London calling.
London Walks connecting.
This… is London.
This is London Walks.
Streets ahead.
Story time. History time.
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Top of the morning to you, London Walkers. Wherever you are.
It’s Thursday, July 10th, 2025.
Middle distance one today. Rather than a sprint.
But for some pemmican, let’s get our teeth into our Word for the Day.
Should say words for the day. And not pemmican but bread. Let’s get our teeth into some bread.
Our word – make that words – is companion. And company. And accompany.
Opening those three fine words for dissection you get the prefix com. It means together or with. And then the main part of the word is pan – companion, accompany, company. And pan – well, you can hear it – it’s French for bread. Le pain.
Put those two together – together or with plus bread – a companion is someone you break bread with. You’ve got company over – or you work for a company – you break bread with them. Someone who accompanies you, that’s someone you break bread with. Companion and its companions – they’re lovely words.
Ok, moving on. When I think about it I’m stunned at how much London Walks has changed since 1980 when I started as a guide. In those days, no internet of course. All we had was the legendary white London Walks leaflet. Which I miss very much by the way. I hope we bring it back one day.
Anyway, we’d just turn up for a walk. We had no idea whether the ‘gate’ would be one (or none). Or 8 or 18 or 85 for that matter. 85 only happened to me once but there they were. The walk went ahead. And you know something I got the biggest round of applause I’ve ever received. Mind you, 85 pairs of clapping hands – that’s a lot more decibels than eight or eighteen can produce. But anyway, you turned up, took however many or however few there were, did the walk, bid them farewell at walk’s end. And that was the whole story. The alpha and omega of a London Walk 45 years ago.
Different world now.
First of all, people book. So we’ve got a pretty good idea how many people will be in the house as it were. That has its advantages. We know we’re going to have a big turnout we put a second guide on.
And the other thing is, we can be in touch with our walkers now. Before and after the walk, if we please.
Not every London Walks guide is doing so. But a lot of them are.
A walker nailed it. She called it the legendary London Walks white glove service.
Translation: a lot of us are sending our walkers an advancer email. An advancer email that acquaints our walkers with what goes down on the walk, gives them a feel for the neighbourhood generally, makes some practical suggestions about getting to the meeting point and linking up with the guide, rolls out some suggestions about what else is on offer in that part of London if they get there early or want to make a day of it, makes a recommendation or two about where they can get a cup of tea and/or a bite to eat, etc. Basically a catalogue of good, practical, helpful, orientation stuff. Stuff they can draw on to get the most out of their visit to that part of London.
I’d add that nobody else is doing this. Not in London at any rate. It’s one of any number of factors that set London Walks apart.
For the record, when I came up with the idea a few years back I of course put it out to my fellow guides. The reaction was very mixed. Some of them liked what they saw and jumped on the bandwagon instanta. A few though demurred. And that’s putting it politely. They said, “oh no, you mustn’t do that, David. That’s a terrible idea. Your walkers won’t like that one bit. Everybody already gets way too many emails.”
In the event, the nay-sayers were wrong. Hugely wrong. The response has been overwhelmingly favourable. Indeed, 100 percent favourable. And why not? After all, should said email be of no moment to a walker it takes less than a second to delete it. Time-wise it’s cost-free to someone who’d rather not engage with it.
And for that matter, I put the shoe on the other foot, so to speak. I thought, if it were me, if I were travelling, was perhaps in a city that was pretty much virgin territory to me, I’d love to get – in this case – a warm Welcome to Kensington email that’s chock-a-block with helpful suggestions and recommendations. A communication from a friendly, switched-on local that turns that particular destination on my itinerary from black-and-white Kansas to richly technicolour Oz. Ok, that sets the scene. Here’s curtain up on the main thrust of this podcast. By way of example, here’s the advancer email I sent last evening to today’s Kensington Walkers. And, yes, Louise, to whom this one is addressed, is one of those walkers. Here’s what she and the others received.
A very good evening to you, Louise,
Guide David here with a cup runneth over (i.e., information-rich) advancer for tomorrow’s (Thursday’s) Kensington Walk tryst. And a bolt-on, a brief guide (attached) to some other really good things to do – places to visit – in Kensington if you want to make a day of it.
Particulars for the Kensington Walk: 2 pm, Thursday, July 10th, meet just outside the exit of High Street Kensington Underground Station.
I’m hardly a disinterested party but you’ve made a good choice. Kensington is a fascinating London neighbourhood. It’s endlessly evocative, quirky, enchanting – full of eye-popping interest and beauty. (By way of example, the only house in London designed by the Oxford Bridge of Sighs architect.
It’s every bit as bewitching as The Bridge of Sighs itself.
It’s so transfixing you could happily spend the whole two hours exploring and marvelling at its rich particulars – its astonishing peculiarities and felicities.)
So, yes, makes a great walk. You won’t just be passing through – casually looking at – Kensington, you’ll see it. (In that full John Constable sense: “we don’t see something until we understand it.) See particulars you’d never find off your own bat, learn things you’d never “access” or “get across” on a run-of-the-mill sightseeing excursion. By 4.15 pm or thereabouts you’ll know Kensington and its rich history far better than people who’ve lived there all their lives. (The which is eloquently attested to by the review of the Walk Michael Langan put up a few weeks ago.)
The Walk builds your ‘grasp’ of Kensington piece by piece. I’ve broken the village down into four ‘sub-villages’, three of them pretty much ‘hidden’. (And that’s not to mention the micro level. For example, the gem we find when we burrow down into in the Kensington Church Walk ‘sub-village.’ It’s a through-the-looking- glass moment, that. We thread our way back into a cottage-lined, postage stamp-sized courtyard tucked away inside a secluded-in-its-own-right, intimate little courtyard,
the two of them like a pair of those Russian mah-tree-OSH-kah stacking dolls.)
That’s the usual No. 1 route. Sometimes – especially when it’s warm – I vary it slightly, switch to the No. 1A route. The 1A route is a bit more walking and a bit less talking. Basically, seeing a bit more, hearing a bit less. My thinking is a bit more walking – including working a bit more of Kensington Gardens into the weave – is cooler and less tiring than a bit more standing and listening. It’s the moving-from-one-painting-to-another- painting-in-an-art-gallery-is-less-tiring-than-being-rooted-to-the-spot-in-front-of-a-painting principle. There’s not much in it, maybe a ten percent differential.
Visiting the ‘sub-villages’ (and stacking dolls) in turn, we effectively hop-scotch through centuries of bygone Kensington. Everything from 300-year-old houses – one of them lived in by a famous actor – that are the fundamental building blocks of London to a Victorian mortuary to Billionaires’ Row to the palace (of course) to the finest conservation area in London.
And we’ll also tackle the High Street, which is fascinating if you know where to look and what to look for. Basically we’ll prise out the ‘meaning.’ A bit of help from me and recourse to some 18th– and 19th-century maps and a rare, very old photograph and Voilà We Have Meaning!
But that’s a preamble. This evening I thought I’d send along a couple pre-walk tips and recommendations, any of which will stand you in good stead if you get there a bit early for the walk. And indeed the first part of the route if you do have to play catch-up. I usually allow a couple of minutes period of grace – i.e., we won’t push off from the meeting point outside High Street Kensington Tube at 2 pm sharp.
First of all – and at no little risk of belabouring the obvious – with a walking tour the sine qua non is to get there before the walk starts. A museum or gallery visit it’s not hugely important if you’re a bit late (unless it’s a timed admission) because the museum or gallery will be there whatever time you arrive. But a walking tour by definition isn’t rooted to the spot. It doesn’t stay put. We hoist anchor, we move off. We can be hard to find (though we do our best to ‘bring you in’ if you are late – see below). Being late to a walking tour, it’s more akin to being late to the theatre – you turn up fifteen minutes after the show starts they might not let you in. We’ll of course ‘let you in’ – but you have to find us (again, see below). In relation to which, here’s a London tip. Offered up on the wings of the old adage: a stitch in time saves nine. And ditto that other ‘un: when in Rome do as the Romans do. So we (most of us), London Walks guides, usually start our day by looking at the Transport for London website – https://tfl.gov.uk – to make sure everything is tickety boo in the all-important matter of the Tube lines serving the station our walk starts from – – and that by definition we ourselves have to get to. Very near the top of the TFL homepage there’s a full-scale report on what lines are enjoying a full service, what lines are limping along with a reduced service, what lines are experiencing ‘severe delays’, etc. It’s useful information. Or if you want to go the App route, try Citymapper. It’s free. It’s very good. It’s easy to use. And it also provides bus information – how many minutes until the next 139 arrives, that sort of thing. Hard to go wrong with it. And see below for how Londoners calculate how long a Tube journey from Point A to Point D is going to take.
High Street Kensington Tube is set back from the pavement (sidewalk in American parlance). There’s an arcade of shops that connect it to the pavement. I’ll be at the street end of that arcade, right by the Japanese Wasabi chain eatery. (Directly across the street is a McDonalds and a shop called Daku.)
I’m easy to spot.
I’m no petit four. Look for a strapping “gentleman” (the noun derives its point from the want of application) who’s wearing red shoes, a green belt, a black shirt, red gloves and a scarf with a splash of colour. The whole garish production topped to the north with a Panama. Another giveaway is the green bag I’ve been known to bear aloft like a banner with the strange device DAUNT BOOKS.
It’d be easier to miss Santa Claus.
The walk normally runs to something over 120 minutes – but it’s not like being at school; nobody has to wait until class is dismissed.
Recommendations if you get there early:
1. Come out of the Tube and turn right and 40 yards along is the front door of Japan House. Japan House is full of interest – everything in it is attractive (and, well, Japanese – “the best of Japan brought to London”). What’s also to the point is there’s a seating area in Japan House. True, you can sit down in any of the High Street Kensington cafes but you’ll have to part with a tenner or so to do so. That’s not the case in Japan House. There’s nothing in the least “commercial” about their hospitality. And, wonder of wonders, downstairs, where the art gallery is, they’ve got Japanese loos (the world’s most advanced loos, those miracles from the Land of the Rising Sun aren’t 21st century loos, they’re 22nd century). Oh and they do have a tea and coffee bar if you’re so inclined. And speaking of their art gallery, their new temporary exhibition The Craft of Carpentry – Drawing Life from Japan’s Forests recently opened. I was in there as soon as it opened and left with my jaw hanging open. Those master Japanese carpenters, they’re not carpenters, they’re artists.
2. Another really fine place for a sit down and some tranquillity is the parish church, St Mary Abbots. To get to it: Come out of High Street Kensington Tube, turn right, go to Japan House, there’s a set of traffic lights there, cross the High Street on the most extraordinary crosswalk in London – you can’t miss it, it’s a pattern of blue and white shapes and yes, there is a “story.” Across the street (on the north side of Kensington High Street) turn left, walk not very far, you’ll quickly come to the Ivy restaurant, at the side of the Ivy restaurant is a delightful little footpath called Kensington Church Walk. Turn right and walk up Kensington Church Walk. Just follow it along and when the footpath takes a right turn, voilà, right there, ahead of you, is that beautiful old church. And when it’s a lovely day, well, there are park benches in amongst the greenery and the flower beds that will be on your left on your way up Kensington Church Walk towards the church.
3. Should you want a pre-walk spot of nourishment, that ok Danish bakery Ole & Steen is directly across the High Street from Japan House. Or halfway round Kensington Square (which you reach by turning right onto Derry Street after you pass the front door of Japan House) you come to Thackeray Street. It’s got a very fine, very French café. And a couple of doors away is Ottomezzo, London’s best Italian deli/café. If you get there in plenty of time do stop in at the Thackeray Gallery (it’s between Ottomezzo and the Montparnasse Café). Wonderful gallery run by a wonderful woman. Sarah. It’s small (36 paintings). Living British artists. Sarah makes a point of keeping her door open – even if it’s freezing – she’s that welcoming. In the winter when it’s nippy Rudy and Wilbur, her gorgeous fluffy dogs, help to warm the place up.
And as long as we’re talking comestibles, the legendary Ffiona’s – famous for its “classic British comfort food with a modern twist” – was recently voted ‘Best Restaurant in Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster 2024’. Owned and run by sisters, Ffiona and Althea, the ‘Best Restaurant in London’ is at 51 Kensington Church Street. Here’s the very recent verdict of walker Susan. An Australian, Susan went on the walk a few weeks ago and had dinner afterward at Ffiona’s. She reported back: “Ffiona’s is a terrific restaurant! The claim is that they have the best chicken Kyiv in the world – ‘the world’s best!’ It’s not far wrong I can attest.” And I can second walker Susan’s verdict. Here are two podcasts I recently did on Ffiona’s. My favourite London restaurant. And Ffiona takes us through the menu.
And for a wild card: Candella’s Tea Rooms at 34 Kensington Church Street. Superb, very traditional afternoon tea at about a third of the cost of the same thing at, say, the Ritz. A fifth of the cost for Cream Tea. The downside is they’re usually fully booked. But no harm in trying. That’s for their traditional afternoon tea service. I think your short notice chances of getting a table at Candella’s are probably better if you plump for breakfast (or luncheon) tea.
A second wild card – an out of left field, bit of fun wild card – has to be Luba’s Green Hut Café. It’s one of the surviving original “cabman’s shelters.” It’s on the Kensington Gardens side (the north side) of Kensington Road, between Palace Gate and Hyde Park Gate. Just a 10-minute walk from our High Street Kensington Underground Station meeting point for the walk. You won’t be able to sit down inside – only cabbies can do that – but you could get a sandwich and a cuppa and go for a sit-down in, say, the North Flower Walk. On a day like this that’s about as good as it gets.
4. And for a date-specific recommendation, howzabout the Serpentine Pavilion 2025 A Capsule in Time by Marina Tabassum and her firm, Marina Tabassum Architects. It’s only just opened and is nothing short of amazing.
It won’t be there forever (6 June to 26 October 2025). Here’s what the International Union of Architects says about the Serpentine Pavilion Exhibition. The Serpentine Pavilion is an annual architectural commission hosted by the Serpentine Galleries in London’s Kensington Gardens. Each summer since 2000, a different world-renowned architect or studio—often someone who has not yet built in the UK—is invited to design a temporary pavilion on the gallery’s lawn, this year is its 25th anniversary. Here’s a link. Oh, and the Serpentine Pavilion Exhibition is free. And they have a snack bar at one end of the “Capsule in Time.”
5. This one isn’t date-specific but it’s certainly season-specific (“Club members” excepted). And refreshingly different, something to text home about. Indeed, if you’re a visitor, it’s a splash or two toward the bragging rights Winner’s Circle: howzabout a dip in the Serpentine Lido, arguably London’s most iconic ‘open water’ swimming location? “Arguably” because a lot of people would say, “no, the Hampstead Ponds are ‘the most iconic.’’’
Ok, back to our walk:
here’s our likely route for the first part of the walk. But if you are late do ring London Walks in case there are any last-minute changes (sometimes that’s the case, especially on a Saturday, if there’s a demonstration out Kensington way). Anyway, to play catchup, go right out of , go along to the next corner (Derry Street), where we’ll make a brief stop; then cross Derry Street and carry straight on (you’re still on the High Street). You’ll be walking past the now defunct but once great – and still architecturally spectacular) department store, Barkers. At the next corner, Young Street, turn right. Young Street will take you straight down to Kensington Square. When you get to Kensington Square turn right and go right round the square (three sides of it). You go three quarters around Kensington Square you’ll come to Thackeray street. It leads out of the southeast corner of the Square. Let Thackeray Street take you out of Kensington Square.
And if you haven’t caught us up by then I’d fold in my hand if I were you and go on the walk another day, when you can catch the whole thing. Trying to catch us up after Thackeray Street would be like taking your seat in the theatre having missed Act I and Act II of the play.
At walk’s end – some minutes after 4 pm – we’ll be ten yards away from the church. Perfect for the ‘optional extra’ – the encore for anyone who’s game for same. To wit: a quick tour of the interior of the church. Let alone a chance to sit down (indeed, sit in a seat that’s held a royal bottom!). I hope some of you will take that offer up. There’s every reason for visiting beautiful and historically fascinating St Mary Abbots. Not to put too fine a point on it, every London neighbourhood is a mind. You want to get inside that mind, you want to find out what’s there, what’s going on, want to explore it, you have to walk it. Which is what we do. We hit an entirely different register when we go into the church. In there you get a mood rather than a mind – a very special mood. And for that matter it’s an extremely efficient way of seeing a fascinating interior. You’d have to spend literally months sifting and winnowing – fine-tooth combing – through that church to find the half dozen or so extraordinary particulars that I show you bang-bang-bang in a matter of a few minutes. In which connection, see Michael Cooper’s earlier this year (March 28th) review:
“I thought I knew London but David’s superb Kensington tour proved me wrong. He was erudite and entertaining with a warm engaging personality. I have been on many London Walks but this is the first time I was rewarded with a double bonus, a supplemental tour after the official tour concluded of the church and a follow up email with further nuggets of fascinating information. David is a man who clearly has a passion for his vocation and shares it with others.” Michael Cooper
And the other thing is I sometimes bring old and rare documents – maps, photographs, etc. – to the party. They shed a great deal of light on aspects of bygone and indeed present day Kensington. Should the documents be along for the ride tomorrow, it’s in the church – as I said, you’ll be seated, comfortable, relaxed – that we cast a beady over them. All of them rare, a couple of them sui generis (and solely in my and their owner’s private possession). I.E. the only people who get to see them – apart from the elderly Kensington householder who entrusted me with them – are my walkers.
Should you be late, the London Walks telephone number is 020 7624 3978. Ring Peter at London Walks GHQ and he’ll make an instrument landing.
Finally, the reason I “take roll”. I wrote the chapter on Kensington in London Walks, London Stories (the London Walks book) and everybody who goes on the walk gets sent a professionally produced pdf of that chapter.** It’s a good “fit” – complements the walk nicely. If nothing else it’ll save you forking out a tenner to buy the book. But if people want to receive that snippet of added value they need to identify themselves and get a tick by their name in the register.
The weather boffins (i.e., crystal ball gazers) are saying it’s going to be summer weather perfection: 28 C (82 F) with zero chance of a whisper of the wet stuff. But that’s a why bother consideration because in four decades of guiding I’ve never once taken an umbrella.*** It doesn’t rain on my walks.
Albestest
London Walks
P.S. *High Street Kensington Station is on the Circle & District Line (the yellow and green lines in the London Underground’s colour coding scheme). N.B., London has three other stations – South Kensington, West Kensington, and Kensington (Olympia) – that have Kensington as part of their name. It’s like picking umbrella straws, the names aren’t of course identical but there are close resemblances – so you’ll have to make sure you don’t put down on the wrong airstrip (to mix my metaphors). Yes, it regularly happens: people bound for Kennedy end up at LaGuardia (South Kensington Tube). And unfortunately South Kensington Tube also has a Wasabi restaurant just outside the exit. Happened to someone last week, got their signals crossed – didn’t read the red bold face – went to South Kensington Tube (which is WRONG) instead of High Street Kensington Tube (which is right).
And as long as we’re at it, here’s a useful Londoner’s tip for you. To gauge how long a Tube journey in central London takes Londoners allow an average of three minutes between stops. So if the station you’re starting your journey at is five stops away from your destination station you should allow fifteen minutes for that journey. 3 minutes x 5 stations = 15 minutes. And so on. A destination that’s seven stops away you should figure 21 minutes for that Tube journey.
**
Finally, a couple of points that elaborate on matters I mentioned above. About the book, the Kensington chapter of which I’m going to send you,
For the record, the way that Kensington chapter ends is the best thing I’ve ever written. Those last two grafs, I mean. For the record, they’re about that aforementioned Kensington Gore becomes Kensington High Street mention. And I’ve pumped out a lot of words in my time. Career-wise, I was a television journalist.
Said email will also include an extraordinary “piece of ‘history’” – a photo of a document that isn’t part of the public record and hasn’t been seen by anybody for decades (apart from the elderly Kensington resident who opened up his ‘personal documents box’ and fetched down from his attic a couple of other astonishing keepsakes for my and my camera’s perusal). The other stuff I photographed and you’ll see it if you go into the church with me at walk’s end.
***
And for a sayonara, let’s thumb our nose at the weather one more time. Historically, the British public genuinely regarded the idea of not getting soaked when it’s pissing it down as ‘too French’, with accounts saying we called people a ‘mincing Frenchman’ if they were caught using an umbrella. For better or worse I reckon I’m squarely in that tradition.
Last words of all to the London Cadogan Guide and that great Kensington literary character G.K. Chesterton – who got married in the church we’ll visit –
Chesterton first:
“The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder” G.K. Chesterton
And Cadogan:
“The original and best – there are several companies offering walking tours of London but London Walks (London’s oldest) is easily the pick of the bunch” London, Cadogan Guide
You’ve been listening to This… is London, the London Walks podcast. Emanating from www.walks.com –
home of London Walks,
London’s signature walking tour company.
London’s local, time-honoured, fiercely independent, family-owned, just-the-right-size walking tour company.
And as long as we’re at it, London’s multi-award-winning walking tour company. Indeed, London’s only award-winning walking tour company.
And here’s the secret: London Walks is essentially run as a guides’ cooperative.
That’s the key to everything.
It’s the reason we’re able to attract and keep the best guides in London. You can get schlubbers to do this for £20 a walk. But you cannot get world-class guides – let alone accomplished professionals.
It’s not rocket science: you get what you pay for.
And just as surely, you also get what you don’t pay for.
Back in 1968 when we got started we quickly came to a fork in the road. We had to answer a searching question: Do we want to make the most money? Or do we want to be the best walking tour company in the world?
You want to make the most money you go the schlubbers route. You want to be the best walking tour company in the world you do whatever you have to do
to attract and keep the best guides in London –
you want them guiding for you, not for somebody else.
Bears repeating:
the way we’re structured – a guides’ cooperative –
is the key to the whole thing.
It’s the reason for all those awards, it’s the reason people who know go with London Walks, it’s the reason we’ve got a big following, a lively, loyal, discerning following – quality attracts quality.
It’s the reason we’re able – uniquely – to front our walks with accomplished, in many cases distinguished professionals:
By way of example, Stewart Purvis, the former Editor
(and subsequently CEO) of Independent Television News.
And Lisa Honan, who had a distinguished career as a diplomat (Lisa was the Governor of St Helena, the island where Napoleon breathed his last and, some say, had his penis amputated – Napoleon didn’t feel a thing – if thing’s the mot juste – he was dead.)
Stewart and Lisa – both of them CBEs – are just a couple of our headline acts.
Or take our Ripper Walk. It’s the creation of the world’s leading expert on Jack the Ripper, Donald Rumbelow, the author of the definitive book on the subject. Britain’s most distinguished crime historian, Donald is, in the words of The Jack the Ripper A to Z, “internationally recognised as the leading authority on Jack the Ripper.” Donald’s emeritus now but he’s still the guiding light on our Ripper Walk. He curates the walk. He trains up and mentors our Ripper Walk guides. Fields any and all questions they throw at him.
The London Walks Aristocracy of Talent – its All-Star Team of Guides – includes a former London Mayor. It includes the former Chief Music Critic for the Evening Standard. It includes the Chair of the Association of Professional Tour Guides. And the former chair of the Guild of Guides.
It includes barristers, doctors, geologists, museum curators, a former London Museum archaeologist, historians,
university professors (one of them a distinguished Cambridge University paleontologist); it includes a criminal defence lawyer, Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre actors, a bevy of MVPs, Oscar winners (people who’ve won the big one, the Guide of the Year Award)…
well, you get the idea.
As that travel writer famously put it, “if this were a golf tournament, every name on the Leader Board would be a London Walks guide.”
And as we put it: London Walks Guides make the new familiar
and the familiar new.
And on that agreeable note…
come then, let us go forward together on some great London Walks.
And that’s by way of saying, Good walking and Good Londoning one and all. See ya next time.