Film
Film with footage of Tolmers Village. In alphabetical order by title. Please contact us with any omissions or amendments.
The Changing face of London, 1957
British Pathé
How developers and planners were reshaping London in the 1950s. Includes remarkable footage of a reception hosted at the Criterion Restaurant in Picadilly by DE & J Levy for fellow developers, building professionals and planners and politicians from the London County Council (LCC).
City of Towers, The Rise and Fall of a Twentieth Century Dream, 1979
Classic two-hour documentary film first broadcast by the BBC in 1979. Contains footage of Tolmers Square and the 1973 Stop the Levy Deal campaign. It features Councillor Brian Loughran and a delegation from the newly formed Tolmers Village Association in the Council chamber at Camden Town Hall.
Written and narrated by Christopher Booker
Produced by Christopher Martin
Watch the whole film (Tolmers featured from 1:42:05 to 1:44:11)
or watch the clip below:
London – not quite the place it was, Thames TV, 1975
Saxophonist Benny Green who lived in the Tolmers area takes a look at London in the 1970s. Includes interesting footage of Tolmers Square (3 mins 40 seconds in on the clip below) and references to the Tolmers Cinema and the greening wall.
Playing the Environment Game 1973
In Covent Garden, Notting Hill and Tolmers Square in London campaigners challenge property developers’ plans
Directed by Mick Csáky
Research, editing and writing by Mick Gold
Featuring Ian Richardson, Chris Booker, Bennie Gray and Jim Monahan
“London belongs to the people” – a banner proclaims at the end of this film in which locals are “fighting the biggest boys in town” as they challenge the plans of property developers in London. The film also offers a lesson in the potential perils of capitalism and urban development, citing the recently built Euston Centre as “one of the masterpieces of speculative development… a profitable form of gambling.”
British Film Institute website
Tolmers: beginning or end? 1975
Directed by Philip Clayton Thompson
Camera work by Neils Hamberg and Philip Clayton Thompson
Film editing Alan Bonnin
Written by Nick Wates
Original music by Colin E. Cowles
Distribution: www.blackstoneedge.com
“…a telling, angry ‘World in Action’ – type …programme (which) did credit to the concerned and imaginative involvement with common life which is the best vestige of the now superannuated Youth Culture.”
Clive James, Sunday Observer, 25 May 1975
A classic period documentary depicting a fight by local residents, small businesses and squatters in central London to stop their neighbourhood being destroyed by property speculators.
Shown twice on BBC 2 TV, the film helped resolve the conflict; most of the Tolmers neighbourhood was eventually saved, new houses were built and the office development was much reduced in size and impact. It also helped stimulate the more humane approaches to urban development that took root in the late twentieth century.
The film remains relevant because property speculation still threatens communities in many cities.
Watch the whole film:
Two excerpts on YouTube:
Tolmers Village Forum: launch of new website 2022
Film based on the virtual launch of the Tolmers Village Forum website on 27 January 2022, including recording from the zoom event.
Produced by Patrick Allen
Running time 1 hour 27 minutes
Featuring Charles William, Chris Lienhard, Corinne Pearlman, David Gedye, David Watkinson, Debby Banham, Doug Smith, Frank Goodingham, Joe Ravetz, Lia Na’ama ten Brink, Mark Ferguson, Meg Rosoff, Nick Wates, Nick Weekes, Oren Harman, Patrick Allen, Paul Nicholson, Ruth Milburn, Sacha Craddock, Sally Craddock, Shilpa Shah, Susan Croft, Suzy Nelson, Tim Wilson.