The City Corporation’s programme to develop and market the Square Mile as a leisure destination.
Update : I developed a set of pages on this wiki bringing together official reports, articles and blog posts about Destination City for the November 7 event. The meeting with about 100 residents prompted a lively discussion – see note at the end. On November 7 the Destination City team will hold their first public … Continue reading “Invitation to first public meeting about Destination City”
Update: I’ve developed a set of pages on this wiki bringing together official reports, articles and blog posts about Destination City together with questions that I think might arise at the November 7 event. As I reported in this post, the Barbican Library is planning a community hub that will include ways for residents to share information … Continue reading “Piloting a community information hub”
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 … Continue reading “Pearly Kings and Queens and the Sheep Drive show City’s authentic culture and heritage”
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 … Continue reading “Sheep Drive and Livery Fair”
New plans for a community hub in the Barbican Library include ways for residents to share information more effectively, engage with the Corporation’s Destination City programme, and try out enhanced digital technologies. The hub is part of a general Refresh for the library. The hub ideas go back to some work I did last year … Continue reading “Barbican Library plans innovative community information hub”
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, … Continue reading “After the Fair is over”
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 … Continue reading “A website for Cloth Fair, Bartholomew Fair and The City Courant”
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 … Continue reading “Destination City: good for visitors … what about residents too?”
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, … Continue reading “Ten Ages of London – a great Square Mile wander from Londonist”
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 … Continue reading “Destination Square Mile needs support for wandering about”