A somewhat enigmatic area on the brink of more change, this walk peels back layers of history and reveals shifting reputations.
Enjoy a special historic guided tour of cosmopolitan Bayswater with City of Westminster Guide Mary Enright. Named ‘Tyburnia’ by the property developers of the 1840s, dubbed ‘Asia Minor’ in the 1880s for the ex-colonials living there, ‘Little Athens’ for the 1950s influx from Greece, and now where St Petersburgh Place sits between Moscow Road and Kiev Street.
It’s been both grand and seedy over the years and still is. There’s a synagogue, a church and an Orthodox Cathedral all on one street. Once a shopping area to rival Oxford Street, we’ll see the skeleton of the great Whiteley’s Department store rising like a phoenix once again and we’ll pass one of the most convincing fakes in London. This circular walk will include the north side of Kensington Gardens to see some public art and heritage horiculture.
