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Londonist: Time Machine

@londonist.com
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A playful look at London's history from Londonist.

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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 6h
Here’s something you don’t see every day… parish boundary markers *inside* a building. The two small plaques show where the parish of St Edmund, King & Martyr meets that of St Michael Cornhill. They’re in the historic George and Vulture restaurant, which was saved by the man in the larger plaque.
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 28/09/2026
Two lovely old mosaic roundels... but can you name the stations?
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 27/09/2026
Curious fact: in the olden days, these unusual openings in Tube station walls were known as 'ticket offices', and you actually had to get a rectangle of card called a 'ticket' if you wanted to travel.
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 26/09/2026
It was 57 years ago today... that the Beatles released Abbey Road. And it's 15 years since TfL opened Abbey Road DLR station near West Ham. Ever since, the station has displayed 'you are at the wrong Abbey Road' signs to help lost Beatles fans get back to St John's Wood
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 25/09/2026
Phyllis Pearsall, creator of the A-Z, was born 120 years ago today. Her sort-of-statue stands in Greenland Dock, Rotherhithe, in the company of fellow local, Michael Caine (and a cormorant representing cycling campaigner Barry Mason). Very odd.
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 22/09/2026
We chanced across this lovely mosaic celebration of Sir Tim Berners-Lee near Mortlake station. The man who invented the world wide web, HTML and URLs grew up in the area. Curiously, Ada Lovelace, often regarded as the world’s first programmer, also lived here as a teenager
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 05/09/2026
Nutter Lane in Wanstead. If I were Mayor, it'd lead to Tosser Road and Plonker Avenue.
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 23/08/2026
Nothing to do with London history, but this just blew my mind
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 15/08/2026
It's so sad to visit St Pancras churchyard and see where the Hardy Tree once stood (it died of disease a few years back). That said, its engirdlement of gravestones looks all the more surreal in the tree's absence
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 13/08/2026
Lacking special glasses, I thought it'd be possible to watch the eclipse through a pint of light ale. Alas, it didn't work. The Sun just appeared as a bright glow. I did get some good stock photos of beer in the sunshine though. Lesson learned: try cider next time
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 29/07/2026
Another panel done! I've coloured up to the very edge of London, as it was in 1746. This latest panel shows Mile End and Stepney Church surrounded by fields. (High-res and article in comments.)
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 22/07/2026
I see that Pret is 40 years old today (according to their own plaque). True story… when I first moved to London in the 90s, I was so introverted and provincial that I didn’t dare set foot inside Pret a Manger, in case I had to order in French.
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 08/07/2026
That was the fourth best morning of my life... flying over London in the Goodyear Blimp. London is so, so beautiful from up here. I want to go round again! About 4,000 photos to go through, but here are a few highlights (including the toilet).
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 06/07/2026
A road sign in Farringdon that speaks for half the nation this morning... 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ⚽️
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 29/06/2026
Add this to the list of London streets that sound like they're actually a rotating space-station colony, in orbit around Alpha Centauri.
A london street sign called 'Prospect Ring'
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 20/06/2026
While the Post Office is busy closing its branches, here’s an example of some branches closing in on the Post Office. This postbox on Drayton Gardens, South Kensington is slowly being devoured by a London plane tree.
A postbox being eaten by a plane treeA postbox being eaten by a plane treeA postbox being eaten by a plane tree
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 09/06/2026
12 years ago today, we lost the incomparable Pan Global Phenomenon who was Dr The Rik Mayall. That's how he's described on his memorial bench, which stands proudly on a traffic island in the middle of Hammersmith's one-way system (where the opening titles to Bottom were filmed)
A plaque commemorating the life of Rik MayallA heart-shaped sticker saying Rik Mayall, on a pedestrian crossing postA bench on a traffic island in Hammersmith
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 21/05/2026
Dr Johnson famously said that there is, in London, all that life can afford. But even he would have raised eyebrows at this Kilburn shop that sells nothing but pomegranates and pomegranate juice.
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 18/05/2026
It's often said that the Savoy forecourt is the only place in the UK where vehicles must drive on the right. Not quite true. Hammersmith bus garage (pictured in all its loveliness) is another. And I bet there are others.
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 13/05/2026
“I’m still not shifting,” says the Prime Minister (after adopting an unpopular position and forcing people to the right).
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 04/05/2026
Probably best to look both ways... (spotted in Golden Lane and Baker Street)
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 30/04/2026
When in Greenwich, one should always pay one's respects to the Dead Parrot memorial. (Or is it just resting?)
Sculpture of a dead parrot on a plinth in greenwichSculpture of a dead parrot on a plinth in greenwich
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 27/04/2026
Say what you like about Paternoster Square, but it does look good in the sunshine.
Paternoster Square with blue sky and the sun behind the top of the column
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 17/04/2026
A mysterious plaque in Great Queen Street. It says 'Westminster City Council', but it's actually in Camden. And not very council-y, in any case. Who put it there?
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 14/04/2026
It was 63 years ago today... the Beatles and the Rolling Stones first crossed paths in this Richmond music venue, as confirmed by this oversized stick-on plaque opposite the station.
A large blue plaque saying that the Rolling Stones first met the Beatles in the Crawdaddy Club on 14th April 1963
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 13/04/2026
Always thought that “Itchycoo Park” from the Small Faces song was meant to be in Ilford (or thereabouts; theories abound). Turns out there’s an actual Itchycoo Park in Beckton, east London. It was named long after the song, so obviously isn’t the “real” one, but nice to know it’s there.
A mosaic sign saying Itchycoo Park, with a pond behind and a pigeon perching on the sign.
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 02/04/2026
Know Your Phone Kiosks. The commonest old-style phone boxes in London are called the K2 (first deployed 1926) and the K6 (from 1936). Both were designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott of Battersea Power Station fame. The types are easy to tell apart, most readily by the shape of the window panes.
Two types of london red phone box, the K2 and the K6. The older K2 has square windows, while the K6 has rectangular windows
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 26/03/2026
Always remember to say hello to the Waterloo elephant when you pass through the Jubilee line ticket hall. And spare a thought for the office workers on the other side of that wall. They must get a very different view ;-)
An elephant's head sticks out of a wall in waterloo station
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 24/03/2026
Elizabeth I died in Richmond Palace 423 years ago today. By FAR the weirdest commemoration is this rarely seen non-likeness in the grounds of Westminster School. The glorious abomination was unveiled by Elizabeth II in 2010. I have it on good authority that Prince Philip couldn't stop sniggering.
A bizarre statue of Elizabeth I, with a golden C3PO-like head, and a ruff like a polo mint, in the grounds of Westminster SchoolA bizarre statue of Elizabeth I, with a golden C3PO-like head, and a ruff like a polo mint, in the grounds of Westminster School
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 23/03/2026
Always look DOWN in London (as well as up). You’ll soon get an eye for coal-hole covers — metal plates in the pavement that cover chutes to coal cellars. They come in a bewildering range of styles, including many later, artistic versions.
Nine examples of coal hole covers, metal circles with intricate designs on top. They are common on the older streets of London
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 20/03/2026
It is excellent... although on my last visit, I had concerns about their donkeys...
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 17/03/2026
Who remembers these olden days ticket machines on the London Underground? I think they were phased out around the turn of the century. This beauty is now at the London Transport Museum's Acton Depot, which has another open weekend in April (massively recommended)
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 16/03/2026
A William Morris-themed vending machine, spotted yesterday at Waltham Forest Town Hall.
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 10/03/2026
The boundaries of the City of London are patrolled by 14 guardian dragons. A while back, we decided it was time they each had a name. These are our proposals, all of which have an historical connection to the part of the City in which they stand. See if you can work them out.
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 02/03/2026
Genuine street name in Cricklewood. You have been warned...
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 27/02/2026
Some fantastic models of London buildings and scenes... we've rounded up a few favourites in today's Londonist: Time Machine -> londonist.substack.com/p/london-in-...
Richmond Palace model in Museum of richmondModel of Old London Bridge in St Magnus the Martyr churchConstruction of the metropolitan railway. A model in London Transport MuseumA model of Euston station, on display at York's National Railway Museum
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 27/02/2026
Lots of clowns in this part of town...
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 25/02/2026
A fountain of vomiting people. You've got till the end of today to see the 'Fountain of Filth' on the South Bank. It's an installation by Channel 4 to tie in with their new documentary Dirty Business, about the sewage scandal
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 25/02/2026
The amber lambency of sunshine through a pint. Now there's something we haven't seen for a very long time...
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 24/02/2026
You'll be delighted to know that the first Christmas press releases have started to arrive. Too soon to put the tree up? 🎄
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 23/02/2026
Intriguing viewpoint: likes clean air, doesn't like ULEZ. A guerrilla bench plaque spotted on Gray's Inn Road...
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 16/02/2026
London's Ramadan lights are here! Head to Coventry Street to see them dazzle! They're on every night till 24 March ✨ Images: Aziz Foundation
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 14/02/2026
Charles II (in Soho Square). He was England's most lecherous, licentious and... by the looks of it... lichenous monarch
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 09/02/2026
The only postbox with two, opposite openings in Britain can be found in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. The two apertures allow both the public (outside the walls) and the pensioners (inside) to use the box when the gates are closed.
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 07/02/2026
Ever spotted a 'Mercers' Maiden'? They're dotted around London on buildings and bollards and even embedded in the floor... anywhere that the Mercers' livery company own land (and they own a lot).
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 06/02/2026
London street signs. Got a favourite? Perhaps an unusual name like 'Decapod Street' or 'Hanging Sword Alley'. Or maybe a sign that's a bit rude, or hints at unusual history...
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 05/02/2026
Might as well make the most of all this rain we're having. Who's got some good puddle pics of London, then?
The Mousetrap reflected in a puddleLloyds building and double yellow lines reflected in a puddleGolden Lane estate's big yellow tower reflected in a puddleThe Gherkin and neighbouring buildings reflected in a puddle
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 04/02/2026
Happy 279th birthday to this fellow! You can't really say that to most people who are long dead, but Jeremy Bentham is sort-of still with us. His preserved body (with fake head) sits in the main building of UCL's Gower Street campus
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 26/01/2026
To quote the great Blossom Dearie: I like London in the rain 🌧
A roundel reflected in a puddle
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Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 23/01/2026
We're swooning over these beautiful new London Underground posters starring London Zoo's giraffes, to mark 200 years of ZSL 🦒 Look out for it on display at certain stations soon!
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