Each account is freighted with incident and charm, and the book works beautifully on the level of pure narrative history.

From the Roman marching along the ancient Old Kent Road to the rattling newspaper presses of Fleet Street, from Dickensian iron and fog to the neon lights of the twenty-first century, the game of Monopoly has painted London’s story across cheerful coloured tiles.In a city of rags and riches, where folk hero Dick Whittington believed the streets were paved with gold, anything could happen – and everything has.

I love reading about London and this is an engaging and fresh way to do so (especially if like me you were brought up in the Old Kent Road). No Free Parking starts with a brief introduction to how the London Monopoly streets were most likely chosen, before tackling each street (and utilties and rail) one by one. This is a clever way of publicising the author's worthy and important crusade for London's heritage and against ill-thought planning authority proposals. From the Roman and Celts marching along the ancient Old Kent Road, to the rattling newspaper presses of Fleet Street, the game of Monopoly has painted London's story across cheerful coloured tiles.Informatively, lucidly and entertainingly written, the book takes you through the ups and downs of their history and demonstrates why we should all be concerned for the future of streets, in London and elsewhere. No Free Parking' is an account of London's streets, but it is also a defence and a vindication of them, and of the rich civic life that they have fostered.

The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. To take London’s Monopoly streets as a starting point for an evocation of London urbanism is a witty conceit but it also provides a solid anchor for any constructive understanding of how we human beings live in our streets.I did enjoy it, once I adjusted my expectations from 'interesting fun, fact book with history' to 'history book'. Highly entertaining’ – The Times’A hymn book to the London street’ – TLSFrom the Roman marching along the ancient Old Kent Road to the rattling newspaper presses of Fleet Street, from Dickensian iron and fog to the neon lights of the twenty-first century, the game of Monopoly has painted London’s story across cheerful coloured tiles. From the Roman and Celts marching along the ancient Old Kent Road, to the rattling newspaper presses of Fleet Street, the game of Monopoly has painted London’s story across cheerful coloured tiles.

He has lectured internationally, written for the Spectator, Evening Standard, Times, Sunday Times, Telegraph and Guardian, and been interviewed across TV and radio. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. As the government’s national archive for England, Wales and the United Kingdom, The National Archives hold over 1,000 years of the nation’s records for everyone to discover and use.

Unfortunately we cannot offer a refund on custom prints unless they are faulty or we have made a mistake. He has written for the Spectator, Evening Standard, Times, Sunday Times, Telegraph, The Critic, etc etc, and been interviewed across TV and radio. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.