Shhh! It’s a secret. Hampstead is the best place to be on a Saturday night in London. It’s the roof of London. We’ll look down and see the lights of the greatest city on earth spread out before us. On a clear night we’ll even nip into the Old Observatory for a look through the telescope at the starry heavens above. What else? Well, it’s London at its most picturesque – a perfectly preserved Georgian village. There’s a superb cast of characters – ranging from the highwayman Dick Turpin to the painter Constable to the poet Keats; from Freud and D.H. Lawrence to Liam Gallagher and Boy George; from Elizabeth Taylor and Rex Harrison to Peter O’Toole and Jeremy Irons. There’s London’s most villagey atmosphere, great cafes, magnificent Hampstead Heath, and well-hidden, cosy old pubs you’ll fall in love with. This is a great walk – they just don’t come any better. N.B. the walk ends just round the corner from Hampstead Tube.
HAMPSTEAD PUB WALK PRACTICALS
The Hampstead Pub Walk takes place at 7.15 pm on Saturday, November 23.
N.B. in the Summer London Walks programme – which kicks in on May 1 and runs through October 31 – the Hampstead Pub Walk takes place at 7 pm every Saturday evening.
The meeting point is just outside the exit of HampsteadTube Stop. N.B. The walk takes about 2 1/2 hours and ends just round the corner from HampsteadTube Stop.
HAMPSTEAD WALK VIDEOS
Two of em. First one – this one – is frankly artsy and very beautiful. Shot by Koko, a Japanese stills photographer. Music specially composed for the film.
Second one – it’s here – has zero production values. I, David, shot it and put it together. And for sure I ain’t a filmmaker. But rough-hewn as it is it’ll give you an idea of leafy Hampstead and its hidden passageways.
LONDON WALKS REVIEWS
“London Walks has many copycats, but it’s the best.” Frommer’s London by Night
“If you want to know London better, if you want to learn some things about the world’s most cosmopolitan city that most people who spend their lives there never learn… I can think of no better investment than London Walks” The New York Times