Even if you haven’t seen any Charlie Chaplin films, you’ll enjoy this walk through one of central London’s quietest areas. Notice I didn’t say ‘undiscovered’. For this area is one of London hottest property spots.
Why?
Because you’re a stone’s throw from Westminster but it’s full of quiet, leafy squares and charming Georgian and Victorian housing. But 120 years ago many of these houses were tenements full of the poor like Charlie Chaplin and his family.
You hear how Georgian splendour became Victorian squalor before returning to gentrified splendour in recent years. And you see several addresses where young Charlie lived, and the streets where he first did an impression of a local man which was to later morph into his Little Tramp character. One of these houses was between a slaughterhouse and a pickle factory. The house is still there, you’ll be relieved to hear the slaughterhouse and smell of pickles is not!
You’ll also see a workhouse water tower that appeared on Grand Designs. And you’ll also see the areas where Michael Caine and Max Wall lived as tots. And there are several pubs, shops, a school and even a public loo (now an arts centre!) still there with Charlie connections.
Contact events@sog.org.uk if you have any questions.
About the Speaker
Ian Porter
Ian Porter is a historian, novelist, walks guide and public speaker. He is particularly interested in women's 19th and early 20th century social and political history. He guides over 50 different walks in London, all but one (street art) history related. He is particularly well versed in the Suffragettes, Women in the Great War, the Spanish Flu and 19th century East End crime. He is presently writing his fifth novel, which is set during the 1908 London Olympics. Previous novels have been set at the time of Jack the Ripper, on the Titanic, in the Suffragette struggle, and during the Spanish Flu.
