academy Hotel
Thistle Hotel
St Giles Hotel
Gresham Hotel
Lonsdale Hotel
Cosmo Bedford House Hotel
Holiday Inn Coram St
Bedford Hotel
Grenville House Hotel
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SCHOOLS |
Birkbeck College
Corams Field Nursery
Goodenough College
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Mary Ward Centre
MACE Montessori Nursery School
The Bloomsbury Theatre
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CINEMAS |
The Renoir
Warner Bros Theobalds Road
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COLLEGES/UNIVERSITIES |
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
University of London's Senate House Library and its colleges
(University College London, Birkbeck, Institute of Education, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, School of Pharmacy, School of Oriental and African Studies and the Royal Veterinary College
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CHURCHES |
St Georges Church Bloomsbury Way
St Giles in the Fields
British Railway Mainline Stations
Kings Cross
St Pancras
Euston
Underground Stations
Euston - Victoria/Northern Line
Euston Square - Circle/Hammersmith and City/Metropolitan Line
Russell Square - Piccadilly Line
Holborn - Central/Piccadilly Line
Tottenham Court Road - Central/Northern Line
Chancery Lane - Central Line
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MUSIC VENUES |
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HOSPITALS |
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LOCAL AUTHORITIES |
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