Co-op

Finsbury Square

Cheapside · 0.6 miles

A public green of about 0.7 hectare lies on the east side of City Road, opposite Bunhill Fields, and is managed by Islington Council. The square incorporates a six-rink grass bowling green and an underground NCP car park, with two former petrol-station sites now used for surface parking. It is served by bus routes 21, 43, 141 and 214 and sits roughly 200 m north of Moorgate station, 300 m north-west of Liverpool Street station and 400 m south of Old Street station, making it easily reachable on foot or by public transport. An occasional farmers’ market is held on the site, and entry to the green is free. Originally laid out in 1777 as a planned quadrangle of terraced town houses surrounding a central garden, the area was previously part of the open Finsbury Fields in the parish of St Luke’s. From the late-19th century the residential buildings were replaced by larger commercial premises. Throughout its history the square has hosted a range of occupants, including the Temple of the Muses, James Lackington’s bookshop and the early home of the rabbinical seminary that later became the London School of Jewish Studies (1855–81). In the early 20th century the City of London Yeomanry were based at 39 Finsbury Square, a site now occupied by City Gate House. Today the western side contains a 150 000 sq ft office block used by the London Metal Exchange, while the north side is dominated by Triton Court and Royal London House, the latter now operating as The Montcalm Hotel. The east side houses the University of Liverpool’s London campus and Grant Thornton’s offices. The square continues to function as an open space within a dense commercial district, offering both recreational facilities and easy access to surrounding transport links.

Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice

West Smithfield · 0.6 miles

A collection of ceramic tablets in Postman’s Park commemorates ordinary individuals who died while saving others, ensuring their deeds are not forgotten. The monument stands in the City of London, close to West Smithfield, and forms part of the park’s historic setting. Visitors can view the wall of tiles arranged in three visible rows, with the original 24 De Morgan tablets occupying the central row, a second row of later additions above, and a fourth row added in 1908 below. The design includes a 50-foot wooden loggia that shelters the wall, and the tiles record fifty-four incidents ranging from a police officer’s bravery to a schoolboy’s sacrifice. Although the original plan allowed for 120 tablets, work ceased in 1931 with 53 in place; a further tablet was added in 2009, marking the first new addition in 78 years. The memorial’s development began with a proposal by painter-sculptor George Frederic Watts in 1887, later revived by St Botolph’s vicar Henry Gamble in 1898. After Watts’s death, his widow Mary Watts oversaw the project until work stopped in the early 1930s. Subsequent tiles were produced by William De Morgan, Royal Doulton and, more recently, in the Royal Doulton style. Access to the site is via the public pathways of Postman’s Park; wheelchair access is limited, and no admission fee or visitor facilities are recorded. The monument remains open to the public as part of the park’s landscape.

Museum of the Home

Shoreditch · 1.2 miles

A series of period-room displays and contemporary galleries examines domestic life from the early-modern era to the present, inviting visitors to consider how ideas of “home” shape everyday experience. Housed in an 18th-century Grade I-listed former almshouse on Kingsland Road, Hoxton, the museum lies close to Shoreditch and is operated by the Geffrye Museum Trust. The buildings originated in 1714 as fourteen four-room almshouses for the widows of ironmongers, funded by a bequest from Sir Robert Geffrye. After the Ironmongers’ Company transferred the site to the London County Council in 1911, the Geffrye Museum opened on 2 April 1914, initially focusing on furniture and interior design. Over the twentieth century the institution shifted toward educational programmes for schoolchildren and, following the abolition of the Inner London Education Authority, became a charitable trust in 1991. A major redevelopment, announced in 2019 and completed in summer 2021, expanded exhibition space by 80 per cent and public areas by 50 per cent, adding basement galleries, a café, a learning pavilion, reference libraries and replanted gardens. The entrance now faces Hoxton station. Admission is free, and the venue offers step-free access throughout, with on-site toilets for visitors. The museum’s location on Kingsland Road is served by local bus routes and is within walking distance of Shoreditch’s high street amenities. The site’s historic garden, originally laid out by Fanny Wilkinson in 1900–01, remains a feature of the public space.

Regent Square Gardens

High Holborn · 1.2 miles

A public garden set within the historic Regent Square provides a green focal point in the St Pancras area of north-central London. The square lies close to High Holborn, Kings Cross and Bloomsbury and has been part of the London Borough of Camden since the mid-1960s. The garden was laid out around a large central lawn in the Harrison Estate and first occupied in 1829, echoing the garden-square pattern typical of Bloomsbury’s better-known developments. The southern side of the square retains its original early-nineteenth-century façades, which are collectively protected as a Grade II-listed group, and a traditional red telephone box situated within the gardens also carries a listed status. The site once accommodated two churches – the National Scotch Church, built between 1824 and 1827 and later an English Presbyterian congregation, and St Peter’s Church of the Church of England. Both structures were destroyed by wartime bombing and removed after the Second World War, leaving the surrounding architecture and the garden as the principal features. The park is managed by the London Borough of Camden and remains freely accessible to the public. Entry is from the surrounding streets, with the nearest reference point being High Holborn. No admission fee is required, and the space is open for typical park activities such as walking, casual recreation and appreciation of the listed surroundings.

Dr. Johnsons House

Bank · 1.2 miles

Dr Johnson's House is a writer's house museum in London in the former home of the 18th-century English writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson. The house is a Grade I listed building.

St Paul's Churchyard

West Smithfield · 1.2 miles

The area surrounding St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London has served as a public space with a long commercial and civic history. Historically the precinct incorporated St Paul’s Cross, an open-air pulpit where statements on the political and religious changes of the Reformation were proclaimed during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. A single execution is recorded there: the hanging of clergyman Henry Garnet, one of the conspirators in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot. By the early modern period the site functioned as one of London’s main marketplaces, and as of 2024 the narrow lane to the north of the cathedral grounds bears the name St Paul’s Churchyard. With the introduction of printing, the location became the focal point of England’s book trade before the activity shifted to nearby Paternoster Row. The trade was initially dominated by foreign booksellers; a 1484 act passed by Richard III’s only parliament encouraged their presence, and the king intervened to secure exemptions for printers and booksellers from later protectionist measures. The area is also mentioned by Alexander Pope in *An Essay on Criticism*, where he uses it as a literary reference. Today the site is classified as a park and is operated by St Paul’s Cathedral. It lies close to West Smithfield and can be reached on foot from surrounding streets. No admission fee or specific visitor facilities are listed, so access is unrestricted and the space forms part of the open environment surrounding the cathedral.