London's Tramways Posters

Discover a display relating to London's Tramways Posters in the Information Area at The London Archives.

Trams were a common sight on London streets in the first half of the twentieth century, and by 1914 the London County Council was running services across inner London. Posters were used to promote tram services. The original artwork for a couple of these evocative and stylised images will be on display at The London Archives.

The display uses one of the walls in our Iconic Display Area to present facsimiles of 40 of the tramways posters and shows the variety of the posters, from early black and white to the more colourful examples. The posters promote leisure and sporting activities, shopping, days out and cheaper Sunday fares to publicise all that London had to offer. The two cases in the display area will each showcase an original artwork for a poster with some official tramways guides, several photographs and a map.

The display is located in the Information Area on the first floor at The London Archives.

This free display will run from 10 February to 26 June 2025.

You can purchase copies of the posters via the London Picture Archive.

Further reading

Tramway art: the distinctive poster art of the London County Council tramways by Jonathan Riddell (Capital Transport, 2010) - Library reference: 45.1 RID