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London Guided Walks The official page for London Guided Walks

Make the most of London. Join us for London walks Discover new places and look at London with new eyes.
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Want to make the most of London but not quite sure where to start? We provide fun and affordable London guided walks and treasure hunts delivered by passionate and professional guides for Londoners and visitors alike. Our wide variety of walks and treasure hunts are perfect, no matter whether you are here for the day or here to stay. You can join others on a guided walk or treasure hunt. There are no scripts, no wanna-be-actors, just professional guides with a passion for people, storytelling and London history delivering high-quality guided walks and treasure hunts. Twitter: Guided_Walks Instagram: Walk_London

01/11/2026

Thanks to all the brave souls who ventured out on Halloween for our Haunted London walk in Marylebone and Mayfair with Flora 👻

31/10/2026

In 1897, the year Bram Stoker’s Dracula was published, another horror novel was selling even more copies.

Richard Marsh’s The Beetle reportedly outsold Dracula by six to one.

Originally released in weekly instalments before appearing as a novel, The Beetle gave Victorian readers supernatural terror, hypnotic influence and a story shaped by contemporary anxieties about foreigners and the unknown. It shared several themes with Dracula, but its cultural fate was very different.

While Dracula went on to become one of the most recognisable horror stories in the world, The Beetle gradually faded from popular attention. Its silent-film adaptation, released in 1919, is now thought to be lost.

It is a reminder that the biggest bestseller of the moment is not always the book that will be remembered generations later.

Listen to Episode 159 of the London History Podcast, Unveiling London’s Victorian Vampire Legacy:
https://londonguidedwalks.co.uk/podcast/episode-159-unveiling-londons-victorian-vampire-legacy/

Which forgotten Victorian novel do you think deserves a modern screen adaptation?

30/10/2026

Before Bram Stoker introduced readers to Dracula, Victorian Britain was already fascinated by vampires.

During the 19th century, cheap serial publications — often called penny dreadfuls — made sensational fiction available to a wide audience. Readers could buy a new instalment each week, following stories packed with danger, mystery and increasingly dramatic cliffhangers.

One of the best-known vampire tales was Varney the Vampire, a long-running serial centred on the mysterious Sir Francis Varney. Its popularity showed that the vampire had already become a compelling figure in popular entertainment decades before Dracula was published in 1897.

London was at the heart of this publishing culture. Fleet Street became closely associated with newspapers, printers and publishers, helping make the capital a natural home for the kind of fiction designed to shock, thrill and keep readers coming back for more.

So, Dracula did not emerge from nowhere. He arrived after generations of readers had already developed a taste for vampire stories.

Listen to Episode 159 of the London History Podcast, Unveiling London’s Victorian Vampire Legacy:
https://londonguidedwalks.co.uk/podcast/episode-159-unveiling-londons-victorian-vampire-legacy/

Did you first encounter vampires through books, films, television, or something else?

30/10/2026

Enjoyed a real treat at St Barts the Great today

30/10/2026

Halloween in Covent Garden 👻 sparkling skeletons and Christmas bells!🔔

29/10/2026

Dracula was not an immediate publishing sensation. Its journey from Victorian novel to international horror icon depended on the people who kept reinventing the Count for new audiences.

In the 1920s, Irish playwright Hamilton Deane adapted Bram Stoker’s Dracula for the stage, with the approval of Stoker’s widow, Florence. The production succeeded on tour in Britain and brought the vampire story to theatre-goers, including audiences in London’s West End.

The Count then crossed the Atlantic to Broadway, where Béla Lugosi took on the role. Lugosi later became inseparable from the character after starring in Universal Pictures’ landmark 1931 film. His performance helped define Dracula for cinema audiences around the world.

Decades later, Hammer Films returned Dracula to the big screen, keeping vampire horror alive for another generation.

From a Victorian novel to the West End, Broadway and Hollywood, Dracula became more than a character: he became a cultural icon.

Listen to Episode 159 of the London History Podcast, Unveiling London’s Victorian Vampire Legacy:
https://londonguidedwalks.co.uk/podcast/episode-159-unveiling-londons-victorian-vampire-legacy/

Who is your favourite Dracula: Béla Lugosi, Christopher Lee, Gary Oldman, or another actor?

29/10/2026

Next time you are walking along Cornhill in the City of London, look up.

Above numbers 54 and 55 are three grotesque terracotta devils, their snarling faces turned towards neighbouring St Peter’s Church. The building was designed in 1893 by Ernest Augustus Runtz, while the sculpture is attributed to William James Neatby.

The figures are linked to a wonderful local legend. It claims that Runtz fell out with the vicar of St Peter’s, Cornhill, during a dispute over the boundary between the properties. The architect supposedly took revenge by placing devilish faces on his new building, apparently glaring down at the church — with one said to resemble the vicar himself.

It is a brilliant story, but the documented evidence for the alleged dispute and architectural revenge is uncertain. What can be seen, however, is three wonderfully strange faces still watching Cornhill more than a century later.

Listen to Episode 142 of the London History Podcast, Monsters and Myths of London, for more of the capital’s curious creatures, folklore and hidden details.

https://londonguidedwalks.co.uk/podcast/episode-142-monsters-and-myths-of-london/

What is the best hidden architectural detail you have spotted while walking around London?

28/10/2026

Bank Station is one of London Underground’s busiest and most complicated interchanges. It is also associated with one of its best-known ghost stories.

The legend tells of the Black Nun: a sombre woman dressed in dark clothing who appears in the station’s passageways, only to disappear when anyone attempts to look directly at her. In some versions of the story, she is mourning a brother who was executed after working at a bank on the site.

As with many London ghost stories, it is worth separating legend from documented history. The area around Bank does have a tangible and sometimes unsettling past. The churchyard of St Christopher le Stocks was incorporated into the growing Bank of England site during the 18th century, long before the Underground station opened.

Whether the Black Nun is a spectral resident or simply a powerful piece of London folklore, Bank’s maze of tunnels is an ideal setting for a tale that refuses to disappear.

Listen to Episode 122 of the London History Podcast, Haunted Underground Stations, for stories from Bank, Covent Garden and beyond:
https://londonguidedwalks.co.uk/podcast/episode-122-haunted-underground-stations/

What do you think makes a place like Bank Station so perfect for a ghost story?

27/10/2026

In 1762, London became obsessed with a ghost.

From a house in C**k Lane near Smithfield came strange knocking and scratching sounds. The supposed spirit claimed to be F***y Lynes, who had died of smallpox — and it accused William Kent of poisoning her.

It was an explosive allegation. Crowds gathered to hear the ghost’s messages, prominent figures followed the case, and Kent’s name was publicly damaged. But investigators were not prepared to take a supernatural claim at face value.

Their attention eventually focused on 11-year-old Elizabeth Parsons, whose family had helped promote the haunting. Investigators discovered a small board concealed beneath her clothing, capable of producing the now-famous knocking noises.

The C**k Lane Ghost was exposed as a hoax, and Elizabeth’s father, Richard Parsons, along with others involved, was convicted of conspiracy.

Discover one of Georgian London’s strangest and most notorious scandals in Episode 28 of the London History Podcast: The C**k Lane Ghost.

Listen here: https://londonguidedwalks.co.uk/podcast/cock-lane-ghost/

What do you think made Londoners so ready to believe the story — fear, entertainment, grief, or the chance to witness something extraordinary?

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71-75 Shelton Street
London
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Monday 10am - 6pm
Tuesday 10am - 6pm
Wednesday 10am - 6pm
Thursday 10am - 6pm
Friday 10am - 6pm
Saturday 10am - 6pm
Sunday 10am - 4pm

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