Kingsgate Street, WC1R
Back in the day when rolling tobacco was a thing your granddad did, the ’Old Holborn’ brand was top of its game.
Credit: Wiki Commons
Kingsgate Street ran from High Holborn to Theobald’s Road.

It was named after the King’s Gate barrier at its southern end, where King Charles’s coach famously overturned in 1669.

In the eighteenth century Kingsgate Street to Seven Dials (south of Oxford Street) was a traditional route for criminals whipped at the cart’s tail.The Kingsgate Baptist Chapel on Catton Street stood on the corner with Kingsgate Street.

The reforming publisher and journalist Henry Hetherington had a printing business here from about 1815 until 1834.

The street was obliterated in 1902–1906 by the London County Council’s Kingsway improvement scheme.

return to article