The Open Guide to London: the free London guide

• Postal district: WC1
• Local Government authority: [London Borough of Camden]?

The name is a corruption of the original name of Blemundsbury, after William de Blemund, who was the landowner there from 1201.

View all pages in Locale Bloomsbury

• Streetmap centered on Bloomsbury

History and Places of Interest

• British Museum
• The UCL Bloomsbury theatre
• History of the London Borough of Camden, from the borough website
• The CAMRA North London newsletter, issue 12 has a short piece on the history of the area and one of its pubs, the Museum Tavern
• Notes for a Women's History Walk in Bloomsbury
• MyVillage on the history of the area and the Bloomsbury Group
• Observer Magazine article on the Brunswick Centre

Pubs

• Open Guide recommendations:
  • Calthorpe Arms, Grays Inn Road -- CAMRA North London pub of the year 2001, good Youngs beers. --Kake
  • Plough, WC1A 1LH -- nothing special, but has been known to not be crowded on a Friday night; something of a rarity around here. --Kake

• Just off Bloomsbury square is Pied Bull Yard and you'll find Truckles bar within (along with a host of vintage camera shops). In summer you can eat and drink outside in the yard away from the traffic and come the evening head to the downstairs bar for their home brewed ale in pewter tankards! The beer is good but expensive, but you can always find somewhere to sit on a Friday night!

Sandwich Shops

• Open Guide recommendations: [Coffee Matters]? is just across the road from Holborn station, and does a range of Fairtrade coffees (soya milk available), freshly-squeezed juices and interesting sandwiches.
  • Alara Wholefoods on Marchmont Street is a vegetarian sandwich shop/takeaway/cafe/wholefood shop a minute or two's walk from Russell Square station

Photos

• Saul's photos of the Brunswick Centre — taken from "the residents' courtyard above the supermarket and in the corridor of O'Donnell Court".

Neighbouring locales: Fitzrovia / Holborn / Soho / Clerkenwell / [St Pancras]?