Ten great Instagram accounts for London lovers to follow in 2021
Instagram is quickly becoming everyone’s favourite personal exhibition of carefully curated selfies and holiday snaps. However, somewhere in between the influencers and cooking pages you’ll find amazing people visually documenting and commenting on everything from London’s pub’s to its colonial histories. If you’re feed is getting tiresome and you want to explore London at a time when we are unable to, we’ve put together a list of accounts we think are curating our cities in interesting and informative ways.
London Pubs of Old
A beautiful archive of images documenting the heritage of London’s pubs. If you’re interested in learning a bit of history about your local or always wondered if that house on your street was in fact a pub this is the account to follow.
Barbican Fan
Dedicated photographer and commentator on all things brutalism in London and the occasional street art post! For Barbican fans and beyond this flurry of concrete images is sure to satiate all your brutal desires.
The London Ambler
Take a virtual amble through London’s architecture and tune into the engaging urban storytelling of the London Ambler. A great selection of architecture and urbanism from across the capital and one of Open City’s tour guides!
Charles Holland
Practicing architect and principal of Charles Holland Architects, Charles catalogues the architecture of London’s outskirts and neighbouring Kent. Sharing images and commentary of his own home as well as ‘house-barn hybrids’ and convincing us all that backs of buildings are almost always more interesting than fronts.
Phil Maltz
If you’re looking for something a little different, artist and urban drawing connoisseur, Phil Maltz will keep you scrolling for hours. Obsessively painting London brickwork since 2018 - his therapeutic watercolour videos are sure to have you picking up a paintbrush.
Sad London Architecture
True to its name, this account catalogues ‘the most disappointing buildings in the greatest city in the world.’ Though new to the scene it provides much needed social commentary on architecture that could have been and should have been better.
Not Only Central London
Looking further than the city’s centre, this account curates and details the history of architectural gems from Woolwich to Walthamstow. A bike enthusiast, cycling and documenting the areas of London that are just out of our reach.
The Open City Staff Team
@phinharper @selasis @chairman_love @aaarmaaann @hafjan
Not all the Open City staff team are on Instagram but several are, posting regularly about their work and play including honorary Londoner Phineas Harpers whose account cycles us through his adventures in weird British public art interspersed with great architecture, dazzling skirts and a kitten or two; Selasi Setufe and Araman Nouri, hosts of the Open City podcast; Zoë Cave whose amateur architectural photography is especially rich; Open City’s Assistant Curator Hafsa Adan and others too.
London Historian
Where every day is a #throwback - this archive style account gives us a glimpse of London’s architecture and streets in the past. Not only documenting buildings but the histories of notable black and brown people, their establishments and urban activism.
Katie: Look Up London
Blue badge tourist guide Katie, gives us insight into hidden and unusual facts about London’s buildings and street names. Using short video reels and informative captions she welcomes us into some of London’s best kept secrets.
