Milford Lane

Milford Lane is a narrow street in the City of Westminster that runs from Strand in the north to a brief walkway section leading to Temple Place in the south.

The Cheshire Cheese larger public house, midway, on the corner with Little Essex Street, stands where there has been a tavern since the 16th century.

Its eastern side was hit by a V-1 flying bomb on 24 July 1944 during the Second World War, demolishing part of it, blocking the lane and trapping people in rubble at 28 Essex Street.

[11][12][13] Three fragments of architectural sculptures by Henry Poole from the demolished United Kingdom Provident Institution offices are now located on the street.

[14] The K2 telephone kiosk at the southern end of the lane at the junction with Temple Place is grade II listed with Historic England.

Milford Lane is the scene of a bawdy poem of 1716 by Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, titled The Duel of the Crabs which recounts a battle between two armies in the pubic hair of a whore residing in Milford Lane,[16] the first lines of which read "In Milford-lane, near to St. Clement's Steeple/There liv'd a Nymph kind to all Christian People".

Milford Lane looking north
Location of Milford Lane
Map by Wenceslaus Hollar (c. 1670s) showing Milford Lane when it divided the estates of Essex and Arundel
The Milford Lane area on an 1870s Ordnance Survey map after the construction of the Victoria Embankment
Milford Lane north end seen from Strand
Milford Lane south end looking towards Essex Street steps
Bomb damage map showing the site where the VI flying bomb hit Electra House in 1944 (top, marked 1896) and the site of earlier damage from a parachute mine in Temple Gardens in 1940 (right)