London Nights: Photographing the capital after dark

A new exhibition at the Museum of London brings together some beautiful, eerie and poignant images of the city after dark. We talk to curator Anna Sparham about the photography show.

There is something fascinating about London at night. Maybe it’s the contrasts: the difference between the noise and bright lights of the West End and the quietness of residential streets. The glow of skyscrapers against the black of the Thames or the night sky. The night bus, with its odd mix of sleepy children and workers in uniform and drunken friends munching on late night snacks. The city takes on a new life as the sun sets, as offices empty and pubs fill up and commuters retreat to the suburbs, and depending on where you are, who you’re with and what you’re doing, it can be a beautiful, lonely, liberating or frightening place.