London Walks
Guided Walks Led By Expert Tutors
From its Bronze Age beginnings to capital status, London has witnessed growth and destruction throughout its long history. Join us for lively classroom and online discussions as well as our popular guided historical walks around London and discover who and what has left their mark on the city.
Get a flavour of our walking tours with City Lit tutor Diane Burstein, who explores some of the best spots around our campus in Covent Garden.
- Streets of Horror, Streets of Hope: The East End, 1888Course start date: Tue 8 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Sarah WiseBecause of the ‘Jack the Ripper’ killings, the late-Victorian East End can be read as a cityscape of poverty and fear. But there is another Whitechapel – a magnet for a variety of individuals from a wide range of backgrounds who sought to grapple with the problems of the modern city and to create a better life.
Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - Late Victorian Soho: From Sex and Shopping to Police & Radical PoliticsCourse start date: Tue 15 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Sarah WiseThe West End was a heady mix of glamorous shopping emporia, political refugees from Europe, street-based and brothel-based prostitution, and the general public just enjoying a day or evening ‘Up West’. Join Dr. Sarah Wise to learn more on this 2 hour guided walk of Soho.
Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - In the footsteps of London's rebelsCourse start date: Tue 9 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: David RosenbergExplore London's places of protest and discover the stories of radicals, agitators and campaigners who fought for social justice, equal rights and better lives for all from the 1830s to the 1930s.
The first session will be in the classroom at Keeley Street followed by 11 guided walks.Full fee £319.00 Senior fee £255.00 Concession £207.00 - London at war - guided walks
Course start date: Tue 9 Sep 2025Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Eleanor JacksonLondon has been shaped by war, conflict and unrest. It's buildings, monuments and even street names reflect our embattled past. These walks examine London's wartime legacy from mediaeval fortifications to the War on Terror.
First lecture delivered via zoom followed by 8 guided walks; no class/break week 7/10/25.Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £155.00 - Walking Westminster's Political HistoryCourse start date: Tue 9 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Richard WatkinsA course of walking tours in areas of Westminster to show aspects of the nation’s political development since the late 1600s Restoration era. Bringing out the drama of the epic events and charismatic characters which have influenced that development and how London has evolved in those areas we focus on.
First meeting place: Outside Westminster tube, Bridge Street.Full fee £159.00 Senior fee £127.00 Concession £103.00 - London at Leisure: Three Great SquaresCourse start date: Tue 16 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Eleanor JacksonToo often we rush around without looking, this course takes time to examine 3 of London’s most famous Squares in depth. A gentle walk allows us to explore these London landmarks at our leisure.Full fee £89.00 Senior fee £71.00 Concession £58.00 - Medieval LondonCourse start date: Tue 23 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Mike BerlinThis course explores the forces that shaped London between the coming of the Normans and the age of
the Tudors. - Unreal city: history of London through literature from 1800 to todayCourse start date: Tue 30 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sarah WiseFiction writers are often the first to identify and analyse a social phenomenon. We will examine two centuries of London history through the eyes of novelists and poets, from William Blake to Zadie Smith.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00 - The London of Bram Stoker and DraculaCourse start date: Tue 28 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Diane BursteinAlthough born in Ireland, Bram Stoker came to London to work with the great Actor Manager Henry Irving at the Lyceum Theatre and spent the rest of his life here. While working at the Lyceum he published his most famous and enduring novel “Dracula” in 1897. This virtual tour takes us to the London locations of that novel so we cover a wide range of ground from Hendon to Hampstead and Piccadilly to Pimlico tracing the footsteps of the fictional vampire and his creator. Learn about the places Stoker visited, the people he knew, the library where he researched and the history of the book on stage and screen.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00 - The Heart of the City of LondonCourse start date: Tue 4 Nov 2025
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Richard WatkinsOver four walks, we take in some great City of London’s history: its trade along Cheapside and amazing growth; its City Livery Company system and Halls; then how it dramatically burnt down; and how it massively changed in the nineteenth century in ways little thought about today.Full fee £139.00 Senior fee £111.00 Concession £90.00 - In Scrooge's Footsteps: A Christmas Carol & Dickens WalkCourse start date: Tue 9 Dec 2025
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Eleanor JacksonJoin us for a festive walk in the footsteps of Scrooge, looking at the locations and impact of Dickens’s most famous work. We will also examine how Dickens’s story has influenced our ideas of Christmas.
Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £23.00 Concession £19.00 - From the 1880s to the 1930s: how the new East End was born Course start date: Tue 29 Apr 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: David RosenbergIn an area branded 'the hell of poverty', libraries, theatres, art galleries and social housing were established. Workers went on strike and activists campaigned for better lives. Discover this history by taking actual, guided walks through six tumultuous decades of change. The first session is in the classroom at Keeley Street but all other sessions are guided walks. Full details of the meeting places for each walk will be given at the 1st session. Please note: no class/break week 27 May 2025. 6 guided walks with 2 Zoom sessions. - Unreal city: the history of London through literature from1800 to today Course start date: Tue 6 May 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sarah WiseFiction writers are often the first to identify and analyse a social phenomenon. We will examine two centuries of London history through the eyes of novelists and poets, from William Blake to Zadie Smith.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £169.00 Concession £110.00 - London 1979-2020Course start date: Tue 6 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Mike BerlinExplore the transformation of London from the onset of Thatcherism in 1979 to its status as a global metropolis in the 21st century.Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
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