Unveiling London's Lost Wych Street: A Blast from the Past

Delve into the forgotten world of London's Wych Street, a vibrant thoroughfare swallowed by time. @blastsfromthepast explores its fascinating history, from its medieval origins to its dramatic disappearance. This captivating documentary unveils the lives, businesses, and events that once flourished on this lost street, offering a glimpse into a bygone era.

[@ianrogerburton1670]

FIVE STARS to this beautifully presented documentary of one of London´s fascinating lost corners ! No silly gimmicks, no childish hyperbolic narration, no distracting and nauseating messing about with computer panning and spins - just a perfect example of how videos should be made ! Keep up the great work !

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

Thank you so much

[@andrewronniedoc]

Thanks, Dad.

[@angelaegan7511]

I hope you're a history teacher. Schools need people like you to bring history to life. Well done and thank you for this.

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

Thanks so much for saying, however I'm sure that real history teachers may have something to say about that... Ha

[@angelaegan7511]

@@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST Indeed they would, they'd be jealous of your skills!

[@naradaian]

Rubbish - actually filming fill scenes of a CoE vicar with a supposed Rosary which are really a set of Muslim tasbih beads suggests we left Kansas sometime ago

[@aclark903]

@@naradaianAnglo Catholic Anglicans are sufficiently high church to use rosaries 📿, I believe. Also see #StDominic.

[@scottpannell2286]

I was fortunate enough to have 2 history teachers at school who were the best at their subject in the school. Endless enthusiasm always had me hooked. Led to me becoming an archaeologist.

[@debbiemurray5506]

I'm such a sucker when it comes to nostalgia, buildings were so characteristic years ago,I find no modern buildings give the same ambience.

[@earthdakini]

Agree 100%

[@caroleast9636]

Modern buildings don’t last much longer than those old slums. Even though they seem to be built to last…blink and they’re gone. We’re in the “throw away” age, even with buildings

[@popshaines5492]

Nostalgia like architecture is not what it used to be.

[@Thelma7361]

My grandparents use to run an old pub in Victoria next to the Victoria Palace Theatre. The pub and the block was demolished and now it’s some seriously ugly office building with all the chain shops below that are literally only 50 meters away in every direction. This recreation crap will kill our tourist industry. They’ve kept the theatre but it’s now dwarfed but really ugly buildings.

[@stevenweasel2678]

@@Thelma7361so sad/ planners and city architects, all that matters to them is Modernity

[@Geffo555]

Really enjoyed that. I'm getting on now and I've seen how quickly London sheds its skin. I was a motorcycle messenger back in the 80s. And I would whizz along Fleet Street and the Strand at crazy speed. All 20 MPH these days, and part pedestrianised. I understand the need to modernise, but a bit of me aches for the vibrant 80s. The rush and bustle of being young. I imagine the ghosts of Wych Street would feel the same.

[@fellspoint9364]

Indeed they do….

[@yves2694]

I get that completely. We would park on the road in Soho, park outside the cinema in Leicester Square. Drive right round Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park Corner with no traffic lights. Park anywhere in Covent Garden. When parking meters arrived in a few places, my fingernails were long enough to push into the coin slot, which I did for fun as we walked along the road giving the cars maximum time. The late 60s and 70s.

[@user-ws1qf7ol4k]

​@@yves2694Reminds me of the old parts of Boston USA. New England!!! I remember horse driven wagons in the fifties. When we were young!!!!!!

[@Geffo555]

@@yves2694 I remember Hyde Park Corner before traffic lights. It was a bit like the arena scene in Ben Hur.

[@skymanifest8339]

Most of this need to modernise is a product of developers and corrupt politicians, brainwashing us into thinking that 'change' is necessary. I understand that slums need to be cleared, but we've lost significant architectural gems because cultural vandals were motivated by greed.

[@sian2337]

I just can’t get enough of videos like this. I am fascinated by the London of the past, I just wish I could step through one of the photos and experience the sights, sounds and smells. I used to work in Covent Garden, I loved it.

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

Thank you so much. I feel the same way!

[@boobootheballbreaker2092]

So am I!!! I am from Australia, and have visited 3x, 4 if you include a day over en-route to Croatia. London is my favourite city. So many great museums, Museum Of London Docklands, Clink, Postal Museum, Cutty Sark, Dickens, Keats.... I would love to go back in time to Victorian London and Medieval London, and I would love to witness Boudica in action!

[@carolinelowings7501]

Absolutely! And in my mind it’s the smells that would really bring it to life, although I would imagine they were quite unpleasant most of the time 🙈

[@jackjames3190]

As a Londoner born and bred it’s fascinating to still learn something entirely new about one’s home City, bravo 👏

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

Thank you for saying!

[@didntlistendad]

@@BLASTSFROMTHEPASTit’s the best about Wych St I’ve seen. Would you consider doing Drury Lane? My bootmaker ancestors worked there. Some lived in Wych St. Others in Browns Buildings, Little Wild St. The latter at one end was the black bit on the poverty map- so poor as to be morally incorrigible. I’m hoping my rellies were closer to Drury Lane 😊

[@boobootheballbreaker2092]

Greatest city in the world! 🥰a fan from Australia

[@erikexplores]

What we lack in todays cities is aesthetics. Look how charming the streets looked back then! Lovely shopfronts, no parked cars, no markings on the roads, elegant and well proportioned street lamps, cobblestones etc etc. Find an old picture of any London street and compare it to how it looks today - even if buildings survived the ravages of time and war, you will find that that street looks worse today!

[@russcooke5671]

You should take a walk into the temple. It’s not changed in hundreds of years. It’s like going back in time. It’s like a small ancient town placed in the middle of London.

[@Antikyth]

I think the current look is still very pretty and far better than can be found in many other cities. I'm not saying it looks better than it used to, but I am saying that I would *love* to have anywhere that looked anywhere near as nice in my city.

[@oldpossum57]

Thank you! My 5x great-grandfather kept a bookbinding shop in Little Shire Lane, off Ship’s Yard, a bit to the NE of Wych Street, which had also escaped the 1666Fire I think.. That neighbourhood was pulled down in the 1840s, for the eventual construction of the Courts. Thus no photos, few illustrations. Your old images of Wych Street give me a sense of where he and his wife lived. Cheers!

[@maxcordell1]

The amount of research you must have done to produce this is incredible.

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

It was like a rabbit hole. Every time I read another piece, it led to many more. What a shame it's gone

[@susanr.562]

Thank you for this wonderfully put together ‘window on the past’! You’ve done an excellent job on bringing it’s past to life!

[@jonathancollard3710]

A lovely travel back in time; informed narrative and great photos 👍.

[@barbaramattei4747]

This makes me so sad and mad. London is such an old city yet barely anything of the old town parts survive

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

I was sad as I walked through Soho the other day and I barely recognised it from only 10 years ago. It's what inspires me to explore what is left before it all changes again

[@frankbiddulph2207]

This is an excellent film. Like jumping on a time machine to a tantalising glimpse of old London.

[@garthl2954]

What a stunning trip into London's history!! Thank you, from a foreigner who may never get back to London but can at least absorb the city and its past history, tales and legends thru good people like yourself!!

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

Thank you! I'll endeavour to get more out so you can spend another ten minutes in London

[@johnellis7445]

Am in, and have just prescribed for more.Thank you for sharing this story and linking up the past with present day London . Love your voice and the piano playing at the end.

[@PeterLewis-op5gk]

Excellent presentation!.. really enjoy nostalgia of these old buildings of the past and what life was like, unfortunately a lot of the newer replacement buildings they put up instead after knocking many character buildings down have about as much character as a chip !. More like this please 👍

[@brucevair-turnbull8082]

I'm currently reading Roy Porter's excellent 'London: a Social History' so your post brings some of the streets he describes to life.

[@boobootheballbreaker2092]

Currently reading Everyday Life In Victorian London, then London Fog!

[@editaedita473]

This was so great! Thank you for the insight. I really appreciate it.

[@deborahmorgan6848]

Wonderful, so interesting and brilliantly filmed.

[@earthdakini]

Shame about the great fire & subsequent losses of ancient streets & buildings. How much more organic & human sized those medieval / Elizabethan streets were. Europe has done a wonderful job of preserving its medieval towns & cities . Fascinating photographs , lovely video. 💕

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

So true. I'm just glad that they waiting til photographs had been taken before knocking it all down, so we can imagine what pre-fire London was like. As you say though, there are plenty of surviving buildings from this period in other parts of the country, including my home town!

[@sian2337]

I always wonder what the City would be like, had the great fire never happened. I know that Wren wanted to completely redesign the area into a grid layout (like New York) …I’m so glad that never happened, I love our winding streets.

[@melancholymelon5316]

This was such a charming video, you gave this lost street so much character, I would have loved to see it.

[@charc9009]

You’ve done an amazing job with this video. Your research is fantastic and I hope to see more like this!!

[@larrybyrne111]

Thank you. Well researched and equally well presented. I really enjoyed that.

[@dannypembroke2372]

I know this area so well. . . . Or so I thought. I’ve been in construction in London since 1976 and held a London Taxi Green Badge since 1992. I will never look at this place the same again. Your article will also help me to accept the changes we are undergoing now without so much fear. The buildings and streets that I adore are the replacements for the ones you have shown us, that someone once adored and probably lamented their destruction. The changes that will take place can, and probably will be adored by someone yet to be born. London. Still evolving.

[@nannynan5893]

I can't even imagine what it would be like to grow up in a place where you could see remnants of every prominent period of history. The oldest man made structures where I live date from the 19th century. Of course, most are of wooden construct and fail to the elements, but those few that survive are pretty humble compared to the relics and history of your home. No matter the size of the city, it hurts to see what you love fall into shambles. Your comment was interesting, nice to hear from someone who is native to London have the same "hometown" feeling.

[@dannypembroke2372]

@@nannynan5893 It is a truly wonderful old city. Rule’s Restaurant opened in 1798 and is still going strong. The Prospect of Whitby Pub in Wapping docklands has been serving Londoners since 1520. The Chelsea Flower Show is in May, and West London stores, bars, restaurants etc are adorned with stunning floral decorations that never fail to blow me away. THATS the best time to visit London, I think. Still a ton of unspoilt structures to stare at. The Luftwaffe rearranged quite a bit of it for us, but even the shrapnel scarred museums have a certain charm now that has been added to their story.

[@boobootheballbreaker2092]

I am from Australia and visited London again last August and September, and finally got to ask a London cabbie about The Knowledge! Wonderful. Last year's visit co-incided with Notting Hill Carnival. Best London visit ever!!!

[@ShaneHampsheirTV]

Superb video, thank you.

[@missdeebates]

Very nicely composed, thank you. You would have loved to wander the streets of Covent Garden, as I did, in 1974. Stepping off of Cambridge Circus/ Shaftesbury Avenue into Neal Street, its shopfronts boarded up in their warehouse dereliction, the barrows of the market traders parked outside them. You took your life in your hands traversing those dark streets after the sun had set, sensible folks avoided the area.

[@a.a.p3254]

Very informative ! Keep them coming. Cheers 🇨🇦

[@Philip8582]

Thank you so much for posting this very well documented piece about Wych street. For years I have been fascinated by this part of lost London and have scoured books for any information on the subject. It's been a long awaited joy to watch!

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

I appreciate that so much and I feel the same way about the city

[@ukbuilt1755]

Brilliantly researched peace of Londons fascinating history

[@sandygalbraith9491]

Thank you. That was very interesting and informative.

[@MarleyBu]

I really love these old buildings and streets. Very atmospheric. 😊

[@johnbruce2868]

Excellent video and fascinating narrative. I'm an historian and I subscribed immediately.

[@alrichmond4341]

Stunning montage of imagery and narrative. It must have taken you hours and hours. Very Very VERY well done. Take a bow.

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

It did but was worth it! Thank you for your kind words, I'm already working on the next one

[@JT-qd2sk]

Really enjoyed this nostalgic trip in to Londons past thank you

[@nannynan5893]

Really nice to be able to see these things that we cant travel to see. Thank you.

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

Thanks for saying! I'm producing the next video as we speak and it will hopefully show you more

[@ossy2k3]

Lovely video. Side note I think thoroughfare is not pronounced “threw” but thuh-row, although I’m happy to be corrected

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

You're correct! It's in the dictionary as a contraction, as throughfare, though I recognise that I should never say it like that again. I blame the West midlands upbringing

[@TheSilvercue]

Fabulous work. I have a deep sense of nostalgia for times I never even experienced. I need help!

[@susannahhunt100]

This is fascinating. Thank you. Love History love Architecture.

[@msjannd4]

This was wonderful, thank you. 😌

[@LanceCorporalKitty]

I love this, thank you so much for making this little video. I live around the corner from Aldwych and I love hearing about the history of London. ❤❤

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

You're lucky! What a place to live

[@ianclark1122]

Excellent work! You have gained one new subscriber.

[@josephinerimmer6888]

Absolutely loved this! Subscribing now!

[@SwimBodyEVill]

Wonderful story telling! Amazing this area survived the Great Fire only to be gentrified later.

[@veronicafullford1697]

This is wonderful - really brings the past alive and blends it into the present.

[@user-mh7fr9dx9y]

Brilliant video thank you. I spent 25 years working in the area being based in Theobalds Road, having no idea of what the area originally looked like.

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

Same! I'm regularly walking down Theobald's road myself. I think Holborn is generally overlooked in London

[@afihaileywibowo1095]

I love this channel, the pictures and how you explain the stories behind them! ❤😊

[@user-tl8zp2vs3e]

Excellent tour and brilliant narrative. Thank you.

[@DarthVader-km6ku]

This was very nice to see. I am particularly fascinated with the history of this area mainly because my family attended St Clement Danes at the same time as Johnson, they owned a bookshop at the sign of Shakespeare's Head in the late 18th century and more recently one of them ran the Aldwych Theatre. I walked this whole area last summer on a fascinating guided tour. Thank you.

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

That's absolutely fascinating! Did you manage to see Johnson's house around ten corner too?

[@DarthVader-km6ku]

@@BLASTSFROMTHEPASTNo sadly I was on a guided tour and we didn't see his house. He used to buy books from the person who owned the bookshop just before my family. My 6x Gt grandfather was a steward at the church when Johnson was a parishioner. All of my family's homes are also gone now. One was right next to the Strand station, the back of it is still there and can be seen on Strand Lane, one backed onto Somerset House's grounds, one was on Holborn. I have a business card for the one on the Strand from 1791.

[@ttp436]

Wow I grew up in Islington and worked, passed through this area multiple times over the years, I never knew all this. Thank you. I really enjoyed getting to find out all of this stuff. I kinda feel abit emotional by it actually.

[@niallgerardoconnellsnr1686]

Thanks for this. Lovely History of Dickensian Times. Love London. Kind regards Niall O'Connell Dundalk Irelande.🌹💞🇨🇮🥰👍

[@freddykabulaschnitza2475]

Absolutely beautiful presentation

[@SaxonSuccess]

A gem of a video, so pleased it turned up for me. Many thanks for taking the time to make it, I would have loved it there.

[@helenfawcett9685]

There was a violin maker in Wych Street 1750 ish- Isaac Carter. This video was a lucky find for me! Thank you.

[@20bluelilies]

What a sad loss. Imagine what a drawcard it would be today if it still existed

[@susan8823]

Beautiful!! So interesting and I love it ❤. 🇺🇸 here and I adore the Old London history

[@lizkinvig3178]

This was great thanks

[@carolinesexplosion]

Loved this video, thank you!

[@stevennash7737]

Beautiful. Very interesting

[@Phohmann]

Fabulous! Thank you.

[@zelly8163]

What an enjoyable and informative little stroll into the past. Thank you so much.

[@goforitbeyourself.suekirk2165]

Really well put together love it x

[@lmb888]

The way you've connected all this information with this beautiful collective of art... Thank you.

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

Thank you so much for saying. I'll continue to explore the local history and get it out there!

[@jonclassical2024]

Very enjoyable and educational, thank you !

[@LeslieDiablerets]

Very well done! An excellent and interesting tour of a piece of our great city's past.

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

You think you know your manor... Thank you so much for this fascinating trip down the streets of the past. So much new to me facts and thank goodness, as you say, for the art of photography ~ although there's a surprising number of watercolours to feast on too. I'm off to watch it all over again, so full it is with enlightening delights.

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

Thank you so much for your kind words and passion for the last!

[@chapman_bookman]

Excellent video - thank you! Sometimes the KZbin algorithm really does strike gold.

[@usaneebeilles9510]

Amazing work. Thank you for the post. I appreciate your efforts. Good health to you and all🙂 Have a nice day.

[@boobootheballbreaker2092]

My favourite city. I miss it every day. Oh for a time machine🥰🛸Love you London!!!

[@MaiRaven3]

Excellent. I’m glad I found this channel. 👍🏼

[@jackiefox7326]

Really loved your video 😊

[@bronte333]

Excellent. Packed with detail and information. ❤

[@user-pe6hh4rp6c]

Your video is remarkable ❤️ thank you so much

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

So nice of you to say

[@schofe7692]

Great video, nicely done, such a shame and absolutely criminal that they were allowed to demolish all that history.

[@vaslav030547]

Sad in a way to look back at London as it was compared with as it is today. My personal favourite time was the swinging sixties.

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

I'm really fascinated with the 60s too. I might have to delve into it

[@Scriabin28]

Brilliantly done! Thanks very much!

[@alanmoss3603]

That was excellent! Thank you!

[@michaeldunne3379]

This is really good. Keep up the good work.

[@AdventuresofanoldSeadog]

Brilliant.

[@Brobert7]

Thats was great. You brought the history to life

[@alanpreston3111]

Very very interesting, thankyou 👍🏻😎

[@Ellen24493]

A mini-documentary so good I felt the depressing and run down Victorian era of Covent Garden. 😀

[@i0i]

Fantastic video and really interesting. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of your youtube videos. Can't believe you don't have more than 2k subscribers, perhaps the channel should be called Blasts from Britain's Past, to give it more context.

[@nigelphillips1385]

Excellent informative video thank you for posting

[@GladysAlicea]

Absolutely love this! Likely I’ll never get to see London or England, for that matter, so I’m indebted to you for sharing and doing it in a uniquely lovely manner.

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

Thank you so much, I'm in the last bits of production for the next video and hope it can bring the same feeling as this one;

[@gemellodipriapo]

Thank you!

[@norfolknanny4886]

Really enjoyed this! Love London history. Used to live in the suburbs, some ancestors lived off Drury Lane. You’ve gained a new subscriber. 😊

[@prestonnevlogs1462]

Fantastic video.

[@AlannahRyane]

Brilliant thank you!

[@reptoncreative]

Crazy, I had no idea!

[@carolinemcauliffe-gg4tf]

What a lovely film you’ve made. I was exploring Aldwych last summer as I enjoy following Shakespeare, Pepys and Dickens around London. Sadly even things from my childhood in the seventies are disappearing now so it’s harder to find all the little historic nooks and crannies nowadays.

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

This is so true and I love to hear the living memories of lost London. The 70s sounded like a golden time here and warrants some research I think! The music scene springs to mind

[@Blith_1980]

Very Interesting! More Please.

[@jacquelineharrod6386]

Absolutely fascinating. I began to hunt up all l could find after reading "Where was Wych Street ", a story by Stacy Aumonier. Your posting is very well done. Thank you.

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

I have to admit, that book did come up in my research and I found the references to other parts of London at the time just as compelling

[@jamesellsworth9673]

This is a fine look into the past.

[@f1remandg]

Very interesting and I will visit the area with my cameras whist visiting my son and family on the outskirts of London, Richmond! I have always loved the history of towns having lived in Cheadle Cheshire and worked in and around Manchester in the Sixties and 70s, my Nana mums mum, was born in 1883 and died 1980 at the age of 99 but visited us in Cheadle every Sunday until the age of 89 three bus journeys and a mile walk! I’ll also look at your other work, my mums brother who Nana lived was approached by a group in the late 80s who were collecting photographic history of the area, realising that otherwise it would be lost, my uncle gave them photographic proof sheets that were his father’s who had a studio in Manchester, something I only found out about about 15 years ago, when I was 60.

[@sarahlouise7163]

very interesting!

[@user-yp1mv5nc7z]

Excellent stuff. You have a new subscriber.

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

Awesome, thank you!

[@tonymcdonnly6492]

Very nostalgic, historical preservation of 19th century Victorian England.

[@jec1ny]

Very interesting.

[@gabirohwedder1688]

Very interesting 😊

[@280SE]

Great video. Would love to see more from you 👍🏼

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

Thank you for saying! Just uploaded a new one a couple of days ago actually. Will aim to work a bit faster going forward, the stories seem to unfold as the research shines a light on the subject

[@280SE]

@@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST and 20 mins! I shall watch immediately 👍🏼

[@BLASTSFROMTHEPAST]

@@280SE True gent