The Academy in Brixton is one of London’s most successful music venues. It’s rise to prominence was anything but pre-ordained though. Listen here to find out about the Academy and the role of Brixton in the venue’s success.

This converted religious site provides an interesting window into the changing culture of Notting Hill in the contemporary period.

The Hammersmith Palais lasted nearly a century as a top spot for nighttime fun. Nights at the Palais reflected the ever-changing demographic makeup of West London and led to cross-cultural interactions of many varieties.

The Southbank Undercroft is a space under the Queen Elizabeth Hall of the Southbank Centre that has been a very popular with skateboarders and graffiti artists for over four decades. The Undercroft was completed in the 1960s and became popular with skateboarders in the 1970s. Over the years it has been covered and re-covered in graffiti and contains work created by thousands of artists over the years. The history of the Undercroft was made famous by Winston Whitter’s documentary Rollin Through the Decades (2005) which focused on the history of UK skateboarding from the 1970s to the mid-2000s. In 2013, the planned redevelopment of the area endangered the Undercroft but skaters and local enthusiasts campaigned and fought to safeguard the site, through the non-profit organisation Long Live Southbank (LLSB), and won.