Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 6hHere’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. 081
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 28/09/2026Two lovely old mosaic roundels... but can you name the stations? 2100
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 27/09/2026Curious 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. 3311
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 26/09/2026It 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 03913
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 25/09/2026Phyllis 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. 0193
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 22/09/2026We 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 0192
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 05/09/2026Nutter Lane in Wanstead. If I were Mayor, it'd lead to Tosser Road and Plonker Avenue. 072
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 23/08/2026Nothing to do with London history, but this just blew my mind 061
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 15/08/2026It'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 0211
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 13/08/2026Lacking 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 1261
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 29/07/2026Another 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.) 2174
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 22/07/2026I 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. 2231
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 08/07/2026That 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). 6422
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 06/07/2026A road sign in Farringdon that speaks for half the nation this morning... 🏴 ⚽️ 091
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 29/06/2026Add this to the list of London streets that sound like they're actually a rotating space-station colony, in orbit around Alpha Centauri. 0142
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 20/06/2026While 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. 47818
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 09/06/202612 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) 0112
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 21/05/2026Dr 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. 0152
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 18/05/2026It'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. 1141
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). 050
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 04/05/2026Probably best to look both ways... (spotted in Golden Lane and Baker Street) 1111
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 30/04/2026When in Greenwich, one should always pay one's respects to the Dead Parrot memorial. (Or is it just resting?) 1141
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 27/04/2026Say what you like about Paternoster Square, but it does look good in the sunshine. 0110
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 17/04/2026A 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? 0133
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 14/04/2026It 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. 050
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 13/04/2026Always 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. 0100
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 02/04/2026Know 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. 1181
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 26/03/2026Always 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 ;-) 0171
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 24/03/2026Elizabeth 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. 8499
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 23/03/2026Always 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. 2167
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 20/03/2026It is excellent... although on my last visit, I had concerns about their donkeys... 010
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 17/03/2026Who 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) 2152
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 16/03/2026A William Morris-themed vending machine, spotted yesterday at Waltham Forest Town Hall. 0222
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 10/03/2026The 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. 0131
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 02/03/2026Genuine street name in Cricklewood. You have been warned... 060
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 27/02/2026Some 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-... 072
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 25/02/2026A 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 02312
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 25/02/2026The amber lambency of sunshine through a pint. Now there's something we haven't seen for a very long time... 0150
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 24/02/2026You'll be delighted to know that the first Christmas press releases have started to arrive. Too soon to put the tree up? 🎄 050
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 23/02/2026Intriguing viewpoint: likes clean air, doesn't like ULEZ. A guerrilla bench plaque spotted on Gray's Inn Road... 050
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 16/02/2026London's Ramadan lights are here! Head to Coventry Street to see them dazzle! They're on every night till 24 March ✨ Images: Aziz Foundation 0191
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 14/02/2026Charles II (in Soho Square). He was England's most lecherous, licentious and... by the looks of it... lichenous monarch 0100
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 09/02/2026The 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. 0133
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 07/02/2026Ever 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). 160
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 06/02/2026London 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... 171
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 05/02/2026Might as well make the most of all this rain we're having. Who's got some good puddle pics of London, then? 1183
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 04/02/2026Happy 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 190
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 26/01/2026To quote the great Blossom Dearie: I like London in the rain 🌧 0160
Londonist: Time Machine @londonist.com · 23/01/2026We'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! 1111