I worked for ten years as a tour guide, driving sight-seers around London in a fleet of classic Mini Coopers. The basic idea was to recreate The Italian Job, by sneaking down back alleys and doing cheeky manoeuvres. Zipping down Lower Robert Street, giving my passengers an unexpected white knuckle ride under a building, was PERFECT for this, and was always my favourite part of the tour!

Many many moons ago as a homeless teen I slept in Lower Robert Street whilst waiting to be helped by "The Connection" and Centrepoint. It was relatively dry, and relatively protected and "warm" thanks to the vents from buildings as that year London had snow....

Affectionally known by Cabbies as "The Bat Cave"

I work in The Adelphi and going through Lower Robert Street after a fire evacuation drill saves me having to wait half an hour to get a lift from the main lobby. Also, The Adelphi is the London HQ for Spotify, Condé Nast, The Economist and other well known companies.

One of my favourite ways to spend a day off is to 'lose myself' in London. I never cease to be amazed at the hidden gems that can be found just by strolling around off the beaten track. So many little passages to explore....

This is similar to Chicago! Chicago has some double-decked and a few triple-decked streets downtown immediately north and south of the Main Branch and immediately east of the South Branch of the Chicago River. The multilevel configuration in Chicago arose from geography and traffic patterns in the Loop. The Loop is a neighborhood named after the elevated tracks above it for Chicago's L system, and the tracks were built by you guessed it...Charles Tyson Yerkes. In most other parts of the rest of the city near the Chicago River, only major streets crossed the river. However, most downtown streets crossed the river, and all of these crossings were bascule bridges, which required height clearances at the approaches to and over the river. Clearances were further necessitated due to the presence of many existing railroad tracks along the river (as in the west bank of the south branch) and tracks that ended at the river (like tracks ending at Randolph Street). Thus, a clearance zone was created along the river at locations that contained many closely spaced crossings. Many double-decked or triple-decked streets were created because they fell within this clearance zone. This also created an anomaly not only in the layout and uses of streets, but also planning of buildings. Generally, the upper levels of the multi-level streets usually serve local traffic. The primary entrances of buildings are usually located on this level. The lower levels generally serve through-traffic and trucks serving businesses along the roads. This level houses the receiving/shipping entrances to the buildings on these streets. As a result, loading docks at street level are noticeably absent. There's also the McCormick Place Busway which opened in 2002 and runs for 4 km from Lower Randolph between Michigan and Columbus in downtown to the center. It uses the lower levels of the multilevel streets near downtown, and surfaces to follow the Metra Electric District right-of-way to outside the South Building of McCormick Place. It is meant to provide a true and unencumbered expressway for visitors to move between downtown hotels and the convention center, but is also used by buses for Soldier Field events, public safety workers, Metra, convention contractors, and Art Institute deliveries, along with providing a secure route for national and international government officials to utilize between the two points. Chicago also has the Chicago Pedway, a network of pedestrian tunnels, ground-level concourses and bridges connecting skyscrapers, retail stores, hotels, and train stations throughout the central business district

Many years ago Seven Dials had a bit of a reputation, but not for cheese shops.

When a video starts with "my favorite cheese shop" you know it is going to be a gem.

That "decent wine bar" you mentioned at the end is actually called Gordon's and as a group of friends we've being going there on the 1st Wednesday of each month since about 1977, at least until the Covid lock-downs happened. We had a tradition that as couples started their families they'd bring along their new baby to the 1st Gordon's after their birth. Great fun ! 😎

Many years ago there was a bicycle shop on Lower Roberts Street which is how I first found it. Also used it many times as a motorist to cut from Embankment to Strand as it was much quicker than going via Trafalgar Square.

Speaking for myself, I love a bit of Eighteen Century vaulting!

"buying cheese at my favourite cheese shop" Cheese is love, cheese is life! Here are some cheese facts: The word cheese comes from Latin caseus (where the Spanish queso, Portuguese queijo, and Romanian caș come from) from which the modern word casein is also derived. When the Romans began to make hard cheeses for their legionaries' supplies, a new word started to be used: formaticum, from caseus formatus, or "molded cheese" (as in "formed"). It is from this word that the French fromage, standard Italian formaggio, Catalan formatge, Breton fourmaj, and Occitan fromatge (or formatge) are derived. The earliest evidence of cheesemaking in the archaeological record dates back to 5500 BCE and is found in what is now Kuyavia, Poland, where strainers coated with milk-fat molecules have been found. The earliest evidence of cheesemaking in the Mediterranean dates back to 5200 BCE, on the coast of the Dalmatia region of Croatia. The earliest proposed dates for the origin of cheesemaking range from around 8000 BCE, when sheep were first domesticated. Because animal skins and inflated internal organs have provided storage vessels for a range of foodstuffs since ancient times, it is probable that the process of cheese making was discovered accidentally by storing milk in a container made from the stomach of an animal, resulting in the milk being turned to curd and whey by the rennet from the stomach In 2021, world production of cheese from whole cow milk was 22.2 million tonnes, with the United States accounting for 28% of the total, followed by Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands as secondary producers. In the US, Wisconsin has a long tradition and history of cheese production. Wisconsin's cheesemaking tradition dates back to the 19th century. European immigrants who settled in Wisconsin were drawn to its fertile fields. Soon, dairy farms sprang up around Wisconsin, and farmers began producing cheese to preserve excess milk. In 1841, Anne Pickett established Wisconsin's first commercial cheese factory, using milk from neighbors' cows. A century later, Wisconsin was home to more than 1,500 cheese factories, which produced more than 500 million pounds of cheese per year. In 2010, Wisconsin's cheese production rose to 2.6 billion pounds (requiring the state cheese industry to import a substantial amount of milk from other states to meet production needs). In 2014, Wisconsin produced 2.9 billion pounds of cheese, accounting for 25.4% of all cheese produced in the US

I am here by the blessing of the KZfaq algorithm. I subscribed purely because your narration is top notch. I look forward to hearing more stories from you. With love, from Western USA

I used to deliver letters there when i was a postman in the 1980s. I seem to remember an old fella who appeared to reside / work in a caged entrance in the wall??? I think his name was 'Old Bob'? I know sometimes when it rained heavily i would stand and chat to him as we watched the water flow past like a stream

Did you know Bob Dylan filmed 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' in which he has the lyrics on a series of large cards was filmed further along the embankment in an scruffy alley at the side of the Savoy hotel.

Just for any American watching everyone in Southern England has their favourite cheese shop and Friday is known as cheese day, where you go to the most delightful local vender of coagulated milk, to sample their finest selection of cheeses on tiny slices of Welsh rarebit, while listening to The Planets by Holst. A typical conversation in a Southern cheese shop may go: Jolly Chap: Good vender of cheese how has the milking been this fine morning. Youth: oh Aye, Sir, been 'right good recently I wager Jolly Chap: this cheese is magnificent, here is a penny for your trouble young fellow Youth: oh thank you sir, me' ma' and 14 siblings, will be able to afford to eat tonight, I'll buy them a slap up microwave dinner from Tesco

The life that Jago leads - cheese and wine.....

"Oi! You! Hazzard! Diocletian here! You pronounced my name wrong! Git it sorr-tid or you'll git a slap! Geeeeez-a!" (Ed: it is a little known fact that Diocletian was actually born within the sound of Bow Bells - and REALLY hated the hoi polloi getting his name wrong)!

Of all the places I’ve visited, I think only Berlin comes remotely close to London in just oozing with history around every little corner. Just because London already was a huge city even by modern standards back in the 1800s there’s just so incredibly much to explore.

I've drove down here a couple of times with a couple of people when parked on those streets(for work dont worry) because it always makes them think wtf when you enter and I feel James Bondy lol

Good video, thank you. More explorations of obscure corners of London, please.

You keep posting your videos just when I'am getting ready for work, I might need a note for my boss. Cheers 😂

Gordon’s wine bar? That might be worth a video!

I actually had my photo taken standing next to the Strand WC2 street sign, having a banana!!

Robslondon did a nice video on this too.

Greek speaker here: Αδέλφοι (Adélfi) does indeed mean Brothers, but it is not pronounced Adelfoi. Οι is a diagraph in Greek, meaning it is considered one sound, like ch in English. Οι transliterates to I, or somewhere abouts. Good pronunciation, though.

Wow, all that from buying cheese. It's amazing what inspires historical research. I'd hate to drive through that tunnel, but I wouldn't mind walking. Maybe I'll visit if I'm ever in London.

Amazingly, in my very limited London experience, I actually been here, after a mandatory visit to 10 Adams street we ended up here. (Are we allowed to be here? Well, it says 'street', so we use it as such!) I remember that at the base of the Adelphi, next to Victoria embankment, there was a homeless encampment. So some things never change...

We always love a video on roads around the Underground stations

I think Rob's London did this a while ago? Not that I'm knocking this - great to have another look and will now def visit.

London is just so diverse, I love it

Great video Jago, you are the Mr Wensleydale to the cheese emporium. Neal's off borough mkt.

I used to work in the Adelphi Building in the late 80s. I recognised the street when you posted it on Instagram.

So, Jago suddenly came over all peckish, thought a little fermented curd would do the trick and infiltrated ... a cheese shop near Seven Dials. Hope they had some. 😅

I seem to remember that Robslondon did a video on this street. And yet, I found this one very informative and interesting too.

Neal's Yard is cheese heaven. And the street food at Seven Dials market is worth trying too.

Lovely little video , London it seems is never ending with bits of historic interest and amazing how you find out the history of these little place's👍 .

Saw this yesterday, immediately used my new knowledge today getting from the Savoy theatre to embankment after the park closed. Thanks!

"Excuse me sir, is this a cheese shop?" "Yes it is." "Oh..."

I used to drive through a lot back in the Eighties whenever it was my turn to drive the lads up the West End. It always made me laugh as they thought I was driving down a dead end, only to turn at the last minute into the tunnel and come out on the Strand.😂

Fascinating. I love stuff like this. From Portsmouth UK. I once went on a Jack the Ripper tour of London. That was amazing.

As there's little to no pavement on the slope and it's a blind turn, progress on foot can be somewhat of an alarming experience.

Good evening Jago from Spain. Every other Friday we have a van comes by with fresh goat's cheese. So we get fresh cheese that is't available in the shops or supermarkets. We have been to the dairy in the past so we know that the quality of the place and cleanliness is 100%

Lower Robert Street is the only survivor of a complexed set of subterranean tunnels. I've got a book with old photos.

It's staggering how much architecture has been built and demolished over the centuries.

4:20 - I think we can be confident that it was a civil servant who thought "End of British Summer Time to 15 February" was a good way of specifiying a date range.

Back in mid-2010s I used to work in an office nearby and never realised what this odd hole was! Thank you Jago!

Great watch thanks. I work I was born and bred in London but moved out in 1982 when I joined the army. I never went back to live but my current job has me working in Islington and Hackney and Dalston - which means a 5am road commute from my house in Epsom. I hate working there to be honest. I might take some time to have a nimble areound in the summer

One Strand thing you could find out if you can because the American "we flew first" brigade have been very efficient at erasing events that might upset that viewpoint, is in Victorian times a French inventor flew by remote control a monoplane down the length of the Strand to the wows of the folks lining the street, dunno why this particular event upsets the Wrights did everything camp as it wasn't manned but it did highlight a monoplane as opposed to a manyplane and apparently it flew extremely well something that could not be said about the Wright's maiden voyages which were notably lurching and short.

The haunting sounds interesting and i never made the connection until now "Strand" is Dutch for beach, so it makes sense to be a word for Riverside in the UK

I used to work on Adam St in an odd little building, it’s blurred out in google maps but I think it’s no 7 or 8. It has 3 floors BELOW Adam street with the lowest having an exit to Robert st. So what appears to be a 4 story building at street level is actually a 7 story.

I was awaiting the phrase “I curtailed my Walpoleing activities” but it never came 😮

I was visiting London for Pride and took a drink at the Retro Bar. Upon leaving, we passed Lower Robert Street, and I wondered where it went/what it was for as it seemed to be a road in a building. Now I know. Thank you!

Like a little tiny version of Lower Wacker Drive in Chicago. Another interesting result of many years of architectural buildup.

I love a tale of secret streets.

Thank you for that, I thought I knew that part of London fairly well, but I was ignorance/oblivious to it despite spending quite a bit of time in that aera back in the late last century.

This is the kinda channel that deserves a sub 👏

1:40 "the name strand means basically water front." In my native tongue Swedish, we have the word "Strand" that means beach, but also an old term used for water front.

Hi Jago! Jezebel the fire engine has driven through that a few times - she *just* fits through the gate at the end

From a _very_ early age, "adelphoi" was pronounced "adelphi". [Edit:] No, your pronunciation of Diocletian is on point. [Edit 2:] A "strand" is a "beach".

Up jago's dark back passage is very interesting

Strand in Dutch means beach, greetings from Amsterdam! ❤

This is fascinating! I love how it looks like an entrance to that building rather than a street so most people wouldn't go down it. The tunnel to the left appears to go to The Adelphi Hotel's basement?

As a student at King’s College in the Strand, I thought I knew this area well. Embankment, Drury Lane, Holborn, etc. were regularly haunts as was Aldwych station which was still on the Underground and not a portal into Narnia. But I never knew this shortcut/street although I must have walked past it dozens of times. I’ll be on the lookout for it next time I’m in the area…

Yeah, that's London for you. Nowhere else would regard that underground rat-hole as a 'street'; but in London, that's how it started, so that's what it stays. I love my home city.

I love wandering around the streets that are just of the tourist routes, the ‘Monoply’ parts, as I refer to them. They are invariably quiet, and have some fascinating architecture and points of interest. I know that area quite well, having worked on Northumberland Avenue, and being a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, who’s building ins in John Adam Street, seen at te end of this video. Indeed, possibly not one for you, Jago, as it not very Railway orientated, would be a history of the various clubs in London. Plenty of history (who founded them, famous members, scandals etc.). No doubt I will be flooded with KZfaq recommendations now. In fact, I’m off to search for some now.

I was hoping for more information after I saw your photo. Good stuff!

Being pedantic, nay correct, is perfectly acceptable. After all, we don’t say The Whitehall, or The Piccadilly. Laziness among some bloggers can see the reference to The Strand. Mind you, Simpsons in the Strand, and a well known music hall song, don’t help matters.

I feel we should know. What is your favourite cheese, from your favourite cheese shop? Venezuelan beaver cheese? Gruyere? Emmental? Danish blue? Cheshire? Dorset blue vinney? Brie, Roquefort, Pont-l'Évêque, Port Salut, Savoyard, Saint-Paulin, Carre-de-L'Est, Boursin, Bresse-Bleu, Perle de Champagne? Red Windsor? How about Cheddar?

The existence of a "Lower Robert Street" implies a "Higher Robert Street". And perhaps a middle-of-the-road "Robert Street" as well. More investigation is needed 🤔

Walking up to Camden Markets it 2014, I ducked down a side street to the left. One property was numbered 221B, but it wasn’t Baker Street! Silly me, I didn’t get a photo. Love all those quirky streets and alleys in cities.

@ 4.08 where you reached the end of the street across from you was a path with blue railings and this path takes you to the "Secret garden".

Nice one Jago. Yet another of the nooks and crannies of London!

nice, thanks for sharing

I am James Adams, from Ireland and am a big fan of your channel, also a big fan of London. I knew about this on a visit a couple of years ago. 😆

I remember my old man using this a rat run; I'm amazed it's still there. I have a vague memory of it being under the old MI5 building, but that may not be true.

Neal's Yard Dairy is on the 'to vist' list ! Tip: If you can find it, try a Normandy Pont-l'Évêque, and/or a Dutch Leidsche kaas with the red rind and keys, aged is best.

'Strand' is German for 'beach'. I had always wondered if there was a connection (especially given the English word 'stranded'. Thanks for confirming my suspicions.

remember skating down that road a couple months ago because it was a cool little hill, never knew there was a story to it xd

Thanks Jago - Defo I’ll check this one out.

And some commenters already mentioned it, but "strand" still means "waterside" or "beach" in the other Germanic languages.

In Sweden we still go to the "Strand" to take a swim!!

I’m surprised you’ve just learned of this, Jago. It’s been covered by several other London history content creators, to the extent I would have misremembered you being one of them!

One day John Rodgers, Joolz Guides, Robs London, Adventure Me , Bee Here Now, London Hustle and Jago will all meet up at Seven Dials.

I am Diocletian and I'd like to make a complaint! You pronounced my name correctly, but I'm an Emperor so I'm putting in a complaint just to make sure you know you're not an Emperor. Like what I am.

Travels in England 1782 Karl Philipp Moritz "We now drove into the city by Charing Cross, and along the Strand, to those very Adelphi Buildings which had just afforded us so charming a prospect on Westminster Bridge... There are everywhere leading from the Strand to the Thames, some well-built, lesser, or subordinate streets, of which the Adelphi Buildings are now by far the foremost. One district in this neighbourhood goes by the name of York Buildings, and in this lies George Street, where my two travelling companions lived. There reigns in those smaller streets towards the Thames so pleasing a calm, compared to the tumult and bustle of people, and carriages, and horses, that are constantly going up and down the Strand, that in going into one of them you can hardly help fancying yourself removed at a distance from the noise of the city, even whilst the noisiest part of it is still so near at hand."

Wine and Cheese in one video, Jago you're spoiling us!

I hadn't planned to make this video, but I was buying cheese at my favourite local cheese shop...The most Wallace & Gromit intro ever.

the name and style reminds me of chicago's lower level streets, which there are a ton of along the river to separate deliveries and waste removal on the lower level from pedestrian and shopping traffic on the upper level

if the street is a public highway, as opposed to being part of a private property, it's quite likely that 10 mph speed limit sign at 2:25 is legally unenforcable the only permitted standard variants of the speed limit sign are 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 - anything else has to be authorised by central government on an individual basis

Thanks, that was interesting, aware of the Adam brothers I had not come across this fascinating story.

London’s West End is full of mysteries and lots of history. Compare to how London’s East End is like and how it’s all changed.

Cool video. 👍

Fascinating !

As a descendant of William Adam, this area of London has always fascinated me

I’ve been a self employed for 25 years, this little street is the access to the loading bay for the Adelphi building.

I remember that. I was a despatch rider for years and very rarely went there.

Lovely video. Thanks. Am now curious as to what your favorite cheese shop is.

Thanks for this. I’ve seen this street many times but thought it just an entrance to a car park. Oh boring me.

Fascinating that London in the 18th century had an almost exact predecessor of what Chicago would build in the 19th and 20th centuries. I think the original designers for the Adelphi would have hopefully been quite pleased with today's Lower Wacker Drive and Lower Michigan Avenue as validation of their idea, even if they weren't able to make their own design work in their time.