Originally one of the main Roman roads of Londinium this main city street was inhabited during the medieval period by many immigrants from Lombardy in northern Italy and in time hosted many early coffee houses, the Post Office and eventually became famous as a centre for banking.

This battle took place in November 1642 near the village of Turnham Green in the first few months of the English Civil War. The Parliamentary army, along with many ordinary Londoners rallied to prevent the forces of King Charles I take the city in an important strategic victory.

From the early sixteenth centuries the area around St Pauls Cathedral including the famous Paternoster Row, were the centre of publishing trade in England. Printers and booksellers working from shops here spread ideas and information across the country.

Charles Holden’s mini masterpiece, a marriage of Scandinavian modernism and British Arts and Crafts.