Counterculture in Fitzrovia – Past and Present

Counterculture in Fitzrovia – Past and Present

Barry Miles and Hannah Watson in conversation at the chapel

Wednesday 25 October, 18:30 to 20:30; tickets only £6

Since the Bohemians settled in the area in the 1920s and named it after their favourite pub ‘The Fitzroy Tavern’, Fitzrovia has long held a burgeoning history of counterculture through its resident writers, artists and musicians.
Join cultural historian and Fitzrovia resident since the 1960s, Barry Miles, and more recent resident publisher of Trolley Books and gallerist, Hannah Watson, as they discuss the role of counterculture in Fitzrovia, past and present. This event is part of our #lineage series.
Hannah and Gigi outside the iconic TJ Boulting building.
In the late 1960s, Miles was the founder of Indica Gallery which showed artists such as Yoko Ono. In fact, she met John Lennon there. He was also co-founder of Europe’s first underground newspaper, International Times, in 1966. More recently, Miles is known for his biographies of literary and musical luminaries such as William Burroughs and Paul McCartney. He has also written biographies of Frank Zappa, John Lennon, Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski and Allen Ginsberg. In addition to books on the Beatles, Pink Floyd and the Clash, and a definitive history of London’s counterculture since 1945, London Calling, he has most recently produced a memoir called In The Sixties. He has lived in Hanson Street, Fitzrovia, since 1965.
Author Barry Miles in the 1960s.
Hannah Watson is the publisher of Trolley Books and came to Fitzrovia in 2011 with Trolley’s founder Gigi Giannuzzi, a maverick in independent arts publishing who passed away in 2012. Together they established the gallery TJ Boulting in the splendid Arts and Crafts building on Riding House Street. It still houses both gallery and publisher today.