ALL CHANGE AT ST. PANCRAS*

“We’ll give London Walks access to parts of the station that aren’t open to the public.”**

Well, we weren’t going to say no to that offer, were we! Weren’t going to say no to it because: “St. Pancras is the most significant urban structure built by the railways. Both its engine shed, the inelegant name given to the
enormous glass and iron shelter over the platforms… and the Gilbert Scott hotel would be notable individually, but together they create a world-class terminus… The sheer scale is breathtaking in itself as the station is 150
metres wide and twice that distance long, but the Gothic design, with its exaggerated features such as the clock tower, numerous spires and the large statue of Britannia glaring over at King’s Cross make it one of London’s greatest landmarks” (from Fire & Steam by Christian Wolmar). And that’s just the centrepiece! There’s also the oldest church in Christendom Britain (and its extraordinary churchyard), a stunning roof-top view, and “the mind and memory of the nation!”

*Bottom line: this is the most significant new walk to be added to the London Walks repertory in the last 25 years! 

**We couldn't get specific about this one - had to hold back wth this blurb - because some of these particulars were still in the "development stage" those first couple of months after the station opened. But it looks like the "access" spun gold is coming together now. I.E., we think - we hope - we'll be good to go on that particular count from here on out. Drop us a line - or give us a bell - or indeed check back here in due course and we'll let you know for sure.

And there's no reason to be coy about the genesis of this walk. The plain fact of the matter is St. Pancras has really pulled out the stops for us - including being shown round the redevelopment by the architect himself! As you know, we set a lot by "insider information" and "local knowledge" - and it doesn't get much more "insider" and "local" than a private tour given by the man who spent nine years bringing the project to fruition! And embarrass des riches, the next couple of ones we're going to do are timed to "feed into" at walk's end a lecture that Alastair, the architect, is going to give there at the station. And - for the proverbial cherry on top of the Sunday sundaes, these next two walks will be guided by Steve, who's an architect himself (he does the Frozen Music - the City of London and West End architecure - walks that come up occasionally in our From the Repertory slots.

Guided by Tom, Brian, Richard III or Steve.

To go on the All Change at St. Pancras Walk meet the guide just outside the Euston Road north exit of King’s CrossTube.

King's CrossTube is on the Circle, Metropolitan, Northern, Victoria & Piccadilly Lines.

Comes the anniversary comes the walk!

And pace Winston Churchill...this may have been London's finest hour!

Their names ring down the centuries, the great and the good who fought for freedom: Wilberforce, Wedgewood, Wesley, Blake, John Newton, Cowper. And that's not to forget the lesser known who began the cause: Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson, James Phillips and Oladouh Equiano.

Truly, here in the bosom of the City beat the heart of compassion, answering the slave's cry, "Am I not a man and a Brother?"

Amazing Grace indeed.

Anniversaries don't come any more important than this one. Which is why it's important to go and see where - to go over the ground, literally and figuratively -  to travel back...to bear witness.

The starting point for The Amazing Grace walk is MonumentTube.
Meet Jean just outside the Fish Street Hill exit.

As one American lady put it, "my Gawd, it's like being shown around Manhattan by Dustin Hoffman." To which Edward - in his inimitable, dryly witty way - responded, "Dustin would be glad to know he's got that to fall back on to."

But seriously, it's a real treat this one. Edward Petherbridge is one of the great classical stage actors of our time - and it's tough to beat a wee stroll through his patch - theatreland - with him for a couple of hours of a Sunday morning (or very occasionally, of a Sunday afternoon). People fork out 40 quid to get a stalls seat to watch him in a West End show and here you can be at his elbow and indeed shoot the breeze with him for six quid. Or a fiver for concs. Forget hanging around outside the stage door in hopes of getting an autograph. That's for chumps. The real deal is to go on his walk. It's like joining Edward - and chilling - in the green room. Or like being shown around Manhattan by Dustin Hoffman!

This one's soaked in memories - and haunted by ghosts...

Who would have thought that, on this walk we should, so often, encounter the "Nelson Touch"?  Indoors and out we find memories of "The Hero",as he was simply known, from monuments to portraits, his homes  - with Lady Nelson or "Dearest Emma" - the Admiralty, the Navy Board, to his final resting-place in the heart of the City.

N.B., this is one of our "anniversary walks" - i.e., we try to run it on (or right around the time of) Trafalgar Day!

The starting point for the "England Expects" - The London of Admiral Nelson Walk is just outside the Ritz exit of Green ParkTube.

The Latecomers Catch-up Stop is in St. James Street.

Guided in the compelling spirit of 1984 this walk is through London's "West End" where Orwell worked, drank and gained inspiration. It's a rich repast - everything from the church which inspired the Ministry of Love in 1984 and Keep the Aspidistra Flying to the skyscraper which provided the model for the Ministry of Truth. And that's just the Orwell! Which is by way of saying, Ed's spiced the thing with a ton of accompanying material...in the shape of non-Orwellian dubious but intriguing outriders and delights!

The George Orwell's London Walk is guided by the distinguished London historian, Ed Glinert, the author of London: Exploring the Hidden Metropolis, The London Compendium, and A Literary Guide to London.

To go on the George Orwell's London Walk meet Ed
just outside exit 6 of Oxford CircusTube.

The walk ends near Russell SquareTube.
 

Jean takes us to the top of that Cresta Run that swoops down to London Town - but, unlike Dick Whittington , we will not 'turn again' to the City, but to Chipping Barnet - the Market town - Barnet Fair, notorious Costermongers' Carnival;  Barnet's Battle, where the King of the White Rose overcame the Kingmaker of the Red; Barnet's Benevolence - almshouses for 'ancient women' so they be not "beggars, drunkards, backbiters,talebearers, scolds, thieves or witches". And not forgetting Boozy Barnet, another sobriquet that High Barnet acquired on its rollicking, roiling, royal way!

The Hie to High Barnet Walk starts at High BarnetTube.

The Latecomers Catch-up Stop  is up the hill, by the Red Lion Pub.

The Hie to High Barnet Walk ends back at High BarnetTube.

Palaces & Pubs; Gaslit Lanes & Theatreland;
Phantoms & Flashbulb Moments*

This is a great pub walk. It's vintage London, vortex London. It's "downtown" at its best. It's 18th-century gas-lit lanes and an ancient square and the oldest theatre in London. It's tucked-away, much-loved - and very old - pubs. It's where Londoners come to play. It's where visitors searching for the holy grail of Newsweek's "coolest city on earth" come closest to finding it. It's where high spirits and history rhyme. It's where the heart of this great city beats. It's where, more than anywhere else, you're going to feel London in your veins. (Food is available.) Guided by Richard III or Fiona.
*E.G., raising a glass - which we'll do - with the orchestra of the Royal Opera House! 

The meeting point for The London by Gaslight Pub Walk is just outside the exit of EmbankmentTube.

EmbankmentTube is on
theCircle, Bakerloo, District & Northern Lines

Ah, Islington! No question about it, there's one special buzz here. And it's not just that this is one of the trendiest parts of London. It's also the rustle of the past. And little wonder, because Islington has seen it all. London lineages don't come much older. Or prouder. How far back do you want to go? How's an Anglo-Saxon village grab you? St. Mary's is 7th century. And the wonders the whirligig of time works - because it was at St. Mary's that John Wesley was kicked out for daring to suggest that the souls of the rich were no better than the souls of the poor! God knows what historical zeitgeist Wesley may have tapped into just then - thoughts of "good shepherding" and Gadarene Swine might well have come naturally to him in Islington because the place grew up around the oldest droving route in the world. What must it have been like? Thousands of bellowing cattle and clacking geese and squealing porkers. And drovers bearing news and gossip. And constant fresh milk and cream for London markets. And buzz past and buzz present because when they reached the old Angel Inn - near where we start - they knew they were on the threshold of London - almost there! Their final destinatioin was of course Smithfield. Think of Dickens's Oliver Twist - those fateful words: "where London begins". And right away - a quintessential London Walks detail: the pavements of Upper Street - the main street - were raised to protect passers-by from the churning mud. And - quick intake of breath here, because history has just laid its gloved hand on your shoulder - look, look there... look at those raised pavements, raised way up they are. And just like that you're into a "double vision" moment: you're looking at trendy, cutting edge, 21st century Upper Street but you're simultaneously also seeing, as if, in a magic lantern...16th and 17th and 18th and 19th century Upper Street and wave upon wave of drovers and their beasts. How did Shakespeare put it? "Like as the waves make toward the pebbled shore, so do our minutes hasten to their end, each changing place with that which goes before...all forward do contend." So, yes, our turn now to "do" Merrie Islington.

And doobie doobie do, why not look this way. What's this? Rather more agreeable, isn't it? It's a village whose history is "writ in water". Canals and the 17th century New River carrying fresh water to London. And a village whose springs and wells gave rise to fashionable tea gardens and theatres. 

Which is by way of saying, Islington perhaps more than any other London village has danced the dance of seven veils. And one of its most brilliant veils was the "backgarden playground of London". Or you can think of - indeed  behold - the village green, with the famous Collins Music Hall, where Charlies Chaplin, Tommy Trinder and Marie Lloyd performed. A venue that reverberated across the theatrical ages...because Olivier drew on it for his performance in The Entertainer.

The show goes on. Because here's the King's Head theatre pub, arguably the most important fringe theatre in London. It was the King's Head that revived the idea of a pub and dining theatre. Funky doesn't come any more star-dusted than the King's Head: Hugh Grant, Tom Stopard, Victoria Wood, John Hurt, Sheila Hancock, London Walks' Mary...they all worked their magic here. And what's not to love about a pub where the takings are still rung up in pounds, shillings and pence? 

What else? Well let's fan through the deck: there's the Regent's Canal, lined with narrow boats; there's the antiques market; there's the toniest restaurants in town, let alone Tony's and Gordo's little tete-a-teterie; there's - more whirligig this! - a milieu that can embrace, across just a decade or so, the red flag flying from the Town Hall to million pound properties; there's the favoured home and haunts of writers and celebs such as Stephen Fry and Boris Johnson and Salmon Rushdie. No surprise that, since the likes of Joe Orton, Evelyn Waugh, George Orwell and Charles and Mary Lamb also put down here.

Well, you get the idea - this is one special London village.

To go on the Merrie Islington walk meet Sue
just outside the exit of AngelTube.

For the Latecomers Catch Up stop, come out of AngelTube, turn right, go (north) up Upper Street,  turn right along Duncan Street and stop at the junction of Colebrooke Row.

The walk ends near Highbury & IslingtonTube.

"Try to follow the golden thread, however thin,
because it's the city's real lifeline."

So where does the golden thread take us? Into the least known quarter of this ancient city, that's where. Into nooks and crannies where London's wondrous strange past rises up like a mirage. Here a stretch of the old Roman wall with its bastions and fort makes a defiant last stand. There venerable livery halls of the City Guilds - galleons lying at anchor - attend to business, as they've done for centuries. Round that corner an ancient church or two - flinty sentinels and signposts to the eternal landscape of the past - keep the 21st century at bay. Hard by, John Wesley's house and London's eeriest old graveyard weather the ages. And everywhere, the rustle of the shades and the voices - like distant drums - of Roman centurians and town criers and cockney flower girls.

"The Old City Nobody Knows" Walk goes from just outside exit 2 of
St. Paul'sTube.

The Latecomers Catch-up Stop is at the Wesley Flame, near the Museum of London.

The Walk ends at Liverpool Street Station.

OLD FULHAM - Village on the River, Palace in the Park

This is how Fulham began.