The East India Company – Guided by a Distinguished Diplomat
Monument Tube, Fish Street Hill exit
Guided by Lisa
Adult: £20 · Students & Seniors: £15 · Children: £5
Walk Times
| Day | Walk Type | Start Time | End Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 October 2026 | Tour du Jour | 2 pm | 4 pm | Summer | |
| 30 October 2026 | Tour du Jour | 10.30 am | 12.30 pm | Summer | |
| 21 November 2026 | Tour du Jour | 10.45 am | 12.45 pm | Winter | Reserve Online |
| 1 January 2027 | Tour du Jour | 10.30 am | 12.30 pm | Winter | Reserve Online |
| 3 January 2027 | Tour du Jour | 11 am | 1 pm | Winter | Reserve Online |
| 16 January 2027 | Tour du Jour | 10.45 am | 12.45 pm | Winter | Reserve Online |
| 14 February 2027 | Tour du Jour | 11 am | 1 pm | Winter | Reserve Online |
| 27 March 2027 | Tour du Jour | 11 am | 1 pm | Winter | Reserve Online |
| 16 April 2027 | Tour du Jour | 10.30 am | 12.30 pm | Winter | Reserve Online |
| 1 May 2027 | Tour du Jour | 10.45 am | 12.45 pm | Summer | Reserve Online |
Join distinguished former diplomat and qualified City of London Green Badge guide, Lisa Honan CBE, for a captivating East India Company walking tour through the historic streets of the City of London. Discover the fascinating, and often dark, history of the world’s most powerful multinational corporation and its lasting impact on the Indian subcontinent, global trade, and modern society.
Lisa Honan CBE in action, guiding our East India Company Walk. Former diplomat, former Governor of St Helena, and a guide with quite a story to tell.
Want to meet your guide before you meet your guide? Read: Meet Your Guide: Her Excellency Lisa Honan CBE.
A Unique History Walk with a Former Governor
As a former Governor of St Helena, a critical East India Company stronghold, Lisa offers unique, firsthand insights into the corporation’s legacy that you simply will not find on any other tour.
For the record, Lisa was the first female Governor in the territory’s 500-year history. She lived in the 1792 East India Company Governor’s mansion – the very same house where her 19th-century predecessor, Sir Hudson Lowe, lived while guarding Napoleon Bonaparte during his exile. (She even shared her front garden with Jonathan, the world’s oldest land animal – a giant tortoise.)
Jonathan, the world’s oldest living land animal, in the grounds of Plantation House, St Helena, where London Walks guide Lisa Honan CBE lived as Governor.
Her personal connection to this history makes this one of the most authentically led historical walks in London.
“The craving for power and wealth is an atavistic instinct. The lust for conquest is part of the human condition. The spirit of imperialism is not dead: it haunts the modern world and its manifestations are legion” – Piers Brendon
What to Expect on the Tour
On this immersive City of London walking tour, you will trace the footsteps of merchants, adventurers, and corporate imperialists. Drawing on her distinguished diplomatic career and extensive archival research, Lisa takes you to the exact sites where history was made, laying bare the company’s story from 1600 to the present day.
Highlights of the walk include:
- The Original Courtyard: Stand exactly where the East India Company began its 17th-century operations.
- Global Trade & Monopoly: Learn how the company revolutionised what the world ate, drank, and wore through its aggressive trade networks across India, Indonesia, and China.
- Corporate Power & Conflict: Uncover how a private corporation amassed its own private army, ruled over 300 million people in India, and incidentally sparked the Boston Tea Party.
- The Dark Side of Trade: We do not gloss over the brutality. We explore the systemic corruption, the “sustained protection racket” of colonial rule in India, and the exploitation that defined the company’s 300-year reign.
- Exclusive Archival Research: Hear untold histories based on Lisa’s own original research into the St Helena archives, revealing the East India Company’s hidden connections to slavery.
You go on this walk, and matters of world-historical importance brush you with their wings. The East India Company wasn’t just the largest and most powerful multinational corporation in the world, it was history’s fulcrum.
Tour Details & Booking
- Duration: 2 hours 15 mins
- Meeting Point: Monument Tube Station (Fish Street Hill exit).
- End Point: The Royal Exchange (Bank Underground Station is just a few yards away).
This highly rated historical walking tour is perfect for anyone interested in the history of the Indian subcontinent, the spice trade, corporate history, and London’s hidden past. Reserve your place online today to experience history where it actually happened.
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THE GUIDING
William Shepherd –
I have been on somewhere in the region of 20 London walks. Cats, Gin, Twins, Sins, Troopings, Rockers Brunel and numerous location tours et al. All have entertained and informed in equal measure. They have all been different and being subjective it has always been hard to say which is the best. I took this tour yesterday and I have to say this one was the best! Pretty much a walk around where I used to work doesn’t sound too captivating. This however superbly told the history of the East India Company from various pertinent locations. Most of the specific information I didn’t know despite having at one time been a history teacher! The guide was excellent and despite quite a challenging group in terms of questions she answered everything. The other thing I liked was the information wasn’t presented in a too judgemental fashion. One of the tiresome modern concepts of imparting history is that it is presented in a way that is telling us how we should think rather than allowing us to make up our own minds. The walk was delivered in a way which didn’t hold its punches but allowed us to make up our own judgements. Lisa also does a walk on tea which I am looking forward to attending in 2 weeks.
Sue –
Financial backhanders, the old boy network, conflict of interests, dodgy MPs. Sounds familiar today? Nothing new though. It was rife in the 1600s to mid-1800s, as The Governor eloquently explained.
Corruption and business tax fiddles, military interventions, illegal cargoes and immoral decisions, the web of intrigue was astounding. Not only us either, Portugal and The Netherlands were at it too.
From City of London churches to Calcutta, Bank to Bombay, St. Michael’s Alley to Murshidabad, routed via St Helena, we had a whirlwind trip.
Textiles, coffee, tea, opium, pepper and sheep dung were all part of this Company tour. Ever wondered about your pint of IPA?
Brilliant tour, brilliant Lisa. If you are not sure about doing this walk…………….”just bite the bullet”!!
Paul –
My wife and I took this tour and Lisa’s tour on the history of tea on successive days earlier this month. Although they covered a lot of similar geographical ground within the City, there was only a little overlap between them, and both were first-rate. Lisa’s experience, her research, and her gift for storytelling brought the East India Company to life, from one monument, building, church, courtyard, square, or alley to the next and with the many, major and minor figures who played a role in the story. That story was absorbing, amusing, and often appalling. It was an unforgettable tour, and we highly recommend it.
Frank –
What a fantastic tour! Easily one of the best walking tours I’ve ever taken (and I’ve taken a fair amount). Lisa was a wonderful and extremely well-versed guide. She uncovered hidden spots throughout the City that shined light on the East India Company’s fascinating (and dark) history. I highly recommend the tour!
Rolf –
Possibly one of the very best London Walks I did in over 20 years. The world as it spun around the biggest private company ever. Bravo.
PS: better spare 3h than 2h….
Martin Harborne –
East India Tour was very good with lots of interesting facts and an engaging tour guide. Slightly too long but finished in a convenient place.
Imelda Shanahan –
Excellent tour. Lisa was knowledgeable and engaging and we thoroughly enjoyed our morning. Highly recommended – can’t wait to try some of her other tours. Well done Lisa.
Kris –
Absolutely fantastic walking tour. Best one I’ve done yet. If you only have time for one then this is the one to go for. Will not disappoint
Lisa is continuously researching and adding new interesting facts so it’s worthwhile doing it again even if it’s only been a few years since you went on the tour last.
Kenny –
I have a lot of interest in history. Lisa tells the story of the East India Company from its beginnings to its end in a terrific way. She tells us of its major characters and the company’s influence on the world. I highly recommend this tour.
Andrew McDonald –
A wonderful morning of learning. Lisa is excellent as a guide. None better.
So much I didn’t know about my city.
Thank you for the education Lisa!