London’s Alleys: Falkland Place, NW5
This is a small back passage hidden behind the shops in busy Kentish Town and offers a well-hidden patch of greenery in the area.
The alley seemed to have arrived with the property developments that sprung up along the nearby railway which opened in 1868. Within just a few years, the whole area had been turned from fields into houses, and a passageway, originally called Assembly Row, had been built.

However, the alley was to undergo a rapid change, as just a decade later, the northwestern corner was demolished. This was because the road network’s design, as originally laid out, wasn’t keeping up with traffic demands, and two blocks of houses had to be cleared to widen and straighten the junction.
At the same time, Assembly Row, leading off Falkland Road, was renamed Falkland Place.
The cleared land took a while to be rebuilt, showing up empty in 1895. Rather than houses as before, the corner plot was replaced with Falkland Hall, which was used by the London Baptists until they sold it in the 1960s. It was also used as the Fortress Hall social club for a while.
The hall was demolished in 1988 to be replaced by two houses.
Back to the alley, which was lined with houses on both sides, but in 1959 most of the houses were demolished. According to a news report of the time, the alley was rather derelict, and the houses were not suitable for habitation, so it was decided to clear the land instead.
The smaller space on the eastern side was turned into a playground, while the larger space on the western side was planted as a public park and a space for older children. Despite being hidden away, the council says that the playgrounds are well-used, especially after school and at weekends.
Just before the land was cleared, the alley gained notoriety after a resident, Henry Manley, was found battered and strangled in his ransacked home. Over 500 people were questioned by the police, but the murder has never been solved.
His house was one of the ones that was to be demolished shortly afterwards.
Since then, the alley, with just a handful of homes left, and two modest-sized parks have been rather quieter.
From the side roads, the alley looks to be just that—a narrow passage with some houses in it. It’s only when you walk down and past some high walls that you realise that most of the alley is now open space for the two parks.
On my visit, the junior of the two playgrounds was closed as they’re rebuilding the rear wall after it started to buckle and become unsafe. The wall aside, the current design was completed in 2016 to improve the playground.
The key defining feature of the area, this alley, and the roads around it is the use of pastels. The houses are all painted in a range of softly bright colours, which really brightens the area.
The alley gained a lot of attention some years back when a musician you might have heard of, called Taylor Swift, romped up to the alley and filmed something while falling in love with the local kebab shop.
Some more photos
I am surprised these alley ways exist. Why have they not had thin houses or thin blocks of flats built on the land they are wasting ?