MM4.Travel

London – Day Thirty Nine

Wednesday October 9 2024

This was our very last day in London, and of the trip, so what do you do? Look for buttons obviously. Marnie had been looking for a particular type of button in NZ & had no luck, but before we left she found a place in London that specialises solely in buttons. Not only that, this place had been around for over one hundred years & was well known for supplying buttons to broadway productions. We imagined a potentially charming oldie-worldie Hogwart-esque store that would be a cornucopia of clasps, snaps & fasteners.

Fitzrovia

We jumped on the Tube to Fitzrovia on our button hunt. Fun fact about Fitzrovia is that it’s named after a pub, the Fitzroy Tavern.

The front door of the Hogwarts-haberdashery, Charles Dickens even lived there.

Unfortunately the button shop was less Hogwarts and more Steptoe & Son. As such it was less charming, and more health hazard, featuring a 1970s era suspended ceiling and shelving that looked like it was about to collapse on itself. Despite that Marnie was able to find buttons.

All Souls Church

After grabbing lunch & digesting the weird button shop experience, we headed to the nearest Tube Station on Oxford Street.

Just so you don’t forget he’s the architect, he has his own memorial there too.

Broadcasting House

The original Art Deco building is on the left was built between 1928-32 & was designed by George Val Myer. To the right is the John Peel Wing, built in 2005 designed by Sie Richard MacCormac.