So every London Walk – by definition – is “unusual.”
But what we mean here by the term “unusual” is walks that aren’t immediately obvious. For the most part they fall into two categories.
1. Walks – like Brook Green: The Secret Side of Hammersmith – that go off the beaten path, that explore an unfamiliar, largely unregarded part of London – a part of London it wouldn’t have occurred to you to visit. A part of London you perhaps haven’t even heard of.
2. Walks – like T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land Tour – that follow a rarefied thread. A thread you hadn’t noticed – or didn’t know was there – through an otherwise well-known part of London.
And don’t be under any misapprehensions – these are not “junior varsity” walks. Every one of them is A-List* – they’re just A-Listers that are less well known. See, by way of example, the review, below, of Rick Jones’ Wasteland Tour.
*Jessica’s February 2022 review of The Waste Land Tour: “In 20 years of London Walks, I think this is the best one I have ever been on. Rick is simply marvellous. I studied the Waste Land extensively at university but I never understood it the way I did after this tour. The stops are thoughtfully chosen to illustrate certain passages and Rick peppers in sprinklings of music and literature and history – he also sings beautifully and tells stories beautifully – it gives the Waste Land a new depth and humour. He recites long passages of the poem so that you can hear the music in them and speaks in the voices of the characters – all at once you recognize them as people, the kind of people who weave in and out of the streets all around you. It’s a beautiful homage to the City, to London, to Eliot, and to thousands of years of history that swirl around in the Waste Land. (But to be clear, even if you don’t care about this poem, this is still a WONDERFUL walk – the poem just serves as the anchor and you bob in and out of the poem and the history).”
Wednesday, 31 May 2023 @ 10.45 am (This walk goes every Wednesday)
Four words* that make my blood race: “hasn’t yet been discovered.” *Right up there with hidden places, hidden history
Wednesday, 31 May 2023 @ 11.30 am (This walk goes every Wednesday)
"in 20 years of London Walks this is the best one I've ever been on"
Wednesday, 31 May 2023 @ 2.30 pm (This walk goes every Wednesday)
This walk is sold out on May 17th Guided by arts critic Rick Jones, Secretary of the Critics Circle
Thursday, 01 June 2023 @ 2.30 pm (This walk goes every Thursday)
Just a little prick… from Edward Jenner to AstraZeneca
Thursday, 01 June 2023 @ 7 pm (Click here for more dates)
Friday, 02 June 2023 @ 10.30 am (This walk goes every Friday)
"Fan vaulting, Bow bells, a Mediterranean courtyard, a sermon timer and a mighty organ beneath Christopher Wren's most beautiful dome"
Saturday, 03 June 2023 @ 10.30 am (Click here for more dates)
"...the most extraordinary letter in London's alphabet"
Saturday, 03 June 2023 @ 11 am (This walk goes every Saturday)
Sunday, 04 June 2023 @ 10.45 am (Click here for more dates)
Before Ziggy… Before the Thin White Duke… A walking tour of Bowie's Soho 1963-71. Guided by Adam
Sunday, 04 June 2023 @ 10.45 am
Spring in Kew Gardens. Includes the newly opened, breathtakingly beautiful Temperate House.
Sunday, 04 June 2023 @ 11 am (Click here for more dates)
"a corkscrew of a route that pops cork after cork of east London's vibrant, heady, dynamic street art scene"
Sunday, 04 June 2023 @ 11.30 am
This walk tells the epic tale of the uncovering of London's past by Archaeologists...
Sunday, 04 June 2023 @ 3 pm
an archaeologist-guided portrait of London in the early 16th-Century
Thursday, 08 June 2023 @ 9 am (Click here for more dates)
"Miraculum orbis. Wonder of the world, annexe to heaven..."
Sunday, 11 June 2023 @ 10.45 am
follows the events of the Revolt as the Peasants move through London in June 1381
Sunday, 11 June 2023 @ 10.45 am (Click here for more dates)
"London Walks puts you into the hands of an expert on the particular area and topic of a tour" The New York Times
Sunday, 11 June 2023 @ 10.45 am (Click here for more dates)
The East End Gangland & The Dark Side Of The Swinging 60s
Sunday, 11 June 2023 @ 10.45 am (Click here for more dates)
Urban oases, havens of 19th-century tranquillity
Sunday, 11 June 2023 @ 7.30 pm
"see the invisible and understand the inscrutable"
Tuesday, 13 June 2023 @ 9.45 am (Click here for more dates)
We walk with Mrs Dalloway. Walk her London. See it with her eyes.
Saturday, 17 June 2023 @ 2.30 pm (Click here for more dates)
Discover the dark side of the empire...
Saturday, 17 June 2023 @ 2.30 pm
"from the deep past to a vision of the future"
Sunday, 18 June 2023 @ 10.30 am (Click here for more dates)
Guided by former ITN Editor Stewart Purvis CBE. "You got Stewart Purvis to guide Hampstead Spies? That's like getting Dan Rather to guide Dealey Plaza"
Sunday, 18 June 2023 @ 10.45 am (Click here for more dates)
Celebrating 60 years of the Rolling Stones. Guided by Adam
Sunday, 18 June 2023 @ 2 pm
Sunday, 18 June 2023 @ 2.30 pm (Click here for more dates)
"part gentrified, part solidly working class"
Saturday, 24 June 2023 @ 10.45 am (Click here for more dates)
Follow Dr Barry Walsh in footsteps of the famous surgeon Dr John Hunter
Sunday, 25 June 2023 @ 2.30 pm (Click here for more dates)
History, architecture, films, the Gunners, a Ripper candidate and for good measure, a short nature walk
Sunday, 25 June 2023 @ 7 pm (Click here for more dates)
'The Game's Afoot!' Follow the fascinating adventures of Holmes and Watson (and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) around London's West End. Guided by Richard IV
Friday, 30 June 2023 @ 6 pm
"most of what has passed has left plenty of traces"
Saturday, 01 July 2023 @ 10.45 am
"People who love to eat are always the best people" Julia Child
Saturday, 01 July 2023 @ 2.30 pm
"with a space-age American embassy tucked in behind it"
Saturday, 01 July 2023 @ 2.30 pm (Click here for more dates)
"a murky world marked by treason and treachery, betrayal and murder"
Sunday, 02 July 2023 @ 2.30 pm (Click here for more dates)
"unseen, untrodden, unexplored, unknown London beckons"
Tuesday, 04 July 2023 @ 11.30 am
This walk has been specially created for the Mayfair Times Literary Festival. The charge for this walk is £20 (there are no concessions).
Sunday, 09 July 2023 @ 2.30 pm (Click here for more dates)
Now a chic London neighbourhood but then 'a haunt of thieves and whores'
Saturday, 15 July 2023 @ 10.45 am
"reveals the vast importance of horses in asserting the position of those in power"
Sunday, 16 July 2023 @ 2 pm
"special not least because we'll be walking along one of the loveliest stretches of the Thames"
Friday, 21 July 2023 @ 9.30 am (Click here for more dates)
A full day Rock'n'Roll exploration of historic southwest London - guided by Adam.
Saturday, 22 July 2023 @ 10.45 am
"People who love to eat are always the best people" Julia Child
Wednesday, 02 August 2023 @ 4.30 pm (Click here for more dates)
"tiny gas-lit alleyways, unknown even to many Londoners..." N.B. Guide Ian donates all of his fee to the World Jewish Relief's Ukraine Crisis Appeal!
Saturday, 05 August 2023 @ 10.45 am
"the King's nickname was Tumtum, he had a 47" waist, and every night a cold roast chicken was placed beside his bedside..."
Sunday, 06 August 2023 @ 2.30 pm (Click here for more dates)
"we step into a different world here, a different world bouquet’d with incidental delights – 'The Upside Down House', for example..."
Sunday, 20 August 2023 @ 10.45 am (Click here for more dates)
Scandal! Adultery! Big Bangs! Our royal story is an opera in itself. Guided by Adam.
Sunday, 27 August 2023 @ 10.45 am
the fun, the delight of getting to know a London neighbourhood that's a complete revelation
Saturday, 02 September 2023 @ 2.30 pm
Phwoar! Wrong side of the Westminster tracks – crime, grime and where the bodies are buried
Sunday, 03 September 2023 @ 2.30 pm (Click here for more dates)
The London of a couple of centuries ago. A London of tunnels and bridges and narrowboats and locks.
Sunday, 24 September 2023 @ 2.30 pm
This unusual, highly original walk – indeed, it's sui generis...
Sunday, 01 October 2023 @ 2.30 pm (Click here for more dates)
"from the Age of Canals to cutting edge, 21-st century London"
Sunday, 29 October 2023 @ 11.30 am (Click here for more dates)
Sunday, 29 October 2023 @ 7 pm (Click here for more dates)
Saturday, 11 November 2023 @ 2 pm (Click here for more dates)
The history of Rock and Pop in the West End.
Sunday, 12 November 2023 @ 11.30 am (Click here for more dates)
Your boon companions on this tour of London in the Middle Ages are a Museum of London archaeologist and the greatest medieval poet of them all.
Saturday, 23 December 2023 @ 7.30 pm
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Jane Austen devotee must be in want of this virtual tour"
We run a ton of private walks. If you to go on any of the walks below, it’s eezy peezy as well. Just give Fiona, Peter, Niamh or Mary a ring on 020 7624 3978 – or email us at [email protected] and we’ll set it up for you and make it happen.
Rocks of Ages – Urban Geology in the City (guided by a professional geologist)
"we look at evidence for 'Celtic' origins of London and how May Day was celebrated in London"
"the general rule in medicine in Stuart England is ‘better out than in’"
"with a fine disregard for the rules"
What is the evidence? And can we trust it? Archaeologist-guided.
we use ancient methods to divine what is in store for us in 2023
...incendiary publications, industrial strife, revolutionary trade unions, soup kitchens, housing charities and shelters for the homeless.
"there are places along the towpath that are little changed"
We could be in 1620. Or May 28, 1940. Or June 6, 1944.
"the source and inspiration for one of the great classics of English literature"
As the Sun and Moon move around our skies we look at how Londoners organised and celebrated their year throughout history. Guided by Kevin
"where they sang, wrote poetry and played rugby"
"London bridge is the key to much of the history of London"
"The national dish is no longer fish and chips, it's curry"
The best Dickens Christmas Festival in the world!
The walk tells the story of London's myths , legends and the celtic origins of Halloween. Guided by Kevin
Guided by the author of The Lonely Planet Guide to London
Almost a third of all Londoners are now foreign-born, representing 270 different nationalities and 300 languages. Guided by Steve F
Alex takes a look at the world of the 18th Century sex and brothel trade.
A story showing people at their worst and best, tells the horrors of the slave trade, the extreme cruelties and yet contains seeds of hope. Guided by Isobel
Tradeswomen, writers, lawyers, feminists, martyrs, muses and murderers: women’s stories aren’t always nice, nor are they niche. Guided by Isobel
Ever since William the Conqueror (aka William the Bastard) hit the scene in 1066, legitimacy has been a life or death issue for the Royals. Guided by Ian
Your boon companions on this tour of London in the Middle Ages are a Museum of London archaeologist and the greatest medieval poet of them all... Guided by Kevin
Temperatures of more than 1000° meant everything was consumed in the inferno...
"Marylebone – a magnet for so many inspiring women"
"William the Conqueror!" N.B. Guide Ian donates his fee to the World Jewish Relief’s Ukraine Crisis Appeal!
"a place of poverty and political exiles and refugees and revolutionaries"
A get away from it all walk – down on that towpath it's 200 years ago.
"how much horsepower each bus route needed – amazing eye-opener into a lost city"
On the Trail of the Huguenot Silk Weavers of Spitalfields. Rich history in a well-preserved neighbourhood.
"their excesses, their maladies, their treatment, their cadres of medical attendants, their post-mortems..." Guided by a Physician
"a secret corner of London closed to the public for 200 years"
Jollying our way along a handsome, tree-lined canal on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Perfect.
We follow the crisscrossing paths of Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson as they solve their only original Christmas-time case, and Arthur Conan Doyle as he reaches a crisis in his professional life.
"Guy Fawkes was hanged, cut down while still alive, castrated, disembowelled... onlookers were never able to forget that he was conscious throughout the process"
Urban Geology < Fossils, Volcanoes, Seas, Asteroids and Time
Free booklet of London poems. Double act. David guides. RSC actor Steve performs the poems.
Dulwich is a world – a hamlet – unto itself. There's no other place like it in London. Be sure to bring your camera.
Doctors' London – Pox & Plague, Leeches & Quacks. Guided by a Physician.
"subterranean London" "there's a whole other world down there" "London created the Underground and the Underground created London"
"Sex and death, the two subjects everybody's interested in..." Guided by a Physician