London’s Pocket Parks - Archive Articles

London’s Pocket Parks: Pearson Square, W1

This is a newish garden square surrounded by housing in central London that was built on the site of the old Middlesex Hospital.

London Pocket Parks: Mirabelle Gardens, E20

A decade ago, a new Stratford park was being enjoyed by athletes relaxing from the Olympics and a year later it opened to the less athletic public. A decade on, it's bedded in, but also showing signs of a decade of use in places.

London’s Pocket Parks: Pearl and Mizanur’s Memorial Garden, E1

A local community garden recently took over a plot of land next to Shadwell station that appears to have never been built on in its entire life.

London’s Pocket Parks: Charles Square, N1

This is a pocket park in Shoreditch a short distance from its more famous cousin in Hoxton, that looks like it might be a post-war clearance site, but is actually about 300 years old.

Finsbury Circus Gardens are to close for a year

The City of London's oldest and largest public park, Finsbury Circus Gardens, will close to the public later this month and won't open again until late next year.

London’s Pocket Parks: Abbey Gardens, E15

Next to the DLR in east London is a large community garden that sits on a partially excavated ancient monument.

London’s Pocket Parks: Fleet Valley Pocket Park, WC1

A new pocket park has appeared in Farringdon, replacing a former bland paved plaza with plants, seats and some interesting pocket hills to climb up.

London’s Pocket Parks: The Stage Viaduct Garden, EC2

This is a new pocket park built on top of a disused railway viaduct in the heart of Shoreditch.

London’s Pocket Parks: The Tannery, SE1

A new pocket park has appeared in Bermondsey recently, hidden within a housing estate that's also open to the public, most of the time.

London’s Pocket Parks: Bernie Spain Gardens, SE1

These two pocket parks next to the OXO Tower on the Southbank, created in the 1980s, are named after a local campaigner and present two very different aspects depending on which you visit.

London’s Pocket Parks: Neo Bankside, SE1

This is a linear park that runs alongside a permissive right of way created as part of the Neo Bankside housing development, and is open to the public for 12 hours a day.

London’s Pocket Parks: Exchange Square, EC2

Sitting directly over the railway tracks at the back of Liverpool Street station, a large plaza has recently been transformed into a delightful pocket park.

London’s Pocket Parks: Rosemary Triangle, N1

This is about as pocket a pocket park as you are likely to find, being a tiny patch of land on the corner of an Islington road junction that's been taken over by a local community.

London’s Pocket Parks: Cossall Park, SE15

This is a relatively new park in Peckham being about 50 years old created in the 1970s as part of housing clearance and council building.

London’s Pocket Parks: Old Paradise Gardens, SE11

This pocket park in Lambeth is a former gravyeard that closed to the dead 170 years ago, and opened to the living 40 years later.

London’s Pocket Parks: Holly Grove Shrubbery, SE15

This is a long strip of parkland that runs along a road close to Peckham Rye Station which was created by the local council nearly 130 years ago.

London’s Pocket Parks: Vauxhall Park, SW8

This is a park to the south of Vauxhall station created in the 1880s following campaigns that people living in the increasingly dirty city should have access to public parks.

London’s Pocket Parks: Mulberry Square, SW1

This is a brand new linear park in raised beds that sits in the Chelsea Barracks development near Sloane Square.

London’s Pocket Parks: Pegler Square, SE3

This is a smart new pocket park that sits in front of Kidbrooke station's new ticket hall and was created as part of a large housing development going up at the moment.

London’s Pocket Parks: Pedlar’s Park, SE11

This is a park in two halves that sits next to the railway in Vauxhall, and is the result of a school closing in 1960.

London’s Pocket Parks: St Olave Silver Street, EC2

This is a pocket park that sits next to the busy London Wall road, but still manages to look rather pleasant to sit in despite its location.

London’s Pocket Parks: McDermott Gardens, SE15

This is a lovely local nature reserve just to the south of Peckham Rye town centre that owes its origins to the devastation of WWII, and a TV show.

London’s Pocket Parks: Starcross Yard, NW1

A new pocket park has opened close to Euston station, as a temporary space while the HS2 station next door is being built, although, with the state of things, it might end up being as temporary as the unlamented green shed in front of King's Cross station.

London’s Pocket Parks: Kirkwood Nature Reserve, SE15

This is a newish nature reserve in south London, that opened in 2000 on land that was cleared in the 1970s clearance of the old housing in the area.