Event    From /5/1951  To /9/1951

Festival of Britain

'A tonic for the Nation', The Festival was intended to cheer us all up after WW2, and incidentally to celebrate the centenary of the 1851 Great Exhibition. The symbol for the Festival was designed by Abram Games.

All the Festival buildings on the south bank except the Royal Festival Hall have since been demolished and replaced by other buildings forming the much-loved (British irony) arts complex known as The South Bank. The Festival of Britain was a nationwide event with two other sites in London: the Pleasure Gardens in Battersea and the Live Architecture Exhibition in Poplar, originally 'Neighbourhood 9' but then renamed the 'Lansbury Estate', after George Lansbury. Diamond GeezerCaroline's Miscellany and A London Inheritance have all done good posts about this Estate. The City of London laid out a garden beside St Paul's, Festival Gardens.

The Festival Pleasure Gardens were installed in the northern part of Battersea Park. These included a water-garden and a tree-walk. There was also a fun fair on the section between Central Avenue and what is now the children's zoo. The BBC has photos of many of the items.

2019: Ian Visits spotted a Festival of Britain bench in an Essex village.

2019: In the 1957 film 'The Key Man' / 'Life at Stake' (not be be confused with the 1955 film with the same two titles), at about 57 mins, two characters meet in the Thameside Restaurant under Waterloo Bridge, left over from the Festival. This nice piece of modernist architecture remained until 1962.

2023: An email from 'Londonist: Time Machine' reminded us that the recreation of Sherlock Holmes’s study, now to be found upstairs at The Sherlock Holmes pub near Charing Cross, was created for the Festival of Britain. The catalogue of the "Exhibition on Sherlock Holmes" states that it was held at "Abbey House, Baker Street, London NW1, May - September 1951". Often described as Holmes's study, the recreated room is described in the catalogue as his living room.

2025: Ian Visits reported that the escalator at Alperton Station had been taken from the Dome of Discovery at the Festival of Britain.  It had fallen out of use in 1988, was subsequently decommissioned and is now set to be replaced with a lift.

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Festival of Britain

Commemorated ati

Dome of Discovery

{The plaque is laid flat on the ground.} This commemorative plaque was set i...

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Festival of Britain - Arts

The relief shows the Royal Festival Hall, surrounded by a violin, saxophone, ...

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Festival of Britain - Churchill Gardens

See a similar plaque in N7 for information about them.

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Festival of Britain - London Pride

London Pride. Frank Dobson CBE, RA. 1886 - 1963. Commissioned for The Festi...

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Festival of Britain - N16

Festival of Britain, 1951, Award for Merit.

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Show all 20

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Hannah Havana

Hannah Havana

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Peggy Fortnum

Peggy Fortnum

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David Rhys Jones

David Rhys Jones

Trained at Central Saint Martins. His website.

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Pamela Colman Smith

Pamela Colman Smith

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Donald Rooum

Donald Rooum

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Southwark Council

Southwark Council

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Aston Martin

Aston Martin

Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford formed the company, initially as Bamford and Martin Ltd.   They used the garage at the site of the plaque as a workshop and here they developed their first model th...

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1 memorial
Frederick Catherwood

Frederick Catherwood

Artist, architect and explorer.  Born at 21 Charles Square.  Topographical artist.  He visited many Mediterranean countries drawing their monuments and ruins.  In 1839-40 Catherwood and John Lloyd ...

Person, Architecture, Art, Exploring, South America

1 memorial
G.P.O. Film Unit

G.P.O. Film Unit

A subdivision of the former General Post Office, (The equivalent of the modern British Telecom/Post Office/Royal Mail). Headed by John Grierson, it was set up to produce documentary films mainly re...

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1 memorial
Harold Bride

Harold Bride

Born Harold Sidney Bride in Nunhead. He was trained by the Marconi Wireless Company and joined the RMS Titanic as junior wireless operator. After the ship's collision, he remained at his post until...

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1 memorial