One of the most iconic pop and film stars ever, David Bowie, was born and raised in south London. The man who was to become arguably the most influential musician of the 20th century was born on January 8, 1947 as David Robert Jones.
He studied art, music and design in London and then began his professional career as a musician in 1963. His first top five entry into the UK single charts came in 1967 with Space Oddity. Through the glam rock era of the 1970s, he became Ziggy Stardust and continued to produce number one hits over the next three decades. His greatest-ever commercial success was Let’s Dance in 1983.
Bowie died in 2016 from liver cancer, two days after his 69th birthday and the release of his final album, Blackstar. In his lifetime, he sold over 100 million records worldwide and won many industry accolades, including six Grammy awards and four Brit awards.
Now there is the opportunity to buy a unique piece of memorabilia linked to his early life in the UK capital. His terraced childhood home in Bromley, South East London is up for sale and with an asking price of £449,500 (€520,000), it is looks like great value and certainly a unique piece of pop memorabilia!
The unassuming, two-bedroomed, end-terraced house “exudes a sense of peace and tranquillity, making it the perfect place to call home”, according to the agents. So, by London standards, Absolute Beginners on the property ladder may be interested but buyers need not feel Under Pressure as they plan Changes…!
Tasty Treats and Famous Faces
Soho has long been the Bohemian heart and soul of the UK capital. There are many places to eat and drink at anytime of the day or night and there’s always something new to discover.
The striking blue and white striped canopy of Maison Bertaux in Greek Street is the first thing you will notice about London’s oldest patisserie. This amazing palace of cakes and pastries opened in 1871 and since that time has attracted famous figures and celebrities through its doors.
It looks and feels more like Paris than London which is not surprising when you discover that it was opened by Monsieur Bertaux, a Communard, fleeing from the French capital. At this time, many famous French citizens were escaping war and persecution, including Claude Monet.
There is much traditional fare of a good patisserie on sale to eat in or take away and the shop continually updates and adapts its products to suit trends and tastes in an ever-changing world.
It has long been a magnet for celebrities, ranging from Karl Marx and Virginia Wolf in the past to the likes of Alexander McQueen, Grayson Perry, Noel Fielding and Lily Allen (they even made her wedding cake!).
After a pastry from Maison Bertaux, why not then walk off the calories with a ‘Karl Marx Walking Tour’? Marx spent much of his life in the UK capital and is of course, famously buried in Highgate Cemetery, North London. This walk though is in Soho and will show you the places where he spent his time. The organisers of these fascinating tours say “We walk you through the story of his life in London and explain his ideas and their influence on human destiny. We take you to the places in and around Soho where Marx lived and worked, show you traces of the London he knew, and tell the extraordinary tale of this man who would change the world.”
The tours commence at 11am every Sunday in front of the Criterion Theatre, Piccadilly Circus and standard tickets are £15 (€17.35). Great value for a fascinating insight to the area and the man. marxwalks.com
Making a Mint
London is perhaps the most adaptive city on the planet. There are centuries-old buildings alongside modern skyscrapers and ancient history right next to developing, breaking stories.
Nestled between the mighty river Thames and the main commercial areas of the City of London are two of the most iconic and historic sites in the UK capital, The Tower of London and Tower Bridge. These would probably come in anyone’s top ten lists of visitor attractions.
However, right next door to these is a magnificent building which is frequently missed but looks set for a very different and somewhat controversial future.
The Royal Mint was originally housed within the Tower of London, just across the road but moved into new premises which were finished in 1809. The Mint then continued on this site until it finally closed in 1967, moving to its current location in Wales. The main building has a similar facade to Buckingham Palace and is almost as grand, though a little more shabby these days. There remain two grand gatehouses and a huge front courtyard behind the high railings of the entirely empty main structure.
A new chapter beckons though and this has attracted significant controversy. In May 2018, the freehold site was sold for £255M (€295M) to the People’s Republic of China and there are plans to turn it into their largest embassy complex in Europe. Renovation and conversion plans were presented to Tower Hamlets Council through David Chipperfield Architects in 2020. There are a number of complicating factors including 100 leasehold homes on the site which were originally built for key workers when the Crown still owned the land.
The Metropolitan Police also raised objections to the development as the site is bounded by major roads, meaning that any protest outside the Embassy could be unsafe or lead to closure of these routes.
Plans were rejected, revised and re-submitted then rejected again in December 2024. However, there has been significant intervention at government level with the current Foreign and Home Secretaries (David Lammy and Yvette Cooper) both publicly supporting the construction. Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner has ‘called in’ the project and has the power to over-rule Tower Hamlets Council is she believes the project should proceed.
This fine, listed building certainly needs significant investment to preserve an historic site as part of the capital’s dynamic history but it remains in the balance as to whether or not this ambitious proposal will go ahead.
