39 Pictures Showing How London Constantly Keeps Changing

Earlier this month I became the first person to walk the entire new (2015) tube map, in support of Bowel Cancer UK.

During 39 walks between August 2012 and August 2015, I took thousands of photos and noticed that I tended to focus on things that had changed, were likely to change or oddly have not yet changed.

This could include anything from buildings under construction to abandoned (ghost) stations to anachronisms to important international events. London is a unique place where you can to see change unfold right before your eyes.

Below I’ve featured 39 photos, one photo from each walk, that mostly look at some aspect of change in London that I observed during the past 3 years.

These are not necessarily my best photos or even good photos, but each of them tells a small London story that I find interesting. I hope you do too.

Walk 1 - Blackfriars Station - Waterloo and City Line

Date Taken: August 19, 2012
Walk 1: Waterloo & City line, Waterloo to Bank

About the photo: Blackfriars Station. This photo of was taken between the end of the 2012 Summer Olympics (25 July to 12 August 2012) and the start of the 2012 Summer Paralympics (29 August to 9 September 2012). Just a small reminder of how of London was blanketed with signs for London 2012 just a few years ago.

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New 2015 Tube Map Walked For The First Time!

Ian Wright after finishing tube map walk

Me at Bank after finishing my final walk. This also happened to be where my first walk ended 3 years ago.

On Sunday, August 9th, 2015, I became the first person to walk the entire new 2015 Tube Map. This includes not only the London Underground (completed two years ago) but also the Overground, DLR, TFL Rail and yes the Cable Car (I walked via Woolwich rather than attempt to swim the Thames).

In total, I walked 632.45 miles (1,017.82 km) over the course of 39 walks that collectively took 229 hours and 47 mins of my life. I also managed to raise £1,803.43 for Bowel Cancer UK.

Below are a few stats from my various walks, followed by a few random thoughts on the whole journey and finally a complete summary of my walks if you’d like to follow in my footsteps:

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New Tube Map & Walking Update

Enfield Town

It’s been over 6 months since my last blog post, so I thought it was probably about time to give a quick update about the status of my walks. Last month, I was literally 1 walk away from walking the entire Standard Tube Map (Tube, DLR, Overground and Cable Car), but then TFL went and added a few new lines.

Therefore, I’m going to be walking the additional new lines over the next couple of months and hope post a final summary of the whole project at some point this summer. Yesterday I started by walking the new Cheshunt/Enfield Town branches of the Overground, which was great as it brought me to several parts of London I’d never been to before.

By my reckoning this leaves me with 3 walks: TFL Rail from Liverpool Street to Shenfield, Overgound from Liverpool Street to Chingford and DLR Woolwich to Bank. I’ll also have to squeeze in the new Overground route from Upminster to Romford at some point, but figure that can be included in one of the other days walks.

To all those who’ve followed along thank you very much for your support. Truth be told, I’ve mostly done the walks for myself, but felt it would be shame not to ask for charity support, which is why I ask if you’ve enjoyed hearing about them that you give generously to Bowel Cancer UK.

Christmas, The One Day London’s Streets Are (Almost) Empty

Christmas-Tree-Trafalgar-Square

Here are a series of photos taken by my wife and I on Christmas Day, 2014. Since it’s the only day of the year public transit is completely shut, it provides a rare opportunity to see the streets (almost) completely empty. Hope you enjoy:

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London’s 2015 Michelin Starred Restaurants Mapped & Listed

The Michelin restaurant map above was created by Mike David Smith and lists the 1, 2 & 3 star restaurants that made it into the Michelin Guide London 2015 along with Bib Gourmand entries and the best London pubs featured in Eating Out in Pubs 2015.

I’ve also included a list of restaurants by star level, sorted from cheapest to most expensive according to the Michelin website (obviously the price you pay will depends on what you order).

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Tube Stations Renamed – Plausible Alternatives For All 270

alternatetube

Click the map above for the full version

A few weeks ago, Tube Challenge World Record Holder, Geoff Marshall, came up with the brilliant idea of renaming all of London’s 270 tube stations with other plausible names. He made the request via the Londonist, and I suspect got a few more responses than he was expecting.

He’s now sifted through the more than 300 comments and distilled them into the map above. Having walked to all of them, I think he’s done a pretty good job selecting the new names, although I do have a few disagreements. I made the following suggestions and am happy to see that several (in bold bellow) made the cut.

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3 Ghostly Illustrations of London’s Iconic Brutalist Building

trellic ktower

Ernő Goldfinger’s Grade II* listed Trellick Tower

All three images were drawn by French illustrator Thomas Danthony. Whether you love or hate brutalism as an architecture style, there’s something oddly compelling about these ghostly illustrations of some of London’s best known brutalist buildings.

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When Satire Goes Wrong: The Story Of The Oxo Tower, Cubes, Cocktails & 50,000+ Redditors

The last 48 hours have been interesting for me and this blog. It all started with this post: What Are The Best Things To Do In London That No One Knows About?.

The post is just a collection of the best responses from this reddit thread by cr3 and has been online for well over a year.

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