London Attractions You MUST See From a London Cabbie

Richard Cudlip is a London Black Cab Driver who keeps an awesome blog called The Cabbies Capital. He’s also active on Twitter. He’s put together a great post for Anglotopia on Things You Must Do in London that aren’t necessarily in the Tourist books.

Being a London obsessive, I couldn’t really have a better job.  I get to drive around my great city 50-60 hours a week, getting a chance to meet some of it’s “interesting” characters and seeing bits of the city that others normally miss.  It’s with this in mind that I wanted to share with you the things I think you MUST do in London.  Not the obvious ones like visit the Houses of Parliament, London Eye or British Museum. 

These are the things & places that I often visit myself and implore any visitor to London not to miss.  If you don’t do them all, I’ll be jolly annoyed and will get the Beefeaters to lock you in the Tower.  Or make you listen to Boyzone CD’s for a week.  Remember, us cabbies have friends everywhere, I will know if you don’t……..

The Hunterian Museum

Hunterian Museum, Lincolns Inn Fields. Not for the faint hearted, this is a collection of human & animal specimens collected over the past 400 years.  Originally the collection of John Hunter, it was purchased by the government in 1799 & donated to The Royal College of Surgeons, in whose building the museum is housed.  Probably best visited before you have lunch, this museum has many amazing exhibits, my favourite being the skeleton of the “Irish Giant”, Charles Byrne.  Oh, and Winston Churchill’s dentures.

Wardrobe Place

Wardrobe Place, just around the corner from St Paul’s Cathedral this small cul-de-sac is named after the house that stood nearby and became the King’s Wardrobe during the reign of James III.  Not much to look at now, but this small street is part of a maze of roads that give you a clue as to how the City was laid out before the Great Fire of London.  You can read more about the area surrounding St Paul’s here.

Trinity Church Square

Trinity Church Square. Not too far down Borough High Street, that you couldn’t walk here after taking in the delights of Borough Market, this square must be one of the most intact of it’s kind in London.  Built in the early 19th century, it is now a quiet haven away from the hustle & bustle of Borough High Street.  The original church is now Henry Wood Hall, a rehearsal space for orchestras.  It doesn’t advertise itself much and certainly doesn’t have it’s own website or anything, but thanks to Google Street View, you can have a good nose around anyway.

Sir John Soanes Museum

Sir John Soanes Museum. You can do this & the Hunterian together in the same morning before popping off to The Lamb (see below) for lunch & other suitable refreshments.  Just over the other side of Lincolns Inn Fields, this is a quite remarkable museum.  John Soane is one of those amazing British philanthropists that made their money in the late 18th to early 19th century.  The son of a bricklayer, Soane became a hugely influential figure and Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy in 1806.  As these sort of people did, he started collecting stuff in his house and didn’t stop until it was pretty much full up.  Not too impressed with his sons & heirs, he decided that he would leave his house & it’s  contents for “students & amateurs” to enjoy.  Luckily for us professionals & non-students alike, the museum is free to enter although you do occasionally have to queue as they only let quite limited numbers in at a time,  Don’t visit on a Sunday or Monday either, it’s closed.  But do visit, it’s fab.

Walk from Maida Vale to Islington

Walk from Maida Vale to Islington, alongside the Regent’s Canal.  It’s not a short walk, but it really is worthwhile.  You can take in the narrow boats around Maida Vale, walk through Regents Park (and London Zoo), stop in Camden for shopping & refreshment, then gird your loins for the final push to Islington, where more shopping awaits, if you make it there before closing time.  If needs be, you can always bail out early and walk down to St Pancras to take in it’s magnificence and get the tube home.  On the way you pass many interesting places including the London Canal Museum.  If your not up too walking to far, you can also get a boat from Maida Vale.

The Lamb Pub

The Lamb Pub, Lamb’s Conduit Street. In one of my favourite streets is my favourite London pub.  Owned by Young’s Brewery, which until very recently still brewed it’s beer just down the road from me in Wandsworth, this is a great pub that has hardly changed since it was built in the early 18th century.  In recent times it has upgraded it’s food menu, which is no bad thing, but it still serves the marvellous Young’s Special and if you really want to go mad try a couple of Ram & Specials, the sort of drink that seems like a great idea at the time but can take weeks to recover from.  You can read a longer review, and see some photos over at the cabbies capital.

Mudlarking in the Thames

Mudlarking. A word of warning up front here, the Thames is a tidal river and if you are going to venture onto the foreshore, make sure you know when the tide is coming in.  And, technically speaking, you need a permit to mudlark – the Port of London Authority are in charge of these sorts of things.  Or, like me, you can try and get on a Museum of London organised trip where a nice man organises everything for you and is extremely knowledgeable to boot.  He’ll tell you all about clay pipes, 16th & 17th century plates and even roof tiles from the Great Fire of London.  I was lucky enough to find a clay pipe (ten a penny on the foreshore), a nice bit of 17th century plate and my prize possession a (unratified) piece of roof tile blackened on one side from the Great Fire.  Brilliant.

And finally, and not at all off the beaten track or ignored by tourist guides.  You can’t ignore them, go vist;

St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Tate Modern

St Paul’s Cathedral & Tate Modern.  Just across the river from each other they represent the extremes of old & new London, and historical, religious and cultural London.  St Paul’s is my favourite building in the city and I can heartily recommend climbing to the top of the dome, not just for the view but equally for the glimpse it gives you of the insides of this monumental building.  And the Tate Modern represents the best of London reinventing itself, the old Bankside power station now brilliantly housing the best modern art you can find.  Both can be covered in a day, linked by the ever so slightly wobbly Millennium Bridge, there are plenty of places to eat & drink around the Tate.

So please visit as many of these places as you can.  Take your time when you can, enjoy the views around the river, be cultural, be religious, be anything you like, London doesn’t care.  Drink too many Ram & Specials, stagger across the wobbly bridge but I’d rather you weren’t sick in my cab.  Tourists are great, but not ones that barf.