This neighbourhood area’s focal point is Liverpool Street Station. It is roughly bounded by Bloomfield Street on the west side, Liverpool Street in the north, Bishopsgate in the west and London Wall in the south. The latter is thus called due to being the boundary of the ancient Roman fortification. Walking north along Old Broad Street, passing New Broad Street on the left, this wide cobbled street is an ornate alley featuring a number of grade-II listed buildings. Walk further north along Old Broad Street and you pass some shop fronts, mainly clothing stores. At the end of the street you approach the classic Lord Aberconway pub on your right and the ivied Railway Tavern on your left. Opposite the Tavern is Liverpool Street Underground station where the Central, Circle, Hammersmith and City, Metropolitan, and now the recently-opened Elizabeth line run. It also boasts a busy overground terminus, with trains running along the West Anglia Main Line to Cambridge and the Great Eastern Mainline to Norwich, as well as the Stanstead Express. Head back south along Old Broad Street and, on your left, you will pass a large sign labelled The Arcade. A relic of 20th century shopping, this retro- looking area is made up of half-derelict shops, half-modern eateries, more of which are sure to populate this antique gem of a space in years to come.

The London Wall, owing to its historic significance, has been well-documented throughout much of history since the Romans left Londinium in the fifth century. Lundenwic became the name of the area for the Anglo-Saxons who lived here. The remains of the wall were not strong enough however to forestall two Viking invasions in the ninth century. In the southern part of the locale, All Hallows-on-the-wall is an eighteenth-century reconstruction of a church dating back to the twelfth century. The earlier church became known for the many hermits living in cells in the church. The later version was rebuilt by George Dance the Younger after his extensive studies of classical buildings in Italy. The church was listed as grade I in 1950. Another artefact of a forgotten time is the signal box on the open-air, eastbound platform of the Liverpool Street Underground. Built in 1875, this construction has been listed due to its symbolic significance as an early piece of the London Underground system. Around this time, London was pioneering the world’s first underground train system and this signal box was built upon the extension of the Metropolitan line to Liverpool Street. Originally the box contained forty levers via which signals would be sent. Over time, this was reduced to fifteen before the signal box fell into disuse.

Samuel John Stone was a Rector of All Hallows-on-the-wall between the years 1890 and 1900. Stone was a poet and hymn writer, as well as a priest, and is perhaps most famous for the hymn The Church’s One Foundation. Born in Staffordshire and educated at Pembroke College, Oxford, Stone became Curate of St Pauls, Haggerston in 1870. His poetry has been described as “varying considerably in metre and subject and thus [presenting] a pleasing variety, not always found in compositions of popular hymn-writers.” Along with religiously inspired works, Stone wrote many songs, sonnets and descriptive poetry which, though mostly rooted in his faith, also took on lighter tones. One example is his Soliloquy to the Rationalistic Chicken.

The aforementioned Lord Aberconway has taken on many names over the years, including the King and Keys, the Refreshment Room and the Railway Buffet. Legend has it that ghosts of those perished in the Great Fire of London haunt the chambers of this ancient pub. Another quirk of the area can be found at 8, Bishopsgate Churchyard–a beautiful former Turkish bath, built in 1894 and in use until the fifties. The construction, built using colourful, Arabic-style tiles, is tucked away under the shadow of contemporary new-builds. Originally a luxury for moneyed city folk, today it serves as a restaurant and venue.

The area is naturally at the heart of London’s busiest districts. Thanks to Liverpool Street station being located nearby, rush hour particularly takes its toll in these streets and pollution levels are evidently constantly elevated.

The Elizabeth line opened in May 2022 taking passengers west to Heathrow via Paddington, and east to Abbey Wood or Shenfield. Train journeys to Canary Wharf now take only six minutes where they once took twelve. Plans are also underway for a huge £1.5bn redevelopment of the grade II-listed terminal building at Liverpool Street Station. Designed by the Sellar design collective, this project will revamp the whole station, providing new retail, leisure and dining destinations, as well as a 16-storey tower block built by Herzon & de Meuron on top of the station. However, the scheme has come under serious scrutiny by Historic England, who believe the proposal to be “oversized and insensitive”, fearing a negative impact on the listed architectural gem, and surprisingly the Victorian Society haven’t been consulted on the project at the time of writing.