Secret alleyways and the hidden City of London

Hello, it's great to meet you! I'm Peter, a qualified City of London and City of Westminster green badge walking guide.

On this walk, it feels like we’re walking in the footsteps of centuries of Londonerswho lived here before us. This is the hidden City, often overlooked by passers-by who miss the pathways into the narrow, shaded alleyways.

Frequented and written about by Charles Dickens, this is where he came to dine at the George and Vulture.

The London stock exchange originated in this area, springing out of the coffee shops of the 17thcentury, where candle auctions were held. Fortunes were made and lost here as Londoners struggled through times of the plague, the destruction of the City by fire and then the gradual rise of the City as today’s economic and financial powerhouse.

This walk starts at the Monument with the story of the great fire, the plague of 1665 and St Dunstan’s in the East, a hidden church that surprises many Londoners and visitors alike. We continue through beautiful Leadenhall market before entering the network of alleyways where business dealings took place, where scientific discoveries were made and where coffee was drunk, that old, bitter, thick, pungent drink… nothing like todays espresso lattes!

The walk finishes at Bank Junction, the centre of today’s financial district which carries echoes of the past in the Mansion House, the Royal Exchange and the Bank of England

Walk starts - The Monument (the large stone column beside Monument Underground station)

Walk ends - Bank Junction (beside Bank Underground station)

Walk duration - approx. 90 minutes