Written by George Major
Walking tours are popular with visitors and Londoners alike. London is over 2000 years old, so there’s a lot of history to discover and whether you’re a born Londoner or you’re just visiting for the weekend – a knowledgeable tour guide is a great way to discover stories of the capital’s rich, diverse and often dark past.
From visiting famous areas and landmarks, to hearing more hidden stories and exploring social history from the past century – get ready to step into the past and discover the best history walking tours in London.
London History Walks
Fans of the murky and the macabre will enjoy London History Walks, although some tours are less grisly than others and there’s plenty of choice. Your partner in crime is city guide Alison Turner, who takes visitors through famous, infamous and less-well known histories spanning different periods and London neighbourhoods.
Join the Old Wapping tour to discover tales of piracy and murder in this historic old docks neighbourhood. For less murdery maritime history, book a spot on the Greenwich Riverside tour, or discover Spitalfields’ diverse history and Georgian architecture.
There are also secret garden walks and the excellent-sounding Troublesome Women walk. During this tour you’ll hear all about the banjo-playing socialite Valerie Meux, medieval alewives, ancient warrior queen Boudicca, and disruptive 20th century female stockbrokers.
Each walk ends up a historic city pub, for walkers who fancy a pint or a soft drink and chat after.
Cost: £16.00 per adultDuration 90-100 minutes
Walking London
Run by an experienced team of London tour guides, Walking London runs historical walking tours that are a mix of the hidden histories of famous areas such as Westminster, King’s Cross and Belgravia and themed and seasonal walks such as Dickens at Christmas.
For a pub crawl with a historic twist, check out the pubs of Belgravia (food and drinks aren’t in the price, sadly!).
Other tours include a City of London walk that covers everything from the Romans to stories from WW2, Pubs and Pirates tour of London’s waterfronts and a sex, drugs and rock and roll tour of Soho.
Duration 2.5 hours
Black History Walks
Founder Tony Warner set up Black History Walks in 2007, and has been leading walking tours, talks, as well as making films and educational resources on London’s Black history ever since.
Black History Walks usually run monthly, and cover Black history in London from the Roman era to the 21st Century, including activism, art, music, and theatre. The tours explore areas including Notting Hill, St Paul’s/Bank, Hackney, and even a boat tour of Regent’s Canal.
Cost: £15.00 per person via EventbriteDuration 90-120 minutes
Women of London walking tour
Founder and historian Becky Laxton-Bass launched the Women of London walking tours in 2018 to amplify women’s history and shine a light on less well known female figures in history.
Now she has a whole team of knowledgeable tour guides, and they run six tours, three walking tours and three inside museums and galleries. The walking tours focus on three areas, Westminster, Bloomsbury and the East End.
In Westminster, you’ll discover hidden memorials, and learn about female political campaigners, writers, nurses and women in wartime.
On the Bloomsbury Tour you’ll visit memorials to and hear stories about the area’s famous writers including Virginia Woolf, as well as the incredibly brave WW2 Spy Noor Inayat Khan, abolitionist, Mary Prince and others.
And on the East End tour, you’ll discover the lesser-told stories of east London’s working women from silk designers to suffragettes.
Cost: £25.00 per personDuration 2.5 hours
Stumble London queer history walking tours
Run by Irish-born Architecture expert and Cabaret performer Mark T Cox, Stumble London runs queer history walking tours around Soho and Bankside.
In Soho, you’ll hear about everything from 18th century drag performers to the secret gay soirées of the 1920s and the threat of development in the neighbourhood and its LGBTQ+ spaces.
On the Bankside route, you’ll hear tales of the area’s infamous past, and the 16th moral panic that led to years of persecution of gay men as well tales of early drag performers, and find out about the area’s contemporary queer spaces.
Living London History
Tour guide, author and blogger Jack initially launched London Living History as a blog on lockdown walks around the city. Since then, he’s taken his love for walking and London’s history from the internet to the streets and you’re invited to come along.
Living London History focuses on the city’s hidden gems and lesser-known spots, and frequently sells out, so you’ll need to book well in advance.
Current walks include the cryptic Secrets and Symbols of the City, where you’ll find strange symbols in The City of London, or you can explore alleys and lesser known history of the Strand on the The Hidden Strand: Power, Wealth and Empire tour.
There are also tours of rebellion and revolution in Smithfield, secret histories of Covent Garden and scandals tales in Westminster.
Cost: £26.64 per personDuration 1 hour 45 minutes
