Bakers Row is a road in London which forms the gateway to a network of little cobbled streets which form part of Little Italy, a nickname which applies to the western area of

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell ( ) is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an Civil Parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The St James's C ...

. The name Little Italy was due to its strong Italian connections, which were evident for almost 200 years. The area is also known as Italian's Hill. Its boundaries are formed by

Clerkenwell Road Clerkenwell Road is a street in London. It runs west–east from Gray's Inn Road in the west, to Goswell Road in the east. Its continuation at either end is Theobald's Road and Old Street respectively. Clerkenwell Road and Theobalds Road wer ...

Farringdon Road Farringdon Road is a road in Clerkenwell, London. Route Farringdon Road is part of the A201 route connecting King's Cross to Elephant and Castle. It goes southeast from King's Cross, crossing Rosebery Avenue, then turns south, crossing C ...

and Rosebery Avenue and it includes the historically important Italian church of St Peter's. Bakers Row was almost totally destroyed during a heavy bombing raid in 1940, during

the Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...

. The area was selected for "total clearance", a

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

policy which took advantage of areas damaged by bombs to clear overcrowded tenements. This plan was classified as top secret until April 1945, as publication would have helped German Intelligence assess the effectiveness of their bombing raids. The Eagle pub on Bakers Row was Britain's first

gastropub A gastropub or gastro pub is a pub that serves food of high quality, with a nearly equal emphasis on eating and drinking. The term was coined in the 1990s in the United Kingdom. History The term ''gastropub'' (derived from gastronomy) was coi ...

References

External links

London Town

Street Check
{{coord, 51.5236, -0.1100, type:landmark_region:GB-ISL, display=title Streets in the London Borough of Islington