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Bloomsbury, London’s intellectual hotbed, home of Virginia Woolf, the Suffragettes and Marxist UCL students, is due to get a massive glow up over the next five years.
The area’s main landowners have come together to form the Bloomsbury London Partnership, which is made up of Bedford Estates, Imperial London Hotels, Kimpton Fitzroy London, Lazari Investments and Central District Alliance.
Over five years, the group wants to bring back some of Bloomsbury’s pizzazz, as the central London area is apparently ‘punching below its weight’ according to the group. At the moment, Bloomsbury has 14 museums, the biggest one being the British Museum, and more than 40 hotels. The makeover will include refurbishing the Imperial Hotel and creating three new ones, as well as ‘new places to live, learn, work and stay’. Buildings like Bloomsbury House, 50 and 51 Russell Square, and 19 and 21 Bedford Square are also up for renovations.
Simon Elmer, a spokesperson for the partnership called Bloomsbury ‘the intellectual and literary hub of London’. He said: ‘We have a concern that many visitors are simply passing through our neighbourhood every year, rather than experiencing the depth of the area and everything that it has to offer.
‘It’s time to interrupt those journeys and show people the abundance of truly inspirational experiences on offer daily – and that there’s even more to come.’
Rotherhithe’s much-loved Brunel Museum will close later this year for a major revamp.
It’s official: London is home to three of the best streets to live on in the UK.
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