Seats of London
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Wednesday 20th September 2023
7.00 for 7.30 pm
10A South Grove N6 6BS and on Zoom
Entry £6.00 to include a complimentary glass of wine. (£3.00 on Zoom)

A talk about the seat coverings on London’s Tubes and buses.

Author Andrew Martin will give an illustrated talk on the history of moquette, the seat coverings on London Tubes and buses.

Moquette is a thick, carpet like material, and London has always been dedicated to its use on public transport. In many other capital cities, by contrast, metro or bus seats are of plastic, stainless steel or thin, man-made fibre. Moquette is durable and comfortable; it has also often been beautiful, and many well-know designers have been involved in its creation, including Enid Marx, Paul Nash and Marion Dorn. Andrew Martin will discuss the changing fashions in moquette patterns and colours from late Victorian times to the present day.

Andrew Martin is a prolific author and journalist. His thirty or so books have sometimes had a railway theme, as for example in Night Trains, or his latest book, Metropolitain: an Ode to the Paris Metro. He is also the author of a series of historical novels featuring the railway policeman, Jim Stringer (of which the latest is Powder Smoke). His non-railway novels include Soot and The Winker. His book about moquette, Seats of London, is, as far as he knows, the only one on the subject. Andrew has written and presented BBC TV documentaries and contributed talks and short stories to Radio 3. He also writes songs under the name, Brunswick Green. His website is at jimstringernovels.com