Take a modernist piece architecture and a London borough’s commitment to its’ libraries and you get an iconic landmark. This project tells the story of 60 years of Swiss Cottage Library from the perspective of librarians, library users, an architect and a historian.
More info here.
Railway workers at Kings Cross Station tell stories from their working lives from the age of steam to the super fast trains of today. Drivers, guards, cooks, firemen, station announcers and more talk about their work, the skills, the joys and pain and the camaraderie working at ‘the cross’.
More info here.
Stories from London’s dock workers recall their working lives on the huge bustling ports that made up ‘the pool of London’. How the docks provided a living not only to the dock workers but for whole communities before their decline and closure.
More info here.
London’s covered and street markets have been the scene of countless stories played out to the soundtrack of stall holders calling out their wares. In five projects we explore the history of stall holders and customers at some of London's most famous markets.
More info here.
A series of podcasts with owners, chefs, waiting staff and customers of different restaurants in West London to help understand how food culture from around the world has affected London's food outlets and Londoner's eating habits.
More info here.
From your doorstep waste takes many routes. Some to recycling centres but this story shows the journey general waste takes down river to the Energy from Waste facility in Belevedere and the fascianting process it goes through before powering your home.
More info here.
Fleet Street was once lined with factories producing newspapers, employing thousands of printers who worked into the night. We hear from these printers about this bustling time, their skills as well as the bitter ‘Wapping Dispute’ that saw it’s demise.
More info here.
We put London’s hidden projectionists in the interviewee seat to explore their working lives in cinemas across the capital operating film projectors in the Odeons, the BFI, The Rio, The Scala, The Prince Charles and more, highlighting the skills, romance and changes in the job.
More info here.
Postal workers talk about their lives as telegram boys, of delivering mail, driving those iconic red vans, and sorting millions of letters during the Christmas rush, and even the little known postal underground train that ran beneath the streets of the capital.
More info here.
To commemorate 70 years of the National Health Service we interview historians, academics and health workers to build a picture of the forces that led to the establishment of this pivotal institution in Britain and how it developed over the following years.
More info here.
We explore skills and history of textile printing in Crayford which go back beyond the Great Exhibition. In the process we explore the incredible process of block printing and the move towards silk screen printing with interviews with historians and skilled workers.
More info here.
Is there anything more London than the red Routemaster bus? The story of the bus is the story of London, of a bustling city, immigration, changing technology, traffic jams! Hear stories from the workers, the drivers and conductors, the inspectors and mechanics.
More info here.
Have you ever wandered along Savile Row gazing into the beautiful shop windows of the bespoke tailors? Here we enter the world of the workers who make the clothes in the showrooms and workshops, hearing about the skills and challenges of this celebrated London district.
More info here.
Hatton Garden is home to London’s jewellery quarter. We go behind the scenes to explore the history, into the dusty attic and basement workshops, to interview the incredibly skilled people behind some of the most beautiful items made in the capital.
More info here.
How has London has dealt with it’s rubbish over the centuries? Look no further than this project which explore the history going back to Roman times right up to the present with interviews with today’s ‘bin men’ (and women). Oral history, music, animation and more!
More info here.
London is home to some of the most skilled session musicians in the world. Listen to their stories of working in recording studios, running from an advertising jingle in Soho at 8am to record a film score at 10am and then a jazz album in the afternoon.
More info here.
The busy River Thames needed skilled workers to build and maintain the boats and ships that plowed up and down this wonderful waterway. We interviewed boatyard workers about their skills, the boats they worked on and the challenges facing boatyards today.
More info here.
Recalling a time when the East End ports were the ‘larder of London’, the Thames Lightermen (and women), talk about their incredible skills navigating this busy river with barges laden with goods from all over the world. Includes evocative archive 8mm film footage of the working river.
More info here.
How do the drivers of London’s iconic black taxis learn and remember all of those streets and how to get from A to B? Cabbies talk about getting ‘the knowledge’, their working lives going back to the 1950s, the ups and downs of the jobs, bizarre journeys, and Uber!
More info here.
It doesn’t run on electricity, it runs on tea! In another of our ‘transport’ series we explore the history of the tube through the working lives of the workers who make it run, the drivers, engineers and guards as well as some of the passengers stories.
More info here.
Brewing Stories
Explore the history of the Youngs, Fullers and Mortlake breweries from the perspective of the head brewers, the draymen, bottling line workers and office workers. Hilarious tales of mishaps and humour and the working conditions behind the pints that you drink.
More info here.