London’s Alleys and Passages - Archive Articles

London’s Alleys: Arthur Street, EC4

This is a Roman era alley in the City that was discovered during the soon to be completed Bank tube station upgrade project.

London’s Alleys: Graces Alley, E1

This is a short alley leading to a former public square lined with nice houses, but the alley is now much more famous than the public square.

London’s Alleys: Sans Walk, EC1

This is a winding narrow passageway through Clerkenwell that borders a notorious prison and site of a terrorist attack.

London’s Alleys: Saracen’s Head Yard, EC3

This is a modern yard in Aldgate named after a long-standing, and not standing anymore, pub of the same name, and had been a coaching inn of some sort ever since Tudor times.

London’s Alleys: Rising Sun Court, EC1

This is a small side alley in Smithfield that's famous for the pub that dominates the corner opposite Great St Bart's church.

London’s Alleys: Sherlock Mews, W1

Just off Baker Street, home of a famous detective can be found a small cobbled street, Sherlock Mews, but which came first, the man or the mews?

London’s Alleys: Medici Courtyard, W1

A polished and modern space, this alley links Bond Street with Hanover Square, and was built as part of the Crossrail project.

London’s Alleys: Reston Place, SW7

Walking up Palace Gate road in Kensington, just short of the main Kensington Road you might spy a sign for a Pedestrian Right of Way leading to Kensington Road, and be intrigued.

London’s Alleys: Portsea Mews, W2

This delightfully unmodernised mews, owned by the Church of England is just to the north of Hyde Park and is one of the last such mews left in London.

London’s Alleys: Haunch of Venison Yard, W1

A side alley off posh Bond Street that is a back entrance to an auction house but is more notable for the distinctive name of the yard.

London’s Alleys: Shafto Mews, SW1

This is a row of former stables that backed onto expensive houses in Chelsea, and are now themselves expensive mews homes.

London’s Alleys: Mills Court, EC3

This is one of those industrial alleys that Shoreditch is cleaning up into decorative residential areas, but still has plenty of character left to it.

London’s Alleys: Bridle Lane, W1

A long narrow passageway in Soho that owes its origins to the era of horse-drawn carriage and the grand houses on the other side of the lane.

London’s Alleys: Percy Passage, W1

This alley just to the north of Oxford Street in the heart of Fitzrovia is a convenient shortcut through a block of shops and offices and is original from when the area was first laid out.

London’s Alleys: Dean’s Mews, W1

This is a cobbled mews that sits between two grand linked buildings with a very impressive sculpture of the Madonna and Child hanging above the entrance.

London’s Alleys: Van Gogh Walk, SW9

This verdant walkway near Kennington was until a few years ago a rather non-descript residential road, but in 2013 it was pedestrianised and renamed.

London’s Alleys: St George’s Lane, EC3

This narrow alley sits next to Pudding Lane, famed for the Great Fire of London, and can trace its origins to the very first buildings erected here in Tudor London.

London’s Alleys: Voss Street, E2

This is an alley in all but name squashed behind shops in Bethnal Green, but in recent years some exceptional architecture has appeared down here.

London’s Alleys: Trinity Walk, NW3

This is a very steep alley up the slopes that face Finchley Road in South Hampstead.

London’s Alleys: Model Cottages, SW14

This is an alleyway in East Sheen that runs down an avenue of delightful 19th-century cottages, the model cottages.

London’s Alleys: Heathcock Court, WC2

This is a short narrow passage on Strand that used to be somewhere else.

London’s Alleys: Down Street Mews, W1

This is a secluded mews that can be found around the back of a disused tube station near Hyde Park.

London’s Alleys: Canning Passage, W8

This narrow back lane in Kensington looks like a back passage for the houses that back onto it, but in fact, it predates the main roads around it.

London’s Alleys: Newport Place, WC2

A large plaza in the heart of London's Chinatown that has undergone many changes in its long life.