India Club continues their fight for survival

Wedding Day of Joeseph Gyanapraksan (head waiter at the India Club). India Club. 17th September 1966. Courtesy of David Joeseph. Via National Trust.

The India Club, at 143 Strand, is in trouble. And it’s not for the first time. First, for those who have not experienced its wonders, quick history lesson. The India Club was established in 1951, moving to its 143 Strand premises in 1964. It was the base of the India League (who organised for British…

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#MyStrand: Justin Sherin, playwright and screenwriter

Wych Street looking towards the Strand, c. 1890, from 'Lost London' by Hermione Hobhouse. Shared by @WychStreet, 10 December 2017.

I often scour Instagram for gorgeous, strange, or mysterious looking photographs of the Strand, historical and contemporary. @WychStreet, an account run by Justin Sherin, is an account I return to again and again, as the photographs – and generous evocative captions – instantly transport me into the past. Justin was kind enough to share some…

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Black Lives Matter

A black and white photo of a Black Lives Matter banner held up at a protest.

Black Lives Matter. Monday 25th May 2020 marked another instance of police brutality against a member of the Black community in the United States. George Floyd, a Black 46-year-old father, son, and brother, was murdered by white police officer, Derek Chauvin, in broad daylight – a disproportionate reaction to Floyd supposedly passing a counterfeit $20…

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Black Lives Matter protest, Trafalgar Square 31 May 2020

Photo of Trafalgar Square by Zima Magazine on Instagram.

Black Lives Matter. Below, we’ve archived a selection of photographed geotagged at Trafalgar Square on 31 May 2020. The protests in May and June 2020 were a response to the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. But, as organisers and participants write in their photo captions and in television interviews, the reality is…

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Snapshots from lockdown

Lockdown in London was announced on 23rd March 2020, but many folks had been social distancing for a week or more before. It’s been heartening to see that the – very few – photos that are being posted on social media with the Strand tagged as the location are showing this main artery emptied of…

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Repost from Courtauld Digital Media: Visions of London

Detail: Design of the Strand, E Maxwell Fry. CON_B04814_F006_001. The Courtauld Institute of Art. CC-BY-NC.

Editors’ note: The Strandlines editors are always scouring for news and research about the Strand area. Below we’re delighted to be sharing an extract of ‘Visions of London’, a piece by Hannah Wilson, a Courtauld Connects Digitisation placement student. Thank you to the Courtauld Digitisation team for allowing us to share a snippet of Hannah’s…

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King’s College London Chapel Preservation Project

At King’s College London Archives our remit is to preserve and provide access to the material in our care. This project is an experiment in how we might apply that philosophy to digitally preserve our physical objects and spaces. The buildings of King’s have a rich history and have changed much over the years. The…

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The Mau Mau Case: Post-Colonial Justice on the Strand

“This is a historic judgement today, which will have repercussions for years to come” – Leigh Day Prosecution team. The Mau Mau insurgency, also known in Britain as the ‘Emergency Period’, was an eight year span of violence in colonial Kenya (1952-60). In 2012, the British High Court of Justice, inside the Royal Courts of…

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