City Guide: Little Venice, W9

Welcome to ‘Little Venice’ – in West London not Northern Italy! Little Venice is not the easiest place to find as it is not demarcated by signs. Maida Avenue, Warwick Crescent and Blomfield Road are the streets in the south of Maida Vale that overlook Browning’s Pool, and with the section of Randolph Avenue south of Clifton Gardens they make up Little Venice.

You wouldn’t expect a canal junction to be a beauty spot, but Little Venice is one of London’s loveliest places. The tranquil, tree-lined canals are home to a community of colourful narrow boats, and early Victorian villas form a classical backdrop to the streets of this area.

It was Lord Byron who first compared it with Venice, and Robert Browning lived here when he returned from Italy after the tragically early death of his wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The poet laureate John Masefield lived in Maida Avenue for many years. Read more of this post