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All tours range between £10 – £12
New for 2022!
Royal Platinum Walking Tour
If you like all things Royalty then you’ll like this walk. Welcome to our Royal Platinum walking tour taking in a plethora of Royalty linked highlights. On this walk you will have been truly primed for celebrating Her Majesties 70 year reign. Let us take a stroll past Palaces, memorials and clubs taking in tales of Monarchs, Princes, Princesses and many more.
Once you have experienced your tour you will be able to say you have seen:
Buckingham Palace
St. James’s Palace
The birthplace of the Queen
Mahiki
And so much more!
There will be a short comfort break mid-point
Factoid – Princess Anne was almost kidnapped in 1974. The kidnapper demanded Anne get out of her car to which her response was “Not bloody likely!”
SECRETIVE LONDON [WEST]
Secret places, famous places, unassuming places. Most walk by without a glance. Maybe, just maybe a glance is all it needs for a thought to stir. Your guide will be revealing of secrets past, several secrets actually born in History past.
Once you have experienced your tour you will be able to say you have seen:
- Panyer Alley
- Paternoster
- Postman’s Park
- Newgate
- Smithfield
- Charterhouse Square
And so much more!
Factoid -Horace Jones the City Architect responsible for the iconic Tower Bridge also designed the ‘cathedral of meat’ otherwise known as Smithfield Market.
SECRETIVE LONDON [EAST]
Secret places, famous places, unassuming places. Most walk by without a glance. Maybe, just maybe a glance is all it needs for a thought to stir. Your guide will be revealing of secrets past, several secrets actually born in History past.
Once you have experienced your tour you will be able to say you have seen:
St Ghastly Grim
Tiniest sculpture in the City
Church with a tube station in its crypt
Time and Tides
And so much more!
Factoid –The fine horses at Mincing Lane by Althea Wynn are nicknamed Doller, Yen and Sterling
JACK THE RIPPER
Imagine smog drenched back streets , women trying to beg , steal , borrow or prostitute themselves for the money to eat and obtain lodgings for the night. If successful the poor unfortunates must do it all again. The fear of poverty outweighs the fear of a serial killer. Terrible and gruesome,a story of gin and threads, the outcast, the split personality or the supernatural monster?
Once you have experienced your tour you will be able to say you have seen:
- Mitre Square
- Hanbury Street
- Goulston Street
- The 10 Bells
- Gunthorpe Street
- Itchy Park
And so much more!
Factoid- The Police used to issue the prostitutes with whistles so they could raise the alarm thereby attracting officers on the beat, Next morning officers collected the whistles from pawn shops.
WEST SMITHFIELD STROLL
West Smithfield, originally without but now within. A quick saunter along Cowcross and through the Cathedral to meat. We are going to explore Smoothfield , Sedfield , Smithfield. About 900 years of History in West Smithfield to be precise. Let us take a stroll around the West Smithfield rotunda taking in Jones , Askew , Rahere , Rogers , Tyler , Lopez , Wallace and many more. Find out about the oldest parish church, a 900 year old Hospital and Livery companies. We will also answer the question of what have the Worshipful Company of Butchers been doing since 1343?
Once you have experienced your tour you will be able to say you have seen:
St Bartholomew the Great
Sir William Wallace memorial
First terminus
And so much more!
Factoid -Horace Jones the City Architect responsible for Tower Bridge also designed the ‘cathedral of meat’ otherwise known as Smithfield Market.
THREE CHURCHES AND A COFFEE
Hawksmoor, Wren and an elder Mary!- Feast your eyes upon our three magnificent City churches, St Mary Woolnoth , St Stephen Walbrook and St Mary Aldermary.
Our walk highlights the ‘Devils architect’, a prototype dome and an unusual Gothic Wren. The tour will end at the Host café where you may enjoy a well-earned coffee with your guide for some good conversation.
Once you have experienced your tour you will be able to say that you have seen:
• The pulpit of amazing grace
• The ‘camembert’
• A spectacular fan vaulted ceiling
And so much more!
Factoid:
St Mary Woolnoth can claim to be the only church to have its crypt replaced by a tube station.
CENTRAL CITY – A SEMI-CIRCULAR WALK FOR A SQUARE MILE
What exactly is a Cathedra?
Which park stars in a Hollywood movie?
Who or what are starchitects?
When a man is tired of…too obvious, how about ‘I still love London, no matter what they do to it’ – Sir Michael Caine.
Welcome to a walking tour of the City between St Paul’s and Bank, taking a plethora of highlights such as The Cathedral, an open space, a preserved bomb site, a livery Hall and the battle of starchitects in a single street. This tour will provide you with an instant hit of 2000 years of the City within a city. A personal encounter with layers of Londoners
Once you have experienced your tour you will be able to say you have seen:
A Blitz site that unearthed Roman ruins
The Hall of the Leopard mark
The parish church of Sir Christopher Wren
And so much more
Factoid – Joseph Addison commented in The Spectator 1711:There is no Place in the Town which I so much love to frequent as the Royal-Exchange. It gives me a secret Satisfaction, and gratifies my Vanity.
TUDOR TURMOIL
Years of living dangerously 1520 – 1558
Once upon a time the people of England were happy visiting churches, attending mass and respectful of purgatory, then a lustful King forced them to abandon their religion. Alternatively the people of England were being led by corrupt church and the Tudors would eventually save them. Tudor turmoil was and is a deep dividing line between the souls of the people as their past was abandoned
Who was the Man for all seasons?
Where can you spot a memorial to the Marian Martyrs?
Where can you see one of the most important spots in English History , yet unmarked?
Once you have experienced your tour you will be able to say you have seen:
The oldest Parish church in the City
The Stationer’s Hall
Martyrs memorial
And so much more
Factoid – Not single bible was printed in England during the reign of Bloody Mary as so many protestant printers fled abroad
SOME LONDON PERSONALITIES
If you like people then you’ll like this walk. In our celebrity obsessed society you have been primed for History’s personalities. Important people, flamboyant people with big ideas and lots of stories for you, then personalities maketh the city. Join us and you will enjoy the gossip of the past. The walk cannot be in chronological order but we will ensure you can make sense of the Londoners you will encounter.
Once you have experienced your tour you will be able to say you have seen:
- A kisser of a dead Queen
- Taming the Thames
- Having a little list
- Three people in one relationship
- The oyster cat
- Died on the Titanic but came back to tell the tale
And many more!
Factoid – In 1660 a Pepys diary entry contains the earliest known reference about drinking a cup of tea. Pepys did not much like tea and made no further mention of the China drink in his diary until 1667.
ROMAN LONDON
According to mythology the earth was surrounded by a mighty sea called Oceanus –by extending the influence of Rome to the equivalent of outer space the Emperor Claudius was going against accepted wisdom – Britain was worthless and scary at the same time- If you know where to look experience the story of a Londinium, the threads that bind ancient and modern.
Once you have experienced your tour you will be able to say you have seen:
- London Wall
- Walk on a Roman floor
- London Bridge supports
- Mithras Temple
- Guildhall Amphitheater
And so much more!
Factoid- Caligula sent an army to invade Britain except they failed take any boats – he ordered soldiers to pick up seashells as trophies won. Claudius ordered a successful invasion having brought some ships
A WAPPING ADVENTURE
Wapping, a franchise of executions and more pirates than the Caribbean. Docklands became derelict lands, a tiger on the loose and a gruesome burial. Wapping is where Tobacco was the king of sailor town. So much to explore from the artist Turner to Captain Kidd.
Once you have experienced your tour you will be able to say you have seen:
- Wapping High Street
- Dead Man Stairs
- Tobacco Dock
- St George’s in the East
- Cable Street
- Wilton’s Music Hall
And so much more!
Factoid- The Thames River Police are England’s oldest Police Force. Established in 1798 it was a river policeman that was called to the infamous 1811 Ratcliffe Highway murders
ROTHERHITHE RAMBLE
Rotherhithe where adventures began. Gulliver set sail from here, so did the Mayflower. Stories of the river, of a ship called Antelope and Prince Leboo. The foundation of a company that ruled India. A place of pirates and the first tunnel under a river anywhere in the world. Rotherhithe, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.
Once you have experienced your tour you will be able to say you have seen:
- Mayflower
- The Angel
- Medieval Manor House
- St Mary’s Church
- The road to China
- The Brunel Museum
And so much more!
Factoid- The East India Company began in 1600, when Queen Elizabeth I granted it its first royal charter. The Company consolidated its operations in India around three ‘presidencies’ at Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta.
WHITECHAPEL WONDERS
The term “East End,” was enthusiastically embraced by the popular press who used it to create an image of the area as a hot bed of villainy. Over a million people crowded the East End. The Salvation Army labelled the area “Darkest England”. The few square miles of Whitechapel and Spitalfields were a maze of alleys, courtyards and common lodging houses. “The children of the ghetto” were defiant, proud and downtrodden- yet the East End was and is so much more…from Hawksmoor churches to hidden synagogues, mass immigration to charities, from Weaver Town to Banglatown.
Once you have experienced your tour you will be able to say you have seen:
- Brune Street
- 59 Brick Lane
- Sandy’s Row
- Christchurch
- The curry mile
- The 10 Bells
And so much more!
Factoid- The name Whitechapel came from the chapel called St Mary Matfelon, which had white washed walls. The chapel was destroyed in 1941 and was situated in what is now Altab Ali Park.
GREAT WAR LONDON
The Great War 1914-18. Reflect upon memorials of duty, remembrance and gratitude. Discover war fever, celebratory damage; where a King met a President and the first blitz. These are just some of the highlights from this special walk, marking the 100th anniversary of the War to end wars.
Once you have experienced your tour you will be able to say you have seen:
- Hyde Park Corner
- Buckingham Palace
- The Mall
- Trafalgar Square
- Charing Cross
- Embankment
And so much more!
Factoid – Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914, the spark igniting the Great War. The Armistice was the 11th day of the 11th hour 1918. Weirdly the number plate of the car Ferdinand died in was A 111 118.
NB : ALL TOURS – GRATUITIES WELCOME