London stories
Explore the stories of the world's greatest city and uncover the hidden treasures of our collections.
All stories

London’s fashion designers
Vivienne Westwood, Mary Quant and the many other talents that make London a fashion capital

10 historical maps of London
Picking a route through the beautiful, intriguing and unusual maps in our collection


Edward Enninful: A west London fashion force
Model, stylist, fashion director, editor-in-chief at British Vogue


Ottobah Cugoano: A powerful critic of slavery
Cugoano shared his own experience of enslavement to try and end it for good

Liberty: A destination for high-quality design
A mock-Tudor treasure trove of fashion and homeware

Speakers’ Corner: A home of free speech
Hyde Park’s historic spot for public speaking and debate

Post-war photographs of the working River Thames
Sandra Flett’s snapshot of trade and industry on London’s liquid highway

London’s street markets by László Moholy-Nagy
The influential Hungarian artist turns his attention to 1930s street life

What were London’s turnpikes?
In the 1700s and 1800s, travelling on London’s main roads came with a cost

Photographing an east London rent strike, 1939
Cyril Arapoff captures life in a dangerously dilapidated apartment block

Forgotten faces from post-war London
Fred Wilfred’s photos of London from 1957 to 1962 have remained largely unseen

Boris Johnson: London mayor, Brexit prime minister
Running the capital then the country, Johnson is remembered for the Olympics, Brexit and Covid-19

Sadiq Khan: London’s first Muslim mayor
The south-London son of a bus driver whose time in office has included Covid-19 and the ULEZ expansion

Ken Livingstone: GLC leader & London’s first mayor
Dubbed “Red Ken” in the 1980s, Livingstone became London’s first directly elected mayor in 2000

The Roman mosaic that thrilled London
The 2,000-year-old Bucklersbury Pavement drew thousands to see it after being discovered in 1869