This year marks the 51st anniversary of when the wholesale market ceased trading and moved to the Battersea/Vauxhall area . The tour charts the evolution of Covent Garden, incorporating the piazza, the wholesale produce market, social residential areas and supporting neighbourhoods, and highlighting the social and commercial highs, lows and challenges. Contact tonyganio@gmail.com

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Just steps from Trafalgar Square, is Benjamin Franklin House, the world's only remaining Franklin home. For nearly sixteen years between 1757 and 1775, Benjamin Franklin – scientist, diplomat, philosopher, inventor, and Founding Father of the United States – lived behind its doors. Built circa 1730, we are a Grade I listed house, with largely original flooring and wall paneling.

Henry Flitcroft, 1730

HQ of professional and examining body for UK optometrists occupying two terraced houses, No. 41 (Flitcroft c1730 with later additions) and No. 42 (rebuilt by Tarmac plc, c1989 with rear extension over the former back yard) including Council Chamber, Georgian-style print room, modern meeting spaces, recording studio, academic library and refurbished museum.

Henry Flitcroft, 1730

One of Britain's finest churches, built in the Italian Baroque tradition and beautifully restored in 2008. Sustainable features include new heating and management systems and lightwell. RIBA Award Winner 2009. Civic Trust Award Winner 2010.

James Gibbs, 1726

Three centuries of Quakers in Westminster. Opened in 1883, with front doors added in the 1920s. It was bomb-damaged in 1941 and rebuilt in 1956. Grade II listed registered place of worship, it contains a peaceful meeting room and 1950s wood panelling and fittings.

W. W. Lee and J. A. Tregelles, 1883

Sir Howard Hodgkin (1932 – 2017) was one of England’s most celebrated contemporary artists. Abstracted yet allusive, apparently spontaneous but in fact highly controlled, his paintings convey feeling through gesture and colour. His former studio, converted from a nineteenth-century dairy, sits in the heart of Bloomsbury.

This special occasion marks Somerset House's transformation from government offices to an internationally acclaimed cultural hub, inviting visitors to explore rarely seen spaces and engage with our vibrant creative community.

Sir William Chambers, 1775

A Church of Scotland in London, home to the longest-established Presbyterian congregation in London, worshipping in this location in Covent Garden since 1719. The current building is red brick with Portland stone dressings in a restrained, finely crafted Free Style. Three storeys, recessed slated attic, mullioned and transomed windows. Fine stained glass, most of which is by Farrar Bell.

Eustace Balfour, 1909

Canada's diplomatic home in the United Kingdom, the revitalised Canada House serves as a showcase for the very best of Canadian art and design in the 21C.

Sir Robert Smirke, 1823

Westminster’s grand Old Admiralty Building is the backdrop to many of the UK’s most important ceremonial events. Within its walls some of the most significant – and classified – events in the 20th-century history have happened including the idea behind Operation Mincemeat. Have a chance to look inside a part of this fantastic Grade II Listed Building including the Government Art Collection.

Leeming and Leeming of Halifax, 1894

Step behind the scenes at London Film School, one of the world’s most renowned film institutions. Just a stone’s throw from Covent Garden. Shelton Street was a banana warehouse, then 70s wasteland before it had a new era as a film school in London's creative heart. Our new venue on Parker Street has recently been converted into bespoke film studios. Come and take a tour and join the workshop!

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