London’s Pocket Parks - Archive Articles

London’s Pocket Parks: Princes Circus, WC1

A rather shabby pavement space in central London has been turned into a pocket park, with loads more planting and softer wooden seating replacing an ugly brick slab that used to dominate the area.

London’s Pocket Parks: Smithfield Rotunda Garden, EC1

Sitting next to Smithfield meat market is a circular pocket park that was created to provide rest for the market workers.

London’s Pocket Parks: St John’s Churchyard, SE1

This is a large public park close to Tower Bridge that is unsurprisingly, the former graveyard for a church, but also a much more important space than that.

London’s Pocket Parks: Radnor Street Gardens, EC1

This is a pocket park near Old Street that started off as gardens, became a car park, and is once again gardens.

London’s Pocket Parks: Festival Garden, EC4

A large swathe of lawn and seating next to St Paul's Cathedral looks like it's part of the Cathedral grounds, but is actually owned by the City of London.

London’s Pocket Parks: Minchenden Oak Garden, N14

This is a very well hidden walled garden that's very easy to walk past without noticing it's there, and is home to one of London's oldest trees.

London’s Pocket Parks: Gibson Square Gardens, N1

This is an Islington public garden that's famous(ish) for the classical building in the centre, which is actually a ventilation shaft for the London Underground.

London’s Pocket Parks: Harrington Square Gardens, NW1

This is a pocket park that sits close to Mornington Cresent tube station and despite its name is actually a triangle, not a square.

London’s Public Parks: Albion Square Gardens, E8

This is a formal garden in Haggerston surrounded by Victorian houses, with a drinking fountain in the middle, and seemingly created out of an undeveloped plot of land.

London’s Pocket Parks: St Pancras Church Garden, EC4

This is a very well hidden garden that's not in St Pancras but close to Bank in the City of London, and has some remarkable carved wooden benches. But not for much longer.

London’s Pocket Parks: Thornhill Gardens, N1

This is a nice pocket park in Islington cared for by an active local community group, but also a link to a grisly unsolved murder.

London’s Pocket Parks: Asteys Row Rock Garden, N1

Just off Islington's busy Essex Road is a long linear rock garden that's the legacy of a company that brought fresh water to the City.

Plans to open a disused railway as the “Camden Highline” are approved

Plans to convert a disused railway in North London into an elevated walkway for pedestrians have been given the go-ahead after Camden Council granted planning permission for the first section of the highline walkway.

London’s Pocket Parks: Embassy Gardens, SW11

This is a cluster of new pocket parks that were created as part of the Nine Elms property developments and are fortunately much more appealing than the ghastly marketing language that's been used by Ballymore to describe them.

London’s Pocket Parks: Nelson Square Garden, SE1

This is a large municipal square in Southwark surrounded on most sides by post-war housing blocks but was built as a square surrounded by Georgian housing.

London’s Pocket Parks: Compton Terrace Gardens, N1

This is a pair of gardens that run in front of a row of houses and were originally private spaces for the houses, but are now open to the public to enjoy.

London’s Pocket Parks: Aske Gardens, N1

This is a large pocket park in Hoxton surrounded by old trees, with two-thirds of the site given over to sports, and owes its origins to philanthropy.

London’s Pocket Parks: Canonbury Square Gardens, N1

These are two pocket parks in North Islington surrounded by a square of Georgian houses that were laid out just under 200 years ago.

London’s Pocket Parks: Owens Field, EC1

This pocket park close to Angel tube station has existed ever since the area around it was turned from fields into houses, but for most of its life, it wasn't a space for the public to use - it was a school playground.

London’s Pocket Parks: Savoy Chapel Gardens, WC2

Hidden around the back of the shops on Strand can be found a rather fine looking small pocket park that has royal connections.

London’s Pocket Parks: Railway Fields, N4

This is a former railway depot that's now a nature reserve and has a plant that's unique to the area, albeit not one you would want in your back garden

London’s Pocket Parks: Parsons Green, SW6

This is a large triangle of green that gave its name to the wider area and although nearly lost to development, survives as a public park.

London’s Pocket Parks: Ufford Street Gardens, SE1

This is a pocket park that can be found in a residential area near Waterloo, and while you might assume it's the result of WW2 clearance, in fact, it's older than that.

London’s Pocket Parks: Charterhouse Square, EC1

This is a large open space close to Barbican that sits on top of a large 14th-century plague pit, and since then although everywhere around has been developed, the plague pit has never been built on.