More Blue Plaque Rich Pickings (2) and Red 103

So as well as some fine buildings there are plenty of Blue Plaques showing important residents of London's often fashionable King's Road area.

The 'Mess' by the Saatchi Gallery

Home to  a Painter and a Poet

Our City Lit guide unlike me is not a fan of Dante Gabriel Rossetti -seems he lived at this address in Cheyne walk with the sometime poet Swinburne.






Also on our route were the homes of Scott (of the Antarctic) and the composer Thomas Attwood.

Scott of Chelsea (& Antarctic)

The composer Thomas Attwood

Sloane backed the 'garden'

Here we can see the connections to King Henry and Sir Hans Sloane -Sloane was a figure behind the Chelsea Physic Garden.

A part of  a very real history that played out in West London

Red 103

Also just by Saatchi Gallery which is hosting a look back at the Rolling Stones this dramamtically red pair of lips (times two).

Amazing how the band's brand still can utilise Mick's lips - I wonder if younger listeners know the derivation.

A lifetime on the lips

Rich Pickings (2) and Red 104

Last week we had a deluge of rain while we looked around Kensington yesterday it was a Thousand degrees on the streets around Sloane Square.

Statue of Venus Fountain

Rich Pickings is a fairly loose sort of tour of bits of West London and none the worse for this looseness - the season means that the streets are perhaps a little quieter than they might be and as we get away from the main roads - the true areas are revealed and their startling history (startling in terms of there being so much of them) .



Meeting outside the underground station we took in the Square itself with a statue (Venus Fountain) listed thanks to one David Lammy MP  and the Royal Court theatre , allegedly  birthplace to the 'Kitchen Sink Drama'.


Looking behind us at the King's Road (a road built for the King to visit Nell Gwynne and other courtesans) you can see the splendour of Peter Jones still looking remarkably modern despite its dating back to the 1930s.

Peter Jones- An elegantly designed departmental store with a nice café

The area around the Duke of York barracks has been revitalised and amongst the uber-pricey boutiques and the Saatchi Gallery is a statue to the mane for whom the area is named.

A statue to Sloane himself

Further along we saw the site of the annual RHS show where the Chelsea pensioners reside and the tree lined street that leads to it.

Impressive stone masonry for the 'Pensioners'

The tree lined Royal Avenue

Further on and we saw the registry office where many famous people tied the knot (including our tour guide)

The Town Hall

Also interesting to see that the Army Museum is being revitalised (with EU funds).

New revitalised  Army Museum

As the previous tour lots of Blue Plaques to see  and more of that later!

Red 104

These truly are our ice-cream days

Red Hot for Ice Cream

Rich Pickings, Kensington (part 1) and Red 111

The weather got worse.

If it hadn't been for the awful weather I'd have even more to document regarding part 1 of the City Lit Summer walking tour looking at bits of West London.

The group started off from High Street Kensington tube station and it was evident from our first step that the course leader knew a good deal about the residents and history of the area - on the Main road we looked at what were the departmental stores of Barker's of Kensington  Derry & Toms  from the times when shopping was an occasion and retail staff  were not simply marking time until 'something better' turned up.

Much in evidence on the buildings were fine details that related to the businesses.

The detail at Derry & Toms shows busy bees working together

The clock on Barker's of Kensington

Surprisingly just a few steps away from the busy High Street the roads were quieter and residential properties with a mixture of people living there, notable people include the Comic Actress Joan Sims famous for her many Carry On appearances who lived at Esmond Court in Thackeray Street for much of her life.  

I was interested to see a retail outlet of Anello and Davide who found fame in the swinging 60's by providing the Beatles at the start of their careers with customized 'Beatle Boots'.

Beatle's Boots outlet

Joan Sims lived at Esmond Court

Nearby we saw the street (Hyde Park Gate) where Virginia Woolf,  Jacob Epstein and the (perhaps) most important UK Prime Minister  of the 20th Century Sir Winston Churchill - it's also the street where Robert Baden-Powell (who started  the Scout movement) lived and where Lord Lawson now lives.

And Head man.

Head Scout,

Head sculptor

We also saw artists and writers commemorated - more to come on my twitter (#tjbourne) in the next few days  but here (below) is the home used by the famous actress Mrs Patrick Campbell (for whom the role of Pygmalion was created).

Mrs Campbell lived at 33, Kensington Square

Red 111

I got my 'Red' Photo at Bill's just by Kensington High Street Tube station.

Looking a bit forlorn