Gloucester Crescent is an 1840s Victorian residential crescent in Camden Town in London which from the early 1960s gained a bohemian reputation as “the trendiest street in London” and "Britain's cleverest street"[1] when it became home for many British writers, artists and intellectuals including Jonathan Miller, George Melly, Alan Bennett and Alice Thomas Ellis.

In 1999 he adapted it into a stage play at the Queen's Theatre in London which starred Maggie Smith who received a Best Actress nomination at the 2000 Olivier Awards[11] and which was directed by Nicholas Hytner.

He adapted the story again for the 2015 film The Lady in the Van with Maggie Smith reprising her role again, and Nicholas Hytner directing again.

The film was shot in and around Bennett's old house in Camden Town, where the real Miss Shepherd spent 15 years on his driveway.

[3][16] Other residents included the novelist and screenwriter Deborah Moggach;[27][29] writer Susannah Clapp;[28] poet and playwright Louis MacNeice[28] and the Labour MP Giles Radice.