London is a free, open source, image-centric theme for the Ghost publishing platform, created by the Ghost Foundation for publishers and portfolios that showcase visual work.
What is London?
London is a custom, image-centric theme for Ghost, the open source publishing platform, created and maintained by the Ghost Foundation. It takes a Ghost blog or portfolio site and gives it a layout that emphasizes large imagery and visual content. The theme is distributed as a downloadable zip file from the TryGhost/London repository and can be uploaded to any Ghost site via the Design settings area. Its demo runs at https://london.ghost.io.
Key Features
- Image-centric design — London is explicitly built to show off photography, graphics, and visual portfolios, so it favors large images and minimal text.
- Free and open source — The theme is released under the MIT license, and the source lives in the TryGhost/Themes monorepo; anyone can use, modify, and contribute.
- Ghost platform integration — It runs on Ghost, so it inherits Ghost's membership, newsletter, and Content API features out of the box.
- Gulp/PostCSS build pipeline — Styles are compiled with Gulp and PostCSS to polyfill future CSS specs; editing files in assets/css automatically compiles to assets/built during development.
- Translation support — The theme is set up for translations, with instructions in the TryGhost/Themes theme-translations README for adding or editing language files.
- Easy installation — Users simply download the zip from the repository and upload it in Ghost's Design settings; no coding required to get started.
- Development workflow — Requires Node, pnpm, and Gulp; running pnpm install and pnpm dev starts a watch process, and pnpm zip produces dist/london.zip for distribution.
Who is it for?
- Publishers — bloggers and online magazines that rely on striking visuals and want a theme that puts imagery first.
- Photographers and visual artists — creatives who need a portfolio layout that showcases large photographs and graphics without clutter.
- Ghost users who want a free default-style theme — sites that want a polished look without paying for a premium theme.
What can you do with London?
- Launch a photo-forward blog — publish posts where large images dominate the reading experience, ideal for magazine-style content.
- Build a portfolio site — display projects and visual work on a Ghost site using London's image-centric layout.
- Customize and contribute — because it's open source, developers can modify the theme, build assets with Gulp, and submit changes to the TryGhost/Themes monorepo.
How does London work?
Installation takes two steps: download the theme zip from GitHub, then log into Ghost and upload it in the Design settings. Developers can instead clone the repo, run pnpm install, and use pnpm dev to compile assets from assets/css to assets/built; the pnpm zip task packages everything into dist/london.zip.
Pricing
London is free. The source code is released under the MIT license by the Ghost Foundation, so there are no license fees.
FAQ
Is London free?
Yes. London is a free, open source Ghost theme released under the MIT license. You can use it on any Ghost site without paying for it.
How do I install London?
Download the theme zip from the GitHub repository, then go to your Ghost admin panel, open Design settings, and upload the zip file.
What is the demo for London?
You can preview London live at https://london.ghost.io, where the Ghost Foundation hosts a demo of the theme.
Can I contribute to London?
Yes. London is developed in the TryGhost/Themes monorepo. Report issues or submit pull requests there; the repo is synced automatically.
