Sightseeing tours for TDA Pub Ride 2024 by Jack Chesher
First time in London? Or revisiting after many years? Interested in the hidden places?
Check out our guided sightseeing tours!
The tours are focusing on the hidden, lesser known sights and interesting bits of London’s history. These tours are fun for those who are interested in what is behind those well-known landmarks that Londoners walk past every day in the city. This and more will be brought to light by your guide, Jack, who is the founder of ‘Living London History’, a website and social media accounts. He launched it in August 2020 as a bit of a pandemic project and it grow to be so big that now he is a full-time tour guide, content creator, unearthing London’s hidden historical treasures.
Either tour will run with a minimum of 10 and maximum 15 participants.
Price of each tour:
- 10-12 people: 115 EUR per person per tour
- 13-15 people: 95 EUR per person per tour
Tour I. 11. June, 2024
The hidden gems of The Strand and the Covent Garden area and surrounding alleyways
Date: Starting time and location: 10:00 am in your hotel lobby (Lancaster Gate Hotel)
Duration: approximately 6 hours including a break for lunch (approx. 1 hour & 15 min.)
Finishing point: a downtown pub around 3:45pm
Included: Guided sightseeing
Not included: Transportation fees, lunch and other personal expenses.
Bring with you: Drinking water, your camera and your bank card to pay for the bus/tube ride and food/drinks during the tour. Please wear comfortable shoes suitable for walking.
Strand or ‘The Strand’ is at the heart of London and its story: so much of the history of the city is tied up in this street.
You will be walking along the Strand and dive down the alleyways around it to uncover its secrets and find out how power, wealth and empire have shaped the history of the city and the avenue as well over the centuries. You will hear of dramatic duels, egotistical lords and even a misunderstood elephant, as well as spotting the little details and hidden gems that many miss.
After lunch, we will walk to Covent Garden and its surroundings: See Covent Garden from a historian’s view: secrets and scandals will come to light while treading in the footsteps of pimps, Victorian actors and protesters.
This is an area defined over the centuries for its spectacle with the riotous street performances, grand theatres and restaurants giving it an unmistakable buzz.
On this tour we will be going ‘behind the scenes’ and pulling back the curtain on Covent Garden’s hidden corners. We will visit London’s oldest surviving theatre, a plague burial ground and the scene of a brutal murder, as well as meet some of the incredible characters whose lives are entangled in the story of Covent Garden from pimps and ‘barra-boys’ to blind magistrates and inspirational activists.
Tour II. 12 June, 2024
The Secrets of the City and Smithfield
Date: Starting time and location: 10:00 am in your hotel lobby (Lancaster Gate Hotel)
Duration: approximately 6 hours including a break for lunch (approx. 1 hour 20 min.)
Finishing point: a downtown pub around 3:45pm
Included: Guided sightseeing, private guide for our group
Not included: Transportation fees, lunch and other personal expenses.
Bring with you: Drinking water, your camera and your bank card to pay for the bus/tube ride and food/drinks during the tour. Please wear comfortable shoes suitable for walking.
The City of London, or ‘the Square Mile’, is the beating, historic heart of London, where the Romans established Londinium 2000 years ago.
The layers of history and the combination of old and new make it an endlessly fascinating place to explore and there is a secret or surprise around every corner.
This fun-filled walking tour will look at the turbulent history of the City through the lens of its oft-overlooked little details, hidden symbols and off-the-beaten-track nooks. We will also look at the stories behind some of the powerful, eccentric and forgotten people that have lived here over the centuries from Roman gladiators to Elizabethan merchants, Greek coffee sellers and even a long lost beloved goose.
After lunch, continue discovering one of London’s most historical and captivating areas, Smithfield. Walk in the footsteps of queens, revolutionaries, monks, murderers and merry-makers to uncover an area of extreme contrasts. Along the way will find a notorious execution site, a Black Death burial ground and a Tudor architectural gem.
CANCELLATION POLICY
Full payment required at the time of booking. The participation fee is refundable after the deduction of EUR20.00 administration fee and any bank fees applicable if cancelled 31 days or more before the tour’s departure date (ie 11th and 12th of May). The participation fee is non-refundable after the 11th of May for the 11th of June tour and the 12th May for the 12 June tour.
All cancellations must be in writing to: eszter.horvath@serpentintours.com.
Payment options:
- WISE (formerly Transferwise) transfer to our WISE account
- WIRE transfer to our bank account
- Stripe payment with your credit card – add 4% extra fee – your card will be charged in EUR.
For reservation and further information please write to Eszter: eszter.horvath@serpentintours.com