As part of our Literary Footprints Festival we are holding an evening called Bleeding London – which includes a preview of the Royal Photographic Society Exhibition of their project to photograph every street in London. The Footprints of London guides have been choosing their favourite streets – this time Sue Bingham looks at Exeter ‘Change

Pidcock’s Menagerie Poster courtesy British Museum

Exeter ‘Change

The Exeter ‘Change was on the north side of the Strand (where the Strand Palace Hotel is now located).  In the late 1700s the building was a smart shopping centre.

At one point the first floor was home to a menagerie owned by a Mr Pidcock.  He had a wide variety of animals on display including a tiger, an elephant, a rhino, a hyena and lots more.  The poster you see is one that can be purchased at British Museum on-line. 

Find out what links this menagerie to Lord Byron and Jane Austen on Sue Bingham’s walk “Embankment to Covent Garden – Literary Heroes”  on 1 and 15 October