A comprehensive look at a world renowned city of great cultural and historical importance. This book taught me so much about I city I have visited multiple times but apparently never truly seen. The photography is fantastic, with a beautiful quality and variety of pictures showcasing all aspects of London. There is also an abundance of information on a spectrum of topics, all of which have clearly been researched with an inquisitiveness and genuine passion which is conveyed to the reader.

The sub-title of this book is "Secret, surprising and unusual places to discover in the Capital." It highlights little known but very interesting sites around London. I wish there was more of a description of each highlighted site. Well illustrated.

An engaging book which explores places and buildings in London using beautiful photographs. It made me want to go and visit these places myself. This book is a great addition to any library or coffee table.

SYNOPSIS

London Explored is a pictorial documentation of some of the diverse, hidden, and historically significant locations around the Capital of England. Peter and Mark cover a broad range of skillfully captured venues; places that include: religious and industrial sites, privately owned historical homes, as well as museums and gallerias. Some of the locations have restricted access and require special permission to enter. The authors include the access times in the accompanying guide located in the margins.

Included in the book are 213 images of the interiors and exteriors of sixty unique, occulted, lesser known London tourist locations. The catalogue includes the secret underground bunker where Churchill would reluctantly wait out the repeated air raids during the Battle for Britain. World War Two locations factor heavily with Biggin Hill being my personal favorite. Other military locations include The Old Royal Navy College, and for those who savor some images of the many Royal Air Force stations, there is the Bentley Priory Museum.

The images are accompanied by written descriptions and anecdotal stories describing the cultural and historical importance of each location. Patrons of the arts and architecture are bound to enjoy the wide variety architectural photographs; be they elitists or mundane.

CONCLUSION

London Explored provides those with enquiring minds a safe, convenient and informative means to explore Great Britains capital city. The metropolis of London is congested with tourist sites, and the major attractions are often over-subscribed. London Explored provides a large selection of alternative locations for prospective visitors. With this coffee-table book, the reader can explore the city in the comfort of their own armchair.

What sets London Explored apart from other works of its ilk, is the unique sites the author’s chose to include. Many of the most popular London tourist attractions are either historically important or elitist. It was an inspired choice to take the reader on trails less travelled but every bit as interesting and potentially more important from a cultural perspective.

The photography is faultless, and the accompanying accreditations and additional information provide an important context.

I suggest that if you want to know a little bit more about the hidden life of London, consider taking a look at my London A-Z review; where I take an irreverent look at my time spent there and some, not so well-known facts of the highways and byways of good old London Town.

Since this is the year that our family is finally going to Explore London, I was excited to read London Explored and I found it an enjoyable read, full of hidden London gems. I have added many places mentioned in the book to my list of places to visit. The beautiful photos really add a nice visual as well to this travel guide. A great tool in planning any London adventure whether it is a return visit or your first time, this book is certain to give you a few exciting ideas.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group-White Lion for the ARC.

London Explored is one of the most well-done historical travel books that I've read. The photography is incredible (and there are many photos), and there is something for you whether you live in London, visit occasionally, or have never been there. I really appreciated that the authors featured several place that the public typically aren't allowed to go, it sets the book apart from other London books!

I was genuinely excited when I was given this book to review. I love London, but don't visit as much as I wish i could. This book lets you properly explore London. Great photos, great detail and one I will buy so I can explore London even when I'm not actually there. Thank you for this book!

Disclaimer: Due to a Netgalley Shelf LCP error, I was unable to finish this book past 40%. so am reviewing based on what I read. Consequently, I won't be able to review the book on Goodreads unless I can access a copy and complete it - however, I will review what I've read so far here.

3/5 - Liked it.

My instinct is to rate this book a little lower based on what I've already read, but given some promising entries I am giving the section I did not read the benefit of the doubt and raising my rating from 2 (it was okay) to 3. The reason my initial rating was lower is because I typically read city books with the goal of visiting and exploring that city - currently I spend much of my year in London, so have been reading these books to find new places to visit in London. This book was unique in that it presented many places which are not accessible to an average visitor - for example, Annabel's or a secret parking lot for extremely expensive cars somewhere in Mayfair. The beautiful façade of Annabel's, which is actually publicly available to visitors, was also not mentioned, which in my opinion was a missed opportunity to give readers something they can actually visit. There were many of these entries and while they were interesting, they weren't what I was looking for.

However, towards the middle of the book, there were more entries that I liked and wrote down as potential places to explore - for example, I never knew that the London Library had evening bookings available for casual visitors, what the details in the Natural History Museum's Hintze Hall symbolised, or about the Museum of Brands in Notting Hill! I did feel like the book generally began to "pick up steam," so I did not want to leave it with a 2 star rating.

Overall, I did like the writing and the photos, but felt that I did not enjoy the book as much as I could have because I could not see how I could access many of the locations. However, this opinion had already begun to shift and might have changed entirely if I could have completed the book. I would definitely read books by this author in the future and complete this book if I got a copy.

A beautiful and informative book that will open your eyes to parts of London and places that aren't on the major tourist routes. The photographs are stunning and make you want to read more about the places listed in the book.

A perfect book for anyone bored with London or looking to find hidden gems.

I was given a copy of London Explored by NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

This book is illustrated with stunning pictures of buildings and sites from all over London. Some are well-known, such as St. Paul's Cathedral, others are hidden gems (the Cyrstal Palace tube station). Each has a short but thorough essay accompanying the pictures giving you insight into the building and its history.

The buildings cover a range of history from Roman ruins to modern skyscrapers. They cover museums, markets, houses, churches, and more.

You'll love this look into many corners of The City.

I have been to London several times, although (obviously during COVID) not recently, and I thought I had a bit of a grip on what there was to see in London. Little did I know that I was just scratching the surface. “London Explored: Secret, Surprising and Unusual Places to Discover in the Capital”, with photographs by Peter Dazeley and commentary by Mark Daly, shows me a part of this world capital that very rarely makes it onto the tourists’ radar, or (I would venture to guess) even onto the locals’ travels.

Sure, there are some of the expected guidebook sites, such as the Natural History Museum, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and Prince Albert Memorial, but even those are seen through a fresh perspective or capture some little bit of history/trivia. But most of the book (and gorgeous photos) is dedicated to off-the-beaten path exploration, many of which aren’t even open to the public. Some of my favorites include the Crystal Palace Subway station, the London Library, and the Metropolitan Police Vehicle Collection, but there are many, many more that are worthy of exploration and admiration.

And some you can only admire from afar: the biggest drawback to this collection is that many of these gems are not open to the public, or are for members only, or only open on special occasions/events. So unfortunately, your exploration will probably be limited to the outstanding photos of Mr. Dazeley.

So enjoy the views of the OXO tower interior or Alexander Pope's grotto, and start figuring out who can get you in there! But until then, and until you can safely visit the UK and see the Sewing Machine Museum or Oval Cricket Ground in person, enjoy this armchair travelogue.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Quatro Publishing Group – White Lion via NetGalley. Thank you!

London is my favourite city, and it will always be my favourite city! The stunning photos in this book and information about quirky and little-known places, as well as haunts of the rich and famous, such as the sumptuous nightclub Annabel's, only makes me long to visit again.

An excellent choice if you want to explore London further.

EDITION Hardcover

ISBN 9780711240353

PRICE $50.00 (USD)

Best arm chair escapism! I loved the quirky places you could explore through the stunning photos and just right amount of explanation. Perfect just to enjoy but also pick out places to see for yourself.

This well organized book sets up points of interest for just about anyone (architecture, history, literary buffs, gearheads, etc.). Find out that the real historic John Snow really DID know something! Locations are organized by areas and listed hopefully in an index at the end. Images are included of some of the sites to be seen. This would make a great starting point for a scavenger hunt around greater London on a group or family trip.

It was an excellent way to travel to London and discover new places that I will surely add to my list the day I can go back.
Some places are quite well known, other were new to me.
Lovely illustrations and interesting texts.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A beautifully photographed book of unique places in London.From the gorgeous Annabel’s to the fantastic London blibrary.Anyone who is planning a trip to London or if your an armchair traveler this is a lovely book to spend time with.#netgalley #quartobooks

I loved this book. It was quite a nostalgic experience looking at the photos in this beautiful book. I lived in London for over a decade and had visited many of the landmarks and buildings. There are also beautiful photographs of buildings not normally open to the public e.g. Lloyd’s of London - only opening for events like Open House London.

There were some buildings and locations that I just didn’t know existed e.g. Crystal Palace Subway and I relished having the opportunity to pore over the photos.

Definitely a book for anyone who loves London or has an interest in architecture / design.

Huge thanks to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group for making this ARC available to me.

Thank you NetGalley for my review copy

This book came up as if reading my mind when I was planning my trip to London after a long 8 years. I was born and raised in London, so I was interested in knowing what places the photographer could show me that I hadn’t already seen or heard of. There were a few but not many accessible to see in person unfortunately.
Photography was great, nevertheless but I was a little bit uninspired by about 60% of the places. Probably good for tourists but not for Londoners (previous or current)

Highly successful, even if my digital review copy gave a horrendous resolution to the photos involved, this book does what it wants in revealing unexplored London. And the Natural History Museum, and St Paul's. No, this has a great handle on what is the obscure, the unobtainable and the much forgotten, so the (replica of the?) original water handpump that taught us about cholera is here, the London Library that you can only get a sniff at through membership or certain events, and specialist clubs, are all revealed here, and it just goes on and on. Heck, I can't ever remember actually stopping to look at Liberty's, let alone many of the other less accessible locales.

Both the text and the images give a hint as to why the most commonly visited sites also feature here – they're here, say, for the London history buff not aware Special Ops designed bombs and trained in the NHM, and for the scientist not allowed to see the stacks of stuffed giraffe heads and so much else held in storage. Immediately following that is a storage for hypercars, and a place for your £1m wheels to have a home in London. Forget the line that says 'if you have to ask how much it is, it's not for you,' here it's a case of 'if you have to ask where the bloody thing is, it's not for you.'

Speaking of getting in to these places, what this isn't is a gazetteer about how to gain entry. The Crosby (Moran) Hall and the OXO tower interior would both be wonderful destinations, but there's no mention as to whether tourists are allowed (I think they're not). Alexander Pope's grotto, now stuck under a school, does open occasionally, but you'll have to have a friend in Google to find out when. But no, this is much more concerned with the postcard – the primer to the site, hopefully gearing you to be interested in it, which it nearly managed even with the Oval cricket ground. It's not definitive, it's not one to carry around and be a completist over, but as a fun browse it certainly succeeds. Wonderful photos and a firm sense of what trivia and historical detail works make this a hit.

Thank you White Lion for the opportunity to review London Explored. My main criticism was that I had to read this beautifully illustrated coffee table book on a tablet when clearly it needs to be appreciated in printed form.

As a student of London, there's always something new to discover, and I found this book a mine of information. It features many of the more familiar London icons, but includes the less familiar from the Gateshead Shield used to tunnel the early Tube to the London Sewing Machine Museum each described perfectly by Mark Daly.

Each bite-sized summation could standbon its own, but it is Peter Dazeley's sumptious photographs which sets the book apart from many London guides.