Things to do in London
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Franco Manca
Voted as the best pizza in London by literally everybody, Franco Manca is worth coming specifically to Brixton for. Beat those queues by arriving early, avoiding lunch hours and Saturday, and delight in some fine, fine pizza. This place only uses its own sourdough (all made in the upstairs bakery with flour from a Neapolitan mill), fired up in a wood-burning ‘tufae’ brick oven. The choice of six excellent-value pizzas is all you need, the source of every single delicious ingredient is accounted for – the vegetables are from a small London grocer, the organic olive oil brought from fincas in Spain and Sicily, the cheese is from Somerset, the tomatoes from Liguria in Italy…
reviewed
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St Lawrence Jewry
To look at the Corporation of London’s extremely well preserved official church, you’d barely realise that it was almost completely destroyed during WWII. Instead it does Sir Christopher Wren, who built it in 1677, and its subsequent restorers proud, with its immaculate alabaster walls and gilt trimmings. The arms of the City of London can be seen on the north wall and the Commonwealth Chapel is bedecked with the flags of member nations. Free piano recitals are held each Monday at 1pm; organ recitals at the same time on Tuesday.
As the church name suggests, this was once part of the Jewish quarter – the centre being Old Jewry, the street to the southeast. The district…
reviewed
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Albert Memorial
This splendid Victorian confection on the southern edge of Kensington Gardens, facing the Royal Albert Hall, is as ostentatious as the subject, Queen Victoria’s German husband Albert (1819–61), was purportedly humble. Albert explicitly insisted he did not want a monument; ignoring the good prince’s wishes, the Lord Mayor instructed George Gilbert Scott to build the 53m-high, gaudy Gothic memorial in 1872. The 4.25m-tall gilded statue of the prince, surrounded by 187 figures representing the continents (Asia, Europe, Africa and America), the arts, industry and science, was erected in 1876. An eye-opening blend of mosaic, gold leaf, marble and Victorian bombast, the…
reviewed
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Smithfield Market
Smithfield is central London’s last surviving meat market. Its name derives from it being a smooth field where animals could be grazed, although its history is far from pastoral. Built on the site of the notorious St Bartholomew’s fair, where witches were traditionally burned at the stake, this is where Scottish independence leader William Wallace was executed in 1305 (there’s a large plaque on the wall of St Bart’s Hospital south of the market), as well as the place where the leader of the Peasants’ Revolt, Wat Tyler, met his end in 1381. Described in terms of pure horror by Dickens in Oliver Twist, this was once the armpit of London, where animal excrement and…
reviewed
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Royal Albert Hall
This huge, domed, red-brick amphitheatre adorned with a frieze of Minton tiles is Britain’s most famous concert venue and home to the BBC’s Promenade Concerts (the Proms; see p306) every summer. The hall, built in 1871, was never intended as a concert venue but as a ‘Hall of Arts and Sciences’; Queen Victoria added the ‘Royal Albert’ when she laid the foundation stone, much to the surprise of those attending. Consequently it spent the first 133 years of its existence tormenting concert performers and audiences with its terrible acoustics. It was said that a piece played here was assured of an immediate second hearing, so bad was the reverberation around the oval…
reviewed
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Handel House Museum
George Frederick Handel lived in this 18th-century Mayfair building for 36 years until his death in 1759; this is where he composed some of his finest works, including Water Music, Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Fireworks Music. The house opened as a museum in late 2001 after extensive restorations and looks as it would have when the great German-born composer was in residence.
Exhibits include early editions of Handel’s operas and oratorios, portraits of musicians and singers who worked with Handel and musical instruments in the Rehearsal & Performance room on the first floor; musicians regularly come to practice so you may be treated to a free concert. The staff attending…
reviewed
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No 10 Downing St
This has been the official office of British leaders since 1732, when George II presented No 10 to Robert Walpole, and since refurbishment in 1902 it’s also been the PM’s official London residence. As Margaret Thatcher, a grocer’s daughter, famously put it, the PM ‘lives above the shop’ here. For such a famous address, however, No 10 is a small-looking building on a plain-looking street, hardly warranting comparison to the White House, for example. A stoic bobby stands guard outside, but you can’t get too close; the street was cordoned off with a rather large iron gate during Margaret Thatcher’s times. Breaking with tradition when he came to power, Tony Blair and his…
reviewed
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Sutton House
Abandoned and taken over by squatters in the 1980s, what was originally known as Bryk Place when built in 1535 by a prominent courtier of Henry VIII, Sir Ralph Sadleir, could have been tragically lost to history, but it’s since been put under the care of the National Trust and magnificently restored. The first historic room you enter, the Linenfold Parlour, is the highlight, where the Tudor oak panelling on the walls has been carved to resemble draped cloth. Other notable rooms include the panelled Great Chamber, the Victorian study, the Georgian parlour and the intriguing mock-up of a Tudor kitchen. There’s a shop and pleasant cafe on site.
West of Sutton House, in…
reviewed
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Westminster Cathedral
With its distinctive candy-striped red-brick and white-stone tower features, John Francis Bentley’s 19th-century cathedral, the mother church of Roman Catholicism in England and Wales, is a splendid example of neo-Byzantine architecture. Although construction started here in 1896 and worshippers began attending services seven years later, the church ran out of money and the gaunt interior remains largely unfinished.
The assumption of colour by the gloomy interior is a painfully slow process. The Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament and other parts of the interior are ablaze with Eastern Roman mosaics and ornamented with 100 types of marble; other areas are just bare brick.…
reviewed
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Brompton Cemetery
As London’s vast population exploded in the 19th century, seven new cemeteries – the ‘Magnificent Seven’ – opened, among them Brompton Cemetery, a long expanse running between Fulham Rd and Old Brompton Rd. The chapel and colonnades at one end are modelled on St Peter’s in Rome.
While the most famous resident is Emmeline Pankhurst, the pioneer of women’s suffrage in Britain, the cemetery is most interesting as the inspiration for many of Beatrix Potter’s characters. A local resident in her youth before she moved to the north, Potter seems to have taken many names from the deceased of Brompton Cemetery and immortalised them in her world-famous books. They…
reviewed
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Ronnie Scott’s
Ronnie Scott originally opened his jazz club on Gerrard St in 1959 under a Chinese gambling den. The club moved to its current location six years later and became widely known as Britain’s best jazz club. Such luminaries as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, plus Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan have all played here.
The club continues to build upon its formidable reputation by hosting a range of big names and new talent. The atmosphere is great, but talking during music is a big no-no. Door staff can be terribly rude and the service slow, but that’s how it’s always been. Gigs are nightly and usually last until 2am. Expect to pay between £18 and…
reviewed
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Hackney Museum
This small museum tracing the history of one of the most ethnically diverse neighbourhoods in the country is particularly stylish, with display boards featuring translucent squares of the same colour and one case showing single mementoes and effects from diverse ethnic communities – Jews, Chinese, Indians etc – behind square panes of glass. Even the 1000-year-old Saxon log boat, discovered on the marshes of Springfield Park in 1987, has been placed in the floor under glass squares. Yet the design is not so flashy as to interfere with what’s on show, from zoetropes and an early-20th-century (and very confusing) locality map to a pie ‘n’ mash shop and a dream kitchen of the…
reviewed
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HMS Belfast
White ensign flapping on the Thames breeze, HMS Belfast is a magnet for naval-gazing kids of all ages. A short walk west of testicular City Hall, this large, light cruiser – launched in 1938 – served in WWII, helping to sink the German battleship Scharnhorst, shelling the Normandy coast on D-Day and later participating in the Korean War. Her six-inch guns could bombard a target 14 land miles distant.
Ranging over five decks and four platforms, HMS Belfast is surprisingly interesting – even for landlubbers – as an insight into the way of life on board a cruiser, from boiler room to living quarters. The operations room has been reconstructed to show its role in the 1943…
reviewed
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St Martin-in-the-Fields
The ‘royal parish church’ is a delightful fusion of classical and baroque styles that was completed by James Gibbs (1682–1754) in 1726. The church is well known for its excellent classical music concerts, many by candlelight, and its links to the Chinese community (mass is held in English, Mandarin and Cantonese).
A £36-million refurbishment, completed at the end of 2007, provided a new entrance pavilion, a wonderful new cafe that hosts jazz evenings once a week, a foyer, and several new areas at the rear of the church, including spaces offering social care to the Chinese community and homeless people.
Refurbishment excavations unearthed a 1.5-tonne limestone Roman…
reviewed
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Royal Hospital Chelsea
Designed by Christopher Wren, this superb structure was built in 1692 to provide shelter for ex-servicemen. Since the reign of Charles II it has housed hundreds of war veterans, known as Chelsea Pensioners. They’re fondly regarded as national treasures, and cut striking figures in the dark-blue greatcoats (in winter) or scarlet frock coats (in summer) that they wear on ceremonial occasions.
The museum contains a huge collection of war medals bequeathed by former residents and you’ll get to peek at the hospital’s Great Hall refectory, Octagon Porch, chapel and courtyards. Opening times of the grounds vary wildly through the year, but they are usually open from 10am to…
reviewed
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Clarence House
After his beloved granny the Queen Mum died in 2002, Prince Charles got the tradespeople into her former home and spent £4.6 million of taxpayers’ money reshaping Clarence House to his own design yet the public have to pay to have a look at five official rooms when royal residents are on holidays.
The highlight is the late Queen Mother’s small art collection, including one painting by playwright Noël Coward and others by WS Sickert and Sir James Gunn. The house was originally designed by John Nash in the early 19th century, but – as Prince Charles wasn’t the first royal to call in the decorators – has been modified much since. Admission is by timed tickets, which must…
reviewed
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The Shard London: The View from The Shard
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This ticket is your chance to experience the newest attraction that London has to offer -- The Shard. This incredible architectural wonder will take you on a…Not LP reviewed
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Royal London Sightseeing Tour with Changing of the Guard Ceremony
3 hours 30 minutes (Departs London, United Kingdom)
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This Royal Tour of London takes in many of the royal highlights of London, including Westminster Abbey where Prince William and Kate Middleton, where married on…Not LP reviewed
from USD$50.36 -
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Queen’s House
The first Palladian building by architect Inigo Jones after he returned from Italy, what was at first called the ‘House of Delight’ is indeed far more enticing than the art collection it contains, even though it includes some Turners, Holbeins, Hogarths and Gainsboroughs. The house was begun in 1616 for Anne of Denmark, wife of James I, but was not completed until 1638, when it became the home of Charles I and his queen, Henrietta Maria. The Great Hall is the principal room – a lovely cube shape, with an elaborately tiled floor and the helix-shaped Tulip Staircase (named for the flowers on the wrought-iron balustrade) leading to a gallery on level 2, hung with…
reviewed
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Serpentine Gallery
What resembles an unprepossessing 1930s tearoom in the midst of leafy Kensington Gardens is one of London’s most important contemporary art galleries. Artists including Damien Hirst, Andreas Gursky, Louise Bourgeois, Gabriel Orozco, Tomoko Takahashi and Jeff Koons have all exhibited here.
Every year a leading architect (who has never built in the UK) is commissioned to build a new ‘Summer Pavilion’ nearby, open from May to October. Reading, talks and open-air cinema screenings take place here as well. A new 880-sq-metre exhibition space, the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, will open in 2012 in the Magazine, a former Palladian villa-style gunpowder depot on the far side…
reviewed
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Wartime London Tour: The City and Imperial War Museum
Varies (Departs London, United Kingdom)
by Viator
In a period vehicle from the 1930s or 40s, explore the World War II sites of London with a professional guide, and see London like few visitors do! Discover the…Not LP reviewed
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Ham House
Known as ‘Hampton Court in miniature’, Ham House was built in 1610 and became home to the first Earl of Dysart, unluckily employed as ‘whipping boy’ to Charles I. Inside it’s furnished with grandeur; the Great Staircase is a magnificent example of Stuart woodworking. Look out for ceiling paintings by Antonio Verrio, who also worked at Hampton Court Palace, and for a miniature of Elizabeth I by Nicholas Hilliard. Other notable paintings are by Constable and Reynolds. The grounds of Ham House slope down to the Thames, but there are also pleasant 17th-century formal gardens. Just opposite the Thames and accessible by small ferry is Marble Hill Park and its splendid…
reviewed
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Royal Court Theatre
Equally renowned for staging innovative new plays and old classics, the Royal Court is among London’s most progressive theatres and has continued to discover major writing talent across the UK under its inspirational artistic director, Dominic Cooke.
Tickets for concessions are £6 to £10, and £10 for everyone on Monday (four 10p standing tickets sold at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs); tickets for under 26s are £8. Standby tickets are sold an hour before performances, but normally at full price.
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Isle of Dogs
Pundits can’t really agree on whether this is really an island; strictly speaking it’s a peninsula of land on the northern shore of the Thames, though without modern road and transport links it would almost be separated from the mainland at West India Docks. And etymologists are still out to lunch over the origin of the island’s name. Some believe it’s because the royal kennels were located here during the reign of Henry VIII. Others maintain it’s a corruption of the Flemish word dijk (dyke), recalling the Flemish engineers who shored up the area’s muddy banks.
The centrepiece of the Isle of Dogs is Cesar Pelli’s 244m-high Canary Wharf Tower, which was built…
reviewed
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Museum of Garden History
In a city that offers the broad attractions of Kew Gardens, the modest Museum of Garden History housed in the church of St Mary-at-Lambeth is mainly for the seriously green-thumbed. Its trump card is the charming knot garden, a replica of a 17th-century formal garden, with topiary hedges clipped into an intricate, twirling design. Keen gardeners will enjoy the displays on the 17th-century Tradescant père and fils – a father-and-son team who were gardeners to Charles I and Charles II, globetrotters and enthusiastic collectors of exotic plants (they introduced the pineapple to London). Nongardeners might like to pay their respects to Captain William Bligh (of mutinous …
reviewed