Reviews

FOREWORD 

  

Anthony Bates has written a wonderful book, meticulously researched and 
beautifully illustrated. As he guides us from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge, 
taking in the obvious landmarks but also many that are less well-known, we 
become aware of just how much has changed, largely for the better, in the course 
of our lifetimes – in short, that process of regeneration which has increasingly 
become the defining experience of British cities, above all London. It is a process 
which only works if it goes with the grain of human nature, seldom responsive to 
Soviet-style planning or arrogant modernist theoreticians, and I have little doubt 
that Ian Nairn, finest and most sympathetic of architectural observers, would have 
enthusiastically applauded Regeneration, not least for its fund of apt and 
sometimes quirky detail. At the heart of this book is, of course, the Festival of 
Britain. Held during the summer of 1951, six years after the end of the Second 
World War and symbolising the widespread determination to build a better world, 
perhaps even a New Jerusalem, for future generations, it would serve as the 
catalyst for all that lay ahead on the South Bank over the next seven decades. As 
a small boy, Anthony Bates was fortunate enough to be taken to the Festival. He 
has now, all these years later, written a book to treasure, adding to our rich store 
of literature about one of the world’s great cities, arguably the greatest. Samuel 
Johnson’s famous line about London hardly needs quoting; and to read 
Regeneration is indeed a life-enhancing experience. 
 
David Kynaston, January 2026  

Author and historian.