Unofficial Britain is a celebration of the uncelebrated.
A study of the overlooked.
A history of the forgotten.
A journey into the unexpected.
This website was set up in 2014 as a platform for writing, art and film that offer unusual perspectives on the landscape and culture of these strange isles.
Its contributors walk through everyday places, like car parks, bus stops, amusement arcades, factories, alleyways and promenades, only to find that they become weirder the closer we look. In even the most mundane spaces you can find surprising synchronicities, uneasy atmospheres, uncanny phenomena, urban legends, cult heroes, folkloric tales and cryptozoological beasts.
Subjects have included the phenomenon of lost toys; the mythology of the Thamesmead social housing development; memories of animatronic sooty and sweep displays in a Cleethorpes amusement arcade; the legend of Sir Francis Drake in a Plymouth retail park; the lost lido of Dunbar; a ghost village on Salisbury Plain roamed by tanks; memories of a tenement block in 1970s Whitechapel; white paint spills in public places.
This site is the brainspawn of Gareth E. Rees, author of Unofficial Britain (Elliott & Thompson, 2020), Car Park Life (Influx Press 2019), The Stone Tide (Influx Press, 2018) and Marshland (Influx Press, 2013). His short fiction has appeared in Best of British Fantasy 2019, An Invite to Eternity, This Dreaming Isle, The Shadow Booth: Vol. 2, Unthology 10 and The Lonely Crowd. His articles and essays have been published in Mount London, An Unreliable Guide to London, The Guardian and The Quietus.
Stories, art, music and film submissions welcome. Please contact gareth@unofficialbritain.com
For the latest news, events and behind-the-scenes action, please join the Unofficial Newsletter which is here. [don’t worry, I won’t share your email address or allow third parties to contact you, and you can unsubscribe any time you like.]