Little Venice, London

The canal junction at Little Venice

Little Venice is a scenic part of London, England, known for its canals and moored boats. It is the home of many famous people. Much of the property in the area are terraced mansions and town houses. Little Venice has two waterways: the Grand Union Canal and the Regent's Canal, which meet in a large, picturesque pool, Browning's Pool (usually called by residents "Little Venice Lagoon" or "the Lagoon"), which forms the focus of the area.

Name and extent

Little Venice is a comparatively recent name for parts of Paddington and Maida Vale, in the City of Westminster, which had been referred to as London's "Venice" for a century before the "Little" became current. The name was in frequent use by the latter half of the 20th century.

The boundaries of Little Venice are unclear. The name is being used for a wider area than previously, to include new developments at Paddington (Merchant Square/Paddington Central). The name Maida Vale is likewise fairly recent. Much of its area was known previously as Paddington, whilst the land north of Browning's Pool was referred to as Kilburn Fields.

It is generally considered Little Venice is bounded by Maida Avenue, Warwick Crescent and Blomfield Road, the western portal of Maida Hill tunnel, other streets such as Delamere Terrace, and the Grand Union Canal itself in a westward direction towards Lord Hill's and Harrow Road bridges.

The origins and coinage of the name are disputed. One story goes that it originated with the poet Robert Browning, who lived in the area in 1862–87.^[1] This was disputed by Lord Kinross in 1966^[2] and by London Canals.^[3] Both assert that Lord Byron (1788–1824) humorously coined the name, which now applies more loosely to a longer reach of the canal system.

Facilities

Little Venice is one of London's prime residential areas,^[4] with a number of cultural facilities, as well as restaurants, shops, theatres and pubs. These include the Canal Cafe Theatre, the Puppet Theatre Barge, the Waterside Café and the Warwick Castle pub. The Inland Waterways Association has hosted a Canalway Cavalcade in Little Venice since 1983.^[5]

A regular waterbus service operates from Little Venice eastward around Regent's Park, calling at London Zoo and continuing towards Camden Town. Little Venice is served by one tube station, Warwick Avenue on the Bakerloo Line, and by the No. 6, 46, 187 and 414 bus services.

References

1. "Little Venice Music Festival". Littlevenice-mf.com.
2. "Letter to The Daily Telegraph, 1966".
3. "The history of the place name known as 'Little Venice'". Londoncanals.uk.
4. Little Venice area guide at foxtons.co.uk
5. "Canalway Cavalcade: 2nd–4th May 2015". Accessed 5 November 2014

Coordinates: 51°31′18″N 0°10′56″W / 51.5216°N 0.1821°W