The £15.99 illustrated paperback goes on sale on 15 October. Its picks span about 200 years of local building, from an art deco laundry to a windmill.
Four London Guides have turned decades of walking tours into a book about 50 buildings in Brixton and Herne Hill. Titled Brixton and Herne Hill in 50 Buildings, it goes on sale on 15 October 2026 as a £15.99 paperback.
The authors spent many years pointing out notable buildings to walking groups before they started writing. Their selection covers about 200 years of building in the two neighbouring parts of south London. Homes and churches appear next to municipal buildings. Shops and cultural venues are in there as well. Among the less obvious picks are an art deco laundry and a prison. A windmill and a lido also make the list.
Entries run in date order. Each one covers a building’s history and use before looking at its design.
The authors draw a sharp contrast between the two places. They describe Brixton as socially diverse with a lively nightlife. Herne Hill, in their account, has a genteel bohemian feel, with independent shops and homes mostly lived in by their owners. Road and rail link the neighbourhoods. So does the River Effra, which now runs underground.
The book traces how the area grew. In Roman times Brixton was a place people passed through, on a path beside the Effra. Herne Hill stayed as farmland and woods until the late 18th century. Two changes reshaped this corner of south London for good. New bridges were built over the Thames in the 1700s, and the railway arrived in 1862.
The 96-page paperback carries 120 illustrations (ISBN 9781398128088). Amberley Books sells it online. Ebook versions are also on sale in Kindle and Kobo formats, with an iBook edition too.
The book goes on sale on 15 October 2026.
The paperback costs £15.99. Ebook versions are also available.
It covers 50 buildings in Brixton and Herne Hill from about 200 years of local history. Homes and churches appear alongside public buildings, and the picks include an art deco laundry and a lido.
The stage musical based on the 2014 film, about lesbian and gay activists who raised money for striking Welsh miners, comes to London after two sold-out…
The canalside park opened in 1960 on land once covered by a white lead factory and its terraced streets. It took until the late 1970s to…
A 27-metre batik hangs above the nave of St Cyprian's in the Bagri Foundation's first Springboard show, the artist's debut in the UK.
Magritte's paintings hang beside work by more than 40 other artists, from a Jeff Koons locomotive to a bird with a woman's face.
We use strictly necessary cookies to run the site and to remember this choice. With your permission we would also use analytics cookies, to count visits and see which stories are read, and advertising cookies, so the adverts that pay for How2London can be shown and measured. You can accept all, reject all, or choose for yourself. Read our cookie policy and privacy policy.
Needed for the site to work and to remember your cookie choice. Always on, no consent required.
Google Analytics 4 counts visits and shows which stories are read. Without consent it runs without cookies.
Google AdSense cookies, used to show and measure adverts. Our own How2London banners need no cookies and are shown either way.
