Highlights

The Strand has always been one of London’s busiest streets - linking the City and Westminster, it is a very important route. But for many centuries it looked nothing like the wide, stylish thoroughfare we see today. Then the Victorians came along…

They set to work improving it with their customary thoroughness, and what we see today is largely their invention. It doesn’t smell, it’s harder to fall into the river and it no longer harbours dubious bookshops and dodgy lawyers – but nothing is perfect and they swept some treasures and fascinating places away whilst they were doing it. In fact, the entire personality of the street was changed.

Come and find out what became of an Elizabethan street that survived the Great Fire of 1666; why Somerset House lost its arches; who you might meet on top of Temple Tube Station; why a gas lamp near the Savoy had its own supply; and much, much more.

And, apparently, it’s a great place to have a banana…