Category Archives: Destination City

The City Corporation’s programme to develop and market the Square Mile as a leisure destination.

Barts Fair Cloth Fair Destination City

Pearly Kings and Queens and the Sheep Drive show City’s authentic culture and heritage

September 25, 2023 – 12:29 pm

A week after the City Corporation’s £1.3 million Bartholomew Fair ended, two more modest events showed how traditional activities can attract crowds despite relatively little publicity. Yesterday I went to the Pearly Kings and Queens Harvest Festival in Guildhall Yard, while at Southwark Bridge the annual Sheep Drive celebrated the ancient privilege of Freemen of read more »

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Destination City

Sheep Drive and Livery Fair

September 25, 2023 – 12:03 am

Yesterday there were two traditional events in the City of London – the Pearly Kings and Queens Harvest Festival and the Sheep Drive and Livery Fair. I’ve written about the Pearlies here, but didn’t get to the Sheep Drive. Fortunately there’s quite a lot on social media, and I’ve pulled together some content to demonstrate read more »

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Barts Fair Cloth Fair Destination City

After the Fair is over

September 6, 2023 – 5:34 pm

Over on the Cloth Fair site I’ve reported on my research into earlier re-staging of Bartholomew Fair, starting with the big one organised by Barts Hospital in 1923. Senior medics yielded to a session in the stocks. I’ve asked for more info from anyone involved in more recent events, including 1973, 2000 and 2010. Meanwhile, read more »

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Barts Fair Cloth Fair Destination City

A website for Cloth Fair, Bartholomew Fair and The City Courant

August 29, 2023 – 3:57 pm

A new website Clothfair.city tells the story of how a Fair started in 1133 to support Barts church and hospital, but closed in 1855, was relaunched this week both locally and City-wide. The site features articles from a souvenir edition of The City Courant. As I’ve already written, the City Corporation picked up Councillor Matthew read more »

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Culture Mile Destination City Engagement

Destination City: good for visitors … what about residents too?

July 17, 2023 – 3:40 pm

The Culture, Heritage and Libraries committee held a wide-ranging discussion today following a presentation about the vision for Destination City, which I wrote about earlier. Here’s some of the issues, and a suggestion on where best to explore the pros and cons of the programme for residents. Previous post about Destination City vision Presentation slides read more »

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Barts Fair Destination City MotS Walks

Ten Ages of London – a great Square Mile wander from Londonist

July 12, 2023 – 10:09 am

The first edition of the Londonist: Time Machine newsletter provides a brilliant example of the delights of wandering about the City of London, which I wrote about yesterday. Matt Brown offers The Ten Ages of London in One Short Walk starting with Prehistoric London on the banks of the Thames, and walking through Roman, Anglo-Saxon, read more »

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Barts Fair Destination City Walks

Destination Square Mile needs support for wandering about

July 10, 2023 – 12:03 pm

The City Corporation’s programme to attract more visitors is pitched in competition with other London destinations, including Canary Wharf and Covent Garden, as I reported earlier. One destination that might have been mentioned is South Kensington, which has a wide range of cultural attractions. The City prides itself on that too, saying: “It is recognised read more »

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Barts Fair Destination City

First public vision of the Square Mile as Destination City

July 10, 2023 – 7:58 am

The City Corporation has now offered the first public vision of its £2.5 million Destination City programme, which aims to attract visitors whose spending will boost a Square Mile economy hit by working from home. A presentation on the programme shows the City competing for visitors globally with festivals and events in Sydney, New York read more »

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Barts Fair Destination City Engagement

Policy chief commits to engaging residents in Destination City programme

June 30, 2023 – 3:36 pm

The City Corporation has now posted on Youtube a recording of the City Question Time event held with residents earlier this month. I asked about Destination City and Bartholomew Fair – in particular what wider plans beyond the Fair there were for the programme, how to carry forward the promised proposals for better wayfinding, and read more »

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Destination City Engagement

Discussing what planning can do for Destination City

June 27, 2023 – 8:34 pm

This evening’s City of London workshop on Destination City was well-worth attending – even though it turned out that it wasn’t much about Destination City. It was about a Plan. I should have paid more attention to the invitation page, which was clearly headed City Plan 2040 engagement programme. It said that workshops would run read more »

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