The London Nobody Knows

by Geoffrey Fletcher

Geoffrey Fletcher’s off-beat portrayal of London does not focus on the big landmarks, but rather ‘the tawdry, extravagant and eccentric’. His descriptions will transport you to an art nouveau pub, a Victorian music hall, a Hawksmoor church and even a public toilet in Holborn in which the attendant kept goldfish in the cisterns. Drawn to the corners where ‘the kids swarm like ants and there are dogs everywhere’, Fletcher will take you to parts of the city where few outsiders venture.Originally published in 1962, in 1967 The London Nobody Knows was turned into an acclaimed documentary film starring James Mason. This book has been a must-have for anyone with an interest in London ever since, and will surprise even those who think they know it well today. Many of the places written about are sadly no more, but the sights and sounds of Fletcher’s London are preserved in this classic book through his beautiful illustrations and eye for the unusual and striking.

Genres: London, Nonfiction, History, Travel, British Literature

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

Reviews

[Gerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely little book - written in 1960 about lots of the personal favourite things of the author in London at the time. I discovered this when Dan Cruikshank did a radio show earlier this year re-visiting some of them now to see if they were still there and what they were like.

Read now, with the help of the internet for some background research, leads to a fascinating insight into lots of different parts of our history, from the great Victorian philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts, and her home on the Holly-Lodge Estate Highgate (which I drive past most days) to the Penfold Post Box (one of a hexagonal design and a crown on top) to the magnificient Music Hall theatres that dotted all over a London past (especially the beautiful Bedford theatre in Camden High Street, which existed at the time the book was written but pulled down soon afterwards and now has a Somerfield on the site).

Fltecher's illustrations are okay, but his prose is wonderful - if a bit pompous - particularly the scene where he imagines what sort of office building he'd have (a gothic one) as opposed to most office buildings.

One wonders how architecture and its needs might change over the next 100 years - could office buildings become a relic of a bygone age with everyone working from home?

Thoroughly recommended. If you have a day to spare in London, get a copy and read it first, then set off to see some of the sights contained within.

[TyLean · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a wonderful little find this book was. I checked it out from the library after coming across it's video counterpart posted on Youtube.

I'm afraid, however, that as magnificent the concept or beautifully worded, I must deduct two stars from my rating. One star is lost for being too brief, and another star is lost for being too tedious. This is the first book I have encountered that is - paradoxically - too brief AND too tedious. If it had twice the number of pages, I would have read it in half the time.

I was born 20 years after this book was published and grew up 3,500 miles from London. I know several of the areas quite well, yet I struggled to paint the images of what they use to look like in my mind - even with the sketches and having seen the video. There is not enough description, and a knowledge of architecture that I do not possess is assumed. Descriptions of buildings are quite often likened to the architectural styles of people I never heard of and know nothing about, which is hardly helpful. Fletcher also has a tendency to dismiss further elaboration by stating that a book could be written about it. I find this as pathetic and lazy a comment from someone who is - indeed - writing a book on the very topic as a writer who uses the phrase, "words cannot describe."

All the same, I'm very grateful such a book was written and published full of such fascinating gems.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Geoffrey Fletcher was a twentieth century journalist and sketcher of sites in London that even at the time (this book first published in 1963) were considered insignificant and unnoteworthy. He felt the need to collect the prosaic and the unlovable. Some of the things pointed out to us are 18th century bits and bobs on buildings, the last of the gas lamps and cast iron street urinals and a few remaining junk shops. He points out “cardboard medievalism...I (the author) like in the same way that I like a bad painting.” This must have been an unusual point of view at the time, although I think there are more lovers of the offbeat and unlovable now. It is certainly worth reading. Two of the best things about the book are the author’s drawings and the short foreword by Dan Cruikshank.

[Martin Castle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book and one that was recommended to me. I had seen the film that was made in 1969 based on the book with James Mason narrating and loved it and would recommend to seek it out as I can imagine none of the buildings spaces etc exist anymore. This book format is similar to a book I read last year “ Back To The Local” with great narrative and line drawn illustrations. It’s certainly a quirky book and one to be enjoyed.

[Monika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book in 2025 feels a bit like I’m late to the party. I’ve researched nearly all the places/points of interest mentioned in the book and unfortunately, apart from churches and some pubs/eateries, there aren’t that many places left in London anymore which is obviously sad but London changes at speed of light every year.

[Candy Wood]

First published in 1962, this book describes a London that is mostly gone, and the long preface to the 1989 edition lists many examples of curiosities that had already disappeared. That means it is useful more as a record of the past than as a guidebook to exploring present-day London, although as Fletcher says, there's always something new to discover. By new, though, he usually means old, most often Victorian. Curiously, he never mentions the Blitz directly: only a few references to buildings restored after war damage remind readers that many of the changes in the physical structure of the city were necessitated by bombing destruction. For him, modernization means loss of character (but would the "girl" working in his ideal office, using nineteenth-century telephone and typewriter, and wearing a long skirt, agree?). Other examples of bias--class, gender, anti-American--abound, but text and drawings do preserve some interesting features of London.

[Yooperprof · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice addition for a library of "Londoniana". Fletcher was nostalgic about the "rapidly disappearing London" he had known in his youth, in the early part of the 20th century. Of course, London has been "rapidly disappearing" for a very long time - at least since 1666. Fortunately, Fletcher was a gifted illustrator, and this book is enriched by dozens of the author/artist's wonderfully atmospheric sketches.

My favorite chapter is the one dedicated to a tour of London's public lavatories!

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

c1962. What this book was really missing was an index. There are some wonderful titbits of information not readily available anywhere else but without an index it is impossible to remember all of them. Well written with a lovely sense of humour and, although somewhat dated now, is a lovely memoir of a personal view of London. The sketched illustrations are lovely too. If you can find a copy - recommended. I was lucky enough to find it in a charity sale.

[Stevie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 starts.
I nice little book about little known areas of London. Sadly, this book is from the 1960s, so probably most of those houses and pecularities are gone by now. But the drawings are great and make you want to go to London now and have a look if you can still find it. Very nicely written, a good read.