Fitzrovia Community Festival and community action. The area has hosted
a considerable amount of community organizing during the 1970s. One result was
The Tower, one of the first community newspapers (it appeared in 1972 and is
now known as Fitzrovia News). Part of the impetus for the organizing (by the
Charlotte Street Association and later by Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Association)
were moves by the Middlesex Hospital to redevelop large parts of the area. This
was successfully resisted. Other developments included the establishment of a
neighbourhood advice centre (still operating in Tottenham Street) and the
Community Festival held in the square in July. It began in 1973 with the slogan
‘The people live here’.
© Mark K. Smith 1997
