Summary of key events in the Tolmers saga with some links to photos and documents (in new tabs). Anything missing? Please contact us.
| 1957 | • Tolmers Square Tenant Association (TSTA) formed. | |
| 1959 | • Developers submit planning application for a twenty-two-storey office tower on the south side of Tolmers Square. • TSTA launches anti-office campaign. | |
| 1960 | • London County Council (LCC) rejects planning application for office development. • LCC starts preparing plans for a comprehensive housing development. | |
| 1962 | • Stock Conversion, a property company headed by Joe Levy, starts buying land in the Tolmers area. • TSTA campaigns to support people displaced by the nearby Euston Centre development. | |
| 1963 | • LCC starts trying to demolish ‘unfit’ houses in the area. | |
| 1965 | • Reorganisation of London government. LCC replaced by the Greater London Council (GLC), and the Borough of St Pancras amalgamated into the Borough of Camden. • Central Government refuses to give Camden Council permission to buy land or to build offices. | |
| 1966 | • Camden Council starts negotiations with Stock Conversion to purchase land in the area and provide support for office development. | |
| 1967 | • Camden Council continues LCC policy of demolishing ‘unfit’ housing | |
| 1968 | • Camden Council submits Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) for a small area of housing. | |
| 1970 | • Central Government rejects Camden’s CPO. • Camden Council starts negotiations with Stock Conversion for the whole Tolmers area. | |
| 1971 | • The beginning of opposition from some Labour councillors to a deal involving office development. | |
| 1972 | • Tolmers Square becomes prominent in the press as a property development hotspot. • Tolmer Cinema in the centre of Tolmers Square closed (Mar) • Squatters occupy empty house in Euston Street | |
| 1973 | • Tolmer Cinema demolished (May) • Bartlett students from University College London survey the area (May) • Camden Council approves the ‘Levy Deal’ (May) • Rival Claudius Offer (masterminded by journalists Christopher Booker & Bennie Gray) presented to Camden Council (June) • Tolmers Village Association formed (Aug) See leaflet • Squatters start moving into empty property in Tolmers Square and surrounding streets (Sep) • Stop the Levy Deal campaign launched (Sep) • Camden Council rejects the Levy Deal (Oct) • Occupied house owned by Stock Conversion collapses in Hampstead Road (Oct) | |
| 1974 | • Jumble sale in 142 Drummond Street (Feb) • TVA holds exhibition to involve local people in the area’s future (Feb) • Vacant land in Drummond Street occupied for a community garden (Apr) • Camden makes a CPO on a few buildings (Apr) • TVA publishes Tolmers Destroyed pamphlet (Jun) • Fencing around former cinema site taken down • First Tolmers carnival (Jun) • Stock Conversion discloses new plans to develop without the Council (Sep) • Camden decides to submit a CPO for all of Stock Conversion’s property (Oct) • Bonfire party on community garden (Nov) | |
| 1975 | • Squatters summonsed by Stock Conversion (Mar) • Anti eviction campaign by squatters (Apr) • High Court action by developer to evict squatters fails (Apr – see story) • Locally made film Tolmers: Beginning or end? shown on BBC2 (May) • Camden Council buys land from developer (Jun) • Second Tolmers carnival • Camden Council applies for an Office Development Permit for 300,000 square feet (Jul) • Bonfire party on community garden (Nov) • Banquet in 142 Drummond Street | |
| 1976 | • Camden Council approves new scheme: a mix of rehabilitation and new build, housing and offices (Apr) • Third Tolmers carnival • Publication of The Battle for Tolmers Square by Routledge (Oct). • Closure of the Lord Palmerston pub (Oct) | |
| 1977 | • Temporary landscaping in Tolmers Square by Camden Council. • Fourth Tolmers carnival | |
| 1978 | • Tolmers People’s Plan published by the Tolmers Village Action Group but ignored by Camden Council (Jun) • Fifth Tolmers carnival • Attempts to negotiate saving the Square fail. | |
| 1979 | • Eviction of south side of Tolmers Square and all remaining other squats in the area (May) • Last Tolmers carnival (May) • Wake for Tolmers Square (Aug) • Eviction of north side of Tolmers Square. • Demolition of Tolmers Square | |
| 1982 | • Formal opening ceremony for the new Tolmers development hosted by local MP Frank Dobson. | |
| 2010 | • Tolmers photos and posters included in the Goodbye London exhibition in Berlin and Dresden | |
| 2011 | • Publication of Tolmers in Colour | |
| 2018 | • Plans for HS2 rail project show Euston Station expanding into the Tolmers area. | |
| 2019 | • Further demolition starts in the area due to HS2 high speed rail project terminating at Euston. | |
| 2021 | • Launch of the Tolmers Village Forum and tolmers.net | |
| 2025 | • Tolmers in the 1970s featured in Unearthed exhibition at the British Library • Reunion party at 180 North Gower Street (Nov) | |
| 2026 | • Camden Council consults on a new plan for Euston. • Campaign launched to save (the new) office block and (the new) Tolmers Square from demolition | |