Bloomsbury

Understand

Bloomsbury is a vibrant historic district made most famous by a group of turn-of-the-century writers that included Virginia Woolf and EM Forster (the "Bloomsbury Set"), economist John Maynard Keynes and the artist Roger Fry. It is also the location of the British Museum, the campus of University College London and numerous historic homes, parks, and buildings. Fitzrovia is to the west of Bloomsbury. The border between these 2 districts is the Gower Street–Bloomsbury Street axis. Allegedly, Fitzrovia was named after the Fitzroy Tavern. The BBC's New Broadcasting House is at the western end of this district.

Getting there

By tube Bloomsbury can be easily accessed from several convenient tube stations as follows:

Euston (Northern and Victoria lines) Euston Square (Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines) Goodge Street (Northern line) Great Portland Street (Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines) Holborn (Central and Piccadilly lines) King's Cross St Pancras (Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Northern (Bank Branch), Piccadilly and Victoria lines – yes, that many!) Oxford Circus (Bakerloo, Central and Victoria lines) Russell Square (Piccadilly line) Tottenham Court Road (Central, Northern and Elizabeth lines) Warren Street (Northern and Victoria lines)

By train Nearby Camden has 3 mainline rail stations within walking distance: King's Cross, Euston and St. Pancras International. Euston is the terminus of the London Overground Lioness line LIO (formerly Watford DC line) from Watford Junction via Willesden Junction. Tottenham Court Road is on the Elizabeth line from Reading and Heathrow Airport to Shenfield and Abbey Wood.

Getting around

Most of the sites are reachable by foot or a single stop on the tube.

See

Museums and exhibitions

1 British Museum, Great Russell St, WC1B 3DG (tube: Tottenham Court Road CEN NOR ELI ), ☏ +44 20 7323-8000, fax: +44 20 7323-8616, [email protected]. Sa-W 10AM-5:30PM, Th F 10AM-8:30PM; Central Great Court remains open Sa-W until 6PM, Th F until 11PM. A vast repository of the world's cultures, controversially including hundreds of items that were looted from their places of origin. Entire sections are devoted to Egyptian, Greek, and Middle Eastern artifacts, as well as the piece which united them all, the Rosetta Stone. Other items on everyone's list are the largest collection of mummies outside Egypt and the Elgin Marbles. The collection also includes some of the world's finest collections of Chinese and Sub-Saharan African art; perhaps the most famous of the latter are the Benin bronzes. A definite highlight of a trip to London. Temporary exhibitions are invariably excellent and meticulously researched, but can be expensive. It has a fine store, mainly selling replicas of items in the collection. Free for permanent exhibits. (updated Feb 2024) 2 Cartoon Museum, 65 Wells St, W1A 3AE (tube: Oxford Circus BAK VIC CEN ), ☏ +44 20 7580-8155, [email protected]. Tu W F-Su 10:30AM-5:30PM, Th 10:30AM-8PM. A vast collection of cartoons and comics on display with special, often topical, exhibitions. £8.50, concession (60+) £5, students £3, under-18s free. (updated Oct 2022) 3 Charles Dickens Museum, 48 Doughty St, WC1N 2LX (Russell Square PIC ), ☏ +44 20 7405-2127, fax: +44 20 7831-5175, [email protected]. M W-Sa 10AM-5PM (last admission 4:30PM), Tu 10AM-7PM, Su 11AM-5PM (last admission 4:30PM). Museum at the former home of Dickens exhibiting writings, paintings, furniture and other items relating to the writer. £5, students and seniors £4, children £3, families £14 (two adults and up to five children), special group rates apply. 4 Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Sq, WC1N 1AZ (Russell Square PIC ), ☏ +44 20 7841-3600,

Do

1 Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image (BIMI), 43 Gordon Sq, Birkbeck, University of London, WC1H 0PD, ☏ +44 872 148 2992 (premium rate), [email protected]. Cinema owned by Birkbeck, University of London, featuring screenings and lectures. Most events are free but pre-booking is advised. 2 Bloomsbury Theatre, 15 Gordon St, WC1H 0AH (tube: Euston Square CIR H&C MET ). Theatre owned by University College London staging both student and professional productions. Broad range of performances. 3 Dominion Theatre, 268-269 Tottenham Court Rd, W1T 7AQ (tube: Tottenham Court Road CEN NOR ELI ). A large London theatre that tends to show mainstream blockbuster-type musical productions. 4 London Mathematical Society, De Morgan House, 57-58 Russell Square, WC1B 4HS, ☏ +44 20 7637-3686. Based on Russell Square, they give lectures and exhibitions, for those numerically inclined. 5 Curzon Bloomsbury, Brunswick Sq, WC1N 1AW (Russell Square PIC ), ☏ +44 20 7837-8402. Cinema showing arthouse and foreign language films. £3.50-6.80. Walks, ☏ +44 20 7388-8822. Bloomsbury has a number of famous walks that cover the lives and works of the Bloomsbury Group. Bloomsbury Festival. Takes place in the Summer around the environs of Bloomsbury, concentrated in Russell Square, and hosts arts and crafts fair, children's painting classes and dance workshops. The food stalls are good value too.

Buy

Bookshops With University College London being a dominant presence in Bloomsbury, it is no surprise that there are a lot of bookshops. The area around Marchmont St and the Brunswick Centre (north of Russell Sq) rivals Charing Cross Road to be the bookshop capital of London.

1 Gay's the Word, 66 Marchmont St, WC1N 1AB (tube: Russell Square PIC ), ☏ +44 20 7278-7654, [email protected]. M-Sa 10AM-6:30PM, Su 2-6PM. The leading gay-related bookshop in Britain. It has been around since 1979, during which time it has been closely linked with LGBT rights and other activism, including the 'Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners' campaign in the 1980s. Visitors will find fiction books and a large academic stock. 2 Judd Books, 82 Marchmont St, WC1N 1AG (tube: Russell Square PIC ), ☏ +44 20 7387-5333, [email protected]. M-Sa 11AM-7PM. Large stock of used, remaindered and academic books especially in the fields of architecture, history and philosophy. 3 Persephone Books, 59 Lamb's Conduit St, WC1N 3NB (tube: Russell Square PIC ), ☏ +44 20 7242-9292. Specialises in 20th-century fiction by women writers. 4 Skoob, 66 The Brunswick, WC1N 1AE (tube: Russell Square PIC ), ☏ +44 20 7278-8760, [email protected]. Wide selection of second-hand academic books, philosophy, modern literature and classics. Very popular with students. 5 Collinge & Clark, 13 Leigh Street, WC1H 9EW (tube: Russell Square PIC ), ☏ +44 20 7387-7105, [email protected]. Specialises in graphic design and typography. It was also used as an exterior location for the Channel 4 sitcom Black Books. (updated Jun 2022) 6 Treadwell's Books, 33 Store Street, WC1E 7BS London (tube: Tottenham Court Road CEN NOR ELI ), [email protected]. M-Sa noon-7PM, Su noon-6PM. Bookshop specialising in esotericism, occultism and magic. Also offers tarot readings. (updat