Hidden London: secret corners of the centre

About Hidden London: secret corners of the centre

By the ULTIMATE London Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Away from the queues, central London is full of small surprises: places you can walk past a hundred times without noticing, each with a story.

A garden in a ruined church

St Dunstan-in-the-East, between Monument and the Tower, was bombed in the Blitz and never rebuilt. Its walls and Wren tower now enclose a garden of climbing plants and trees, one of the most peaceful spots in the City.

An architect’s house of wonders

On Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Sir John Soane’s Museum preserves the home of the architect of the Bank of England exactly as he arranged it, crowded with antiquities, paintings by Hogarth and the sarcophagus of the pharaoh Seti I. Check the museum’s website for opening days.

Some of London’s best places are the ones you only find by turning down the wrong street.

Booksellers’ lane

Cecil Court, a pedestrian lane between Charing Cross Road and St Martin’s Lane, has been home to booksellers and print dealers for generations, with Victorian shopfronts that still look the part.

A police box in Trafalgar Square

In the south-east corner of Trafalgar Square, one of the old stone lamp-posts was hollowed out in the 1920s as a small police observation post, with a window and a lamp on top. Look for it near Charing Cross.

A jungle in the Barbican

Inside the Brutalist Barbican Centre, the Conservatory is a glasshouse full of tropical plants and fish ponds. It opens only on selected days, so check the Barbican’s website and book ahead.

Our advice: combine these with the big sights rather than making a special trip: St Dunstan’s after the Tower, Cecil Court on the way to the theatre, and Soane’s Museum with a walk through Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Hidden London: secret corners of the centre before you go.