Museum Street is a street in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, England. To the north is the British Museum, hence its current name. The street is populated by cafes and bookshops to appeal to the international museum-going public. [1] [2] To the north is Great Russell Street. To the south are Bloomsbury Way and New Oxford Street. The nearest tube stations are Tottenham Court Road and Holborn to the southwest and southeast respectively. [3]
The street goes back to the 14th century and beyond. It remained largely rural until the late 17th century when the growth of London caused its urbanisation.
Known as a thoroughfare since records began, it soon came to be known as Peter Street. The origins of this name are unsure though scholars agree [ citation needed ] it is unlikely to have been an eminent Peter (notwithstanding perhaps St Peter) and more probable it derives from a saltpetre manufactory which is thought to have existed there long before the British Museum opened in the 1750s. During the early years the street was the site of hovels of slum tenements and rather unsavoury characters such as pickpockets and prostitutes. An attempt at gentrification saw its name changed to Queen Street and it became home to parish schools to ensure the spiritual and secular education of poor children in London. Around this time Charles Mudie opened his bookshop and stationers here, he soon explored the possibility of lending books as well as selling them and Mudie's Select Library proved so popular that it moved out to larger premises after ten years. The street also became a rather fashionable area with many of the foremost writers of the day gathering in taverns to converse and debate. Charles Dickens drank here when he was dedicating his energy to amateur dramatics, John Keats, George Orwell and the Bloomsbury Set were also patrons.
On the corner of Great Russell Street at the northern end is the Museum Tavern, a public house that traces its origins back to 1723. [4] From 1723 to 1762 the pub was called the Dog and Duck (so called because duck hunting was popular in the ponds in the Long Fields behind Montagu House in the 17th and 18th centuries). The occult Atlantis Bookshop was opened on the street in 1922.
More recent history has seen the street set up as a paragon for pedestrian access. Camden's 2003, Car Free Day saw the streetscape give right of way to foot passengers — a success which was heralded across Europe as an example of best practice in cutting vehicular noise and pollution.
Since 1987, number 30 has been home to the commercial art gallery Abbott and Holder. [5]
Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus and then becomes Tottenham Court Road. It is so called because it leads from the north in the direction of Charing Cross at the south side of Trafalgar Square, which it connects via St Martin's Place and the motorised east side of the square.
The West End of London is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings and entertainment venues, including West End theatres, are concentrated.
Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions.
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and with the Royal Opera House, itself known as "Covent Garden". The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centred on Neal's Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the historical buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the London Transport Museum and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
Russell Square is a large garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, built predominantly by the firm of James Burton. It is near the University of London's main buildings and the British Museum. Almost exactly square, to the north is Woburn Place and to the south-east is Southampton Row. Russell Square tube station sits to the north-east.
Malet Street is a street in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, Central London, England. It runs between Torrington Place and the British Museum, parallel to Gower Street and Tottenham Court Road.
Hatchards is a branch of Waterstones, and claims to be the oldest bookshop in the United Kingdom, founded on Piccadilly in 1797 by John Hatchard. After one move, it has been at the same location on Piccadilly next to Fortnum & Mason since 1801, and the two stores are also neighbours in St. Pancras railway station as of 2014. It has a reputation for attracting high-profile authors and holds three Royal Warrants.
St George's, Bloomsbury, is a parish church in Bloomsbury, London Borough of Camden, United Kingdom. It was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and consecrated in 1730. The church crypt houses the Museum of Comedy.
The WC postcode area, also known as the London WC postcode area, is a group of postcode districts in central London, England. The area covered is of high density development, and includes parts of the City of Westminster and the London Boroughs of Camden and Islington, plus a very small part of the City of London.
Charles Edward Mudie , English publisher and founder of Mudie's Lending Library and Mudie's Subscription Library, was the son of a second-hand bookseller and newsagent. Mudie's efficient distribution system and vast supply of texts revolutionized the circulating library movement, while his "select" library influenced Victorian middle-class values and the structure of the three-volume novel. He was also the first publisher of James Russell Lowell's poems in England, and of Emerson's Man Thinking.
Southampton Row is a major thoroughfare running northwest–southeast in Bloomsbury, Camden, central London, England. The road is designated as part of the A4200.
St Giles is an area in the West End of London. It gets its name from the parish church of St Giles in the Fields. The combined parishes of St Giles in the Fields and St George Bloomsbury were administered jointly for many centuries; leading to the conflation of the two, with much or all of St Giles usually taken to be a part of Bloomsbury. Points of interest include the church of St Giles in the Fields, Seven Dials, the Phoenix Garden and St Giles Circus. The area falls within the London Borough of Camden local authority area.
Gay's the Word is an independent bookshop in central London, and the oldest LGBT bookshop in the United Kingdom. Inspired by the emergence and growth of lesbian and gay bookstores in the United States, a small group of people from Gay Icebreakers, a gay socialist group, founded the store in 1979. Various locations were looked at, including Covent Garden, which was then being regenerated, before they decided to open the store in Marchmont Street in Bloomsbury, an area of the capital with rich academic and literary associations. Initial reluctance from Camden Council to grant a lease was overcome with help from Ken Livingstone, then a local councillor, later Mayor of London. For a period of time, it was the only LGBT bookshop in England.
Spa Fields is a park and its surrounding area in the London Borough of Islington, bordering Finsbury and Clerkenwell. Historically it is known for the Spa Fields riots of 1816 and an Owenite community which existed there between 1821 and 1824. The park, or open common, was once of 14 hectares but was mostly built over in the 19th century, beginning in the 1830s, and is now a small park, popular with office workers at lunchtime, and as a children's playground.
Charlotte Street is a street in Fitzrovia, central London. The southern half of the street has many restaurants and cafes, and a lively nightlife; while the northern part of the street is more mixed in character, and includes the large office building of the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, and a University College London student hall of residence, Astor College. The street has a significant residential population living above the ground floor. Two conservation areas are contained within the street: Charlotte Street conservation area (Camden) and Charlotte Street West conservation area
The London Borough of Camden is a London borough in Inner London, and historically a part of Middlesex. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies 1.4 mi (2.3 km) north of Charing Cross.
Compendium Books was an independent bookstore in London specialising in experimental literary and theoretical publications, from 1968 until its closure in 2000. The Guardian's John Williams described it as "Britain's pre-eminent radical bookstore. Whether you wanted books on anarchism, drugs, poststructuralism, feminism or Buddhism, Compendium was the place to go."
The Museum Tavern is a Grade II listed public house at 49 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London.
Arthur Probsthain is an independent bookstore based in London, specialising in antique Asian and African books.
Marchmont Street is located in the London Borough of Camden. It is the main high street serving southern Kings Cross and eastern Bloomsbury. It links the Brunswick Centre and Russell Square tube station at its south to Tavistock Place at its north, where it becomes Cartwright Gardens.
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