I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Abandoned London is a photographic book with small snippets of information to accompany each picture.
Although the photography was fantastic in the first half of the book, I found the boarded up houses and shops to be too many and would of liked to have seen more content like the first half of the book.
This book really hits home how many abandoned and disused buildings and structures there are in the uk and the world for that matter. We are so busy throwing up houses and other buildings across the country and we still have so many fantastic spots that could be adapted or built on to provide more social housing, homeless shelters, hostels, bedsits etc. It really is devestating.
This book would make another fantastic coffee table read!

For the last few years I’ve developed a bit of an obsession with abandoned buildings. I find it fascinating that a place that held space and importance in peoples lives and have so many past stories can just end up being abandoned and often derelict. I love too the new stories it brings- this often forbidden space that nature more often than not begins to take over. Therefore when I saw this book about abandoned places in London I really wanted to read it!

The book is primarily made up of 200 photos of abandoned places split into sections of the types of places they were before e.g housing, leisure, transport and public facilities. Alongside this is a caption about each place and it’s history. There really is a wide range in this book from ornate underground reservoirs, to abandoned football grounds, abandoned tube stations to old hospitals. I absolutely loved it! The photography is sublime and I especially enjoyed learning more about London’s everyday social history. The author states that most modern buildings in London are designed only to last around 40 years so I’m sure we are set to have more abandoned places soon, though these older structures may well last a lot longer even if their state of ill use than many a building being built today.

Definitely one for those interested in photography, architecture, history and London itself. Really brilliant!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a fantastic coffee table book. If you love pictures of historical buildings and great architecture then this is the book for you.
With each picture there is a little background information.
Lovely book.

Abandoned London is a useful and fascinating guide to out of the way and hidden destinations in London. Due out in July 2021 from Amber Books, it's 224 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

Instead of fighting the crowds at the well known tourist destinations when traveling I have always preferred the weird, the ignored, the lesser known, more esoteric sightseeing. London is a wonderful place for weird sights, being both ancient and having been rebuilt over millennia. This book is such a cool collection of exactly those oft overlooked things to see in London and environs.

The book's destinations are arranged thematically: industry, transport, public spaces, shops & retail, pubs cafes & restaurants, residential, and sport & leisure. Each entry is comprised of short text explanations and locations with one or more colour photographs. The text is easy to understand and offers tantalising glimpses into the past with almost as much unsaid. There were only a few with which I was previously familiar (Stompie the tank in its garden) and an absolute plethora of others I hadn't heard of before. There are some places pictured which I don't imagine are accessible to the public for safety/health reasons. I found them fascinating nevertheless, and I'm glad the author included them.

Four stars. This is a quirky and beautifully photographed book. Highly recommended it for Anglophiles and lovers of the abandoned out of the way places. It's especially welcome now, when we are prevented from traveling.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I was a little disappointed with the content of this book, I expected more of a nostalgic, lost feel, which I would normally associate with the abandoned theme. There were a few too many derelict and graffitied buildings, which you can see anywhere, and in any location.

Maybe it's because I'm not a native Londoner, but this didn't live up to my expectations. Other books in this field - abandoned Rome for example - is chock full of history, with an overall haunting, sad, but still beautifully desolate feel.

There were a few interesting bits (I loved the story about the tank!) but it needs to be more appealing, it's as if the content is just anything and everything that the author or photographer deemed run down.

This is a stunning book that has me even more bitten by the travel bug. This book takes you behind the touristy areas and back in time. Some of the depictions are very sad, but there seems to still be a beauty is the loss of these once vital places. The photographs are gorgeous and there is just enough explanation to help you begin to make your lists of where to trod the path less taken, imagining the stories. Incredibly fascinating, and I really wish I had a giant copy in my hands to flip through as we plan our trip to London!

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of London is "crowded", so it was a real surprise to find that there are so many abandoned areas there. The photos are wonderful, taking us to some pretty amazing places that you won't find mentioned in any tour guide! I especially enjoyed the photos of (and the information on) the railways. Definitely one for the coffee table.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Abandoned London is a beautifully illustrated book display a wide variety of photographs of abandoned buildings across London. The book is divided into easy to follow sections and can be easily read chronologically or via skipping to a required section. The photographs themselves are all high quality and perfectly displayed upon each page with a brief explanation and history of the building displayed. Most of the building have multiple photographs displaying different angles and aspects of it’s character.

Over all I loved this book and discovered new areas of London that I would like to explore upon my next visit. I would recommend for anyone interested in both photography and British history.

This is a wonderful book for those who love photographic art, historical buildings and structures. Buildings that have fallen into disrepair, that lie unforgotten or have been repurposed.

The author of this book has collected a series of photographs from around London. Discovering relics of the past and presenting them as they now appear. The book is laid out in 9 sections
Introduction
Industry, Factories and Offices
Transport
Public Spaces
Shops and Retail
Pubs, Cafe's and Restaurants
Residential Property
Sport and Leisure
Picture Credits.

Each image is accompanied by a short description of what the picture shows, where it is and also a brief description as to its use. The images range through so many different things from graffitied walls to ornately tiled walls, from old transport and railway huts to victorian architecture. With cornices, bridges, rooftops, empty pools, ruins churches. Ranging through streets, mews, gardens, estates, high rise flats, abandoned homes and houses this book seems to have it all.

TO me some images definitely have a more artistic structure, where the image has been lined up to be able to capture the full majesty of the building, or at a more abstract angle to depict the size. There is also quite a sadness to many of the images as they lay unforgotten and unloved. With fly-tipping and graffiti adorning what was someone's home or place of work. Windows boarded up or broken, nature taking back and growing in and around old structures. There is a certain amount of beauty within some of the images, but others are quite stark.

I really enjoyed flipping through the images, I did have a PDF copy which I don't think has done this book the justice it deserves. I think it is a book that would be better appreciated in its physical form. A book of images that show how things have gone to waste and in some ways it feels like a journey through the years as the buildings that were once new are now old. Ravaged by time and weather. I really enjoyed this book and I would definitely recommend it.

There’s something about abandoned places that always make my heart skip a beat. I love how it was divide into categories such as industries, transport, public spaces and shops. I would have liked it more if there were a bit more explanations to accompany the photographs. About the photographs: most were high quality but others lacked proper lighting.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I am obsessed with abandoned place photography and I liked this book because it had less of a connotation of the "haunted" and focussed more on the forgotten and overlooked aspects of it. It highlighted details and lovely aspects, provided just enough information and I also appreciated that there was no map or anything like that so people cannot go and try and find the places for themselves (even though a lot of them no longer exist).

As a photographer, I appreciated the photography in particular and I would love to have an opportunity to visit places like this myself one day. So a lot of fun reading and lots of fun aspiring to something, as well.

Fascinating history of London and some of its most enigmatic buildings is contained within the pages of Abandoned London. The photography, coupled with the narrative, captivated me. As someone who will probably never travel to London, I was delighted to experience some of its lesser known history through the eyes of the storyteller and photographer. It’s wonderful that these places time may have forgotten are being resurrected in this book.

As someone who reads a lot mysteries my mind was quite intrigued by the car found when civil engineers drained Hampstead Heath in 2015. I want to know more about this and what they may have found inside the car.

One of the most amusing anecdotes is about a man who applied to the city to put in a tank and his application was approved. Except it wasn’t the kind of tank the city expected. It was a literal tank, as in military! That gave me a chuckle and made me contemplate what fun it would be to see something like that just sitting on a residential lot.

If you’re an armchair traveler, this book would definitely be a great choice. There are so many interesting accounts of history contained within. I received an electronic copy from the publisher through Netgalley. No compensation received.

Beautiful photographs and interesting history make this book a joy to read, although it is sad to see so many of them becoming derelict and covered in graffiti. The buildings range from elegant Edwardian public baths, grand Victorian sanitary stations and art-deco Tube stations to more prosaic industrial structures. There are sections about all the different types of abandoned buildings, such as pubs and shops. It's great to see that some of them have been bought and are due to be restored.

London is my favourite city, and I plan to check out some of these places next time I go. Unfortunately, that doesn't look as though it will be any time soon!

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Lovely book with unseen sides of London. The pictures are amazing in carrying us in specific atmospheres above and underground. A must-read!

This is an interesting book of photographs, with some commentary, about abandoned buildings and spaces in London.

The photos range from theatres, pubs, and sports grounds to residential, industrial, and shops, some of which are still standing and some not. Each has a history to tell.

Even for those not from the capital, this is a fascinating social history document with plenty to whet the appetite for that next visit. I love looking at old photographs as there is so much to take in, and nearly always something different to find that you missed the time before.

This would make a great coffee table book and a definite conversation starter, especially if you have family and/or friends from the London area.

I was sent an advance review copy of this book by Amber Books, in return for an honest appraisal.

Overall, this book showed overlooked parts of London. Some sections were more interesting than others. This book really shone in the transport and public spaces chapters. The pictures from the stores section that only showed the name of the store and a closed gate were boring.

“Abandoned London: Discover the Hidden Secrets of the City in Photographs” by Katie Wignall is a fascinating picture book of the empty places found in one of the most interesting cities of our world. These are places that once bustled with life, whether a tube station or a shop or someone’s home, but now they are reminders of faded glory. Some are getting a new lease on life, some are being torn down and replaced, and yet others are still waiting to find out what their fate will be.

The book is divided into sections which focus on a specific aspect of urban life: pubs and shops, transportation, homes, etc. Some of the places harken back to ancient times, others are relics of our modern age. Ms. Wignall does a fantastic job of describing what we are seeing, and what’s happening now, all in support of her wonderful pictures.

Two small points that keep it from being perfect. A lot of the time we are shown the outside of a building or place, it would be nice to have had more interior pictures (like the gorgeous cover shot). And secondly, it seems like we get one picture and then move on, it would be nice to have had more in-depth details and additional photos.

But those are small complaints to what is an enjoyable tour of the forgotten places of London. Enjoy the ride.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Amber Books Ltd via NetGalley. Thank you!

I fell in love with London while attending college there. This book is fantastic—in a city full of beautiful history and architecture, it is interesting to get a closer look at the abandoned less seen areas. Even in their abandoned state, the beauty in the place shown through in the photos. I found myself wanting to know more about some of the places. It brought a bit of sadness when I saw a few places that I had been to during my stay. Great information about the subject of the picture but not too much that you would be bored. I also learned a new phrase “fly tipping “. I only wish I had read this years ago because I would have loved to take my own pictures.

This is a wonderful keepsake of sorts with over 200 photographs of derelict buildings and sites in London. Some have since been knocked down, some refurbished, some completely rebuilt, but these pictures record how they looked in their old age. A majority of the structures were built in Victorian times and, to my eye, have the most pleasing shapes. Some date back to the 1930's, and there is at least one 1990's tall apartment building with day-glo colors on the balconies. I didn't linger over that one.
My personal reaction was affection for many of the Victorian and early twentieth century locations. There was such an attention to all detail and an artistic touch to barely noticeable fittings, etc. My hope is that all of these have been/will be brought back to their original glory, and I would have liked to see "after" photos of completed ones. There is a large number of old places that have just crumbled or rotted or been covered in graffiti and I think their inclusion in the book was for more historical than architectural purposes.
Bottom line: this book is well worth the cost and will never go out of date.

I guess I was expecting more from this book, and maybe I'd have had a better experience if I had a physical copy, rather than reading online. It just didn't have quite the same impact on a screen.
I was hoping for more stories about the places. The descriptions were very short and snappy, which to some may be just what they want, but I wanted a bit more of an in depth description of the photographs.
Having said all this, it has made me want to visit some of these places when I next go to London, so I got something out of this book.