London’s Alleys and Passages - Archive Articles

London’s Alleys: Barbon Close, WC1

This is covered passage next to a beautifully restored Georgian house opposite Great Ormond Street hospital.

London’s Alleys: Adam’s Court, EC2

This is a surprisingly large open space right in the heart of the City that you would only discover by passing through covered arches.

London’s Alleys: Wilder Walk, W1

This is a new alley next to Piccadilly Circus caused by a recent redevelopment of the Regent Palace Hotel, and it's not a restoration of an old alley, it's entirely new.

London’s Alleys: Peto Place, NW1

This is a private looking cobbled* passage leading behind the grand frontages of the Regents Park buildings. The passage itself isn't that notable, posh, clean and functional, but the buildings though, they tell a story.

London’s Alleys: Primrose Hill, EC4

This alley is a lingering remnant of a much longer passage that used to run all the way up to Fleet Street.

London’s Alleys: Brabant Court, EC3

This is a chaming litle cobbled courtyard next to the Walkie Talkie skyscraper, that contains one of the few surviving  Georgian buildings in the City of London.

London’s Alleys: Pinner’s Passage, EC2

This is a very modern looking, and very modern existing alley that can be found opposite the former NatWest Tower, now Tower 42.

London’s Alleys: Great St Thomas Apostle, EC4

A narrow lane near Cannon Street that's the site of a church destroyed in the Great Fire of London.

London’s Alleys: Pied Bull Yard, WC1

This concealed yard next to the British Museum looks as if it's been here for centuries, but in fact, Pied Bull Yard is barely 40 years old, or if you prefer, several hundred years old.

Faulkner’s Alley, EC1 – London’s Alleys and Passages

This is an alley that many people pass walking to and from Farringdon station with an alluringly ornate ironwork grill and gate.

London’s Alleys: Alderman’s Walk, EC2

This is an alley close to Liverpool Street station, and can be found next to St Botolph's without Bishopsgate church, and while dating to roughly when the church was built, its notable history only starts in the 17th century.

London’s Alleys: Austin Friars Passage, EC2

This delightfully narrow alley with a Victorian tiled and arched entrance and a rare surviving ancient wall can be found in a quiet cluster of streets just moments from busy London Wall.

London’s Alleys: Clerks Place, EC3

This could be considered one of London's newest, and widest alleys, as there's never been an alley on this location, but in fact, there was a small alley of the same name nearby, underneath the very new large office block that destroyed it.,

London’s Alleys: Duke’s Mews, W1

This is a classic mews style alley that can be found just to the north of Oxford Street. The mews sits within an area of London known as the Portman Estate, which started being developed as housing soon after Henry…

London’s Alleys: Bloomfield Place, W1

A short clean alley that's notable for the being the site of one of London's earliest electricity supplies, for the Grosvenor Gallery, and the substation site is still in use today.

London’s Alleys: Corbet Court, EC3

This alley has changed a fair bit over the centuries, but the heart of it, a courtyard has been there ever since it was created. It's also lead a fairly uneventful life, busy, but never notorious.

London’s Alleys: Cleveland Place, SW1

This alley in posh St James, originally known as Cleveland Yard was probably laid out as soon as the area started being developed, in the 1670s

London’s Alleys: Seaforth Place, SW1

This is a narrow passage now surrounded by offices and hotels that follows an ancient path through fields when all around here was more grass than glass.

London’s Alleys: Greystoke Place, EC4

This is a convenient passage that links Fetter Lane and Chancery Lane in the city, and is likely to date from the early urban development of the area.

London’s Alleys: Laurence Pountney Hill, EC4

This is a side alley that includes an old church, a Roman palace, and enough stucco carving to fill a small mansion house.

London’s Alleys: Stationers Hall Court, EC4

This is a narrow alley off Ludgate Hill that dates back to the Great Fire of London, and leads to one of London's livery halls.

London’s Alleys: Brydges Place, WC2

This is the alley near Trafalgar Square that isn't the narrowest in London, although it is often claimed to be. It's also less famous for Queens, of both sorts.

London’s Alleys: Bedford Court, WC2

This is an alley that leads off from busy Covent Garden through to a much quieter patch of residential housing.

London’s Alleys: Shoulder of Mutton Alley, E14

This is a Limehouse street which crops up regularly on lists of odd street names in London, but it had a more interesting history than that.