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Free booking and cancellationFree payment tour, no set price, booking and cancellation are free
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Accepts electronic paymentThis tour allows payment by electronic means or credit card
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Want something a little deeper than the London popular culture tours? I'm a former teacher, economist, analyst and a lover of history, books and ideas. If you just want to take photos to put on social media, have little interest in history and don’t really like walking, then PLEASE BOOK A DIFFERENT TOUR!!! If you are intellectually curious and like to think, then let me take you through the streets of London, from the City (the old Roman town of Londinium), to Southwark on the south bank of the River Thames and then to Covent Garden, Soho, Mayfair & St James’s (6 different walks in total). I'll explain how London came from being a European backwater in the 1500s to the largest city in the world in the 1800s. Today, London surpasses New York in diversity and has become a playground for the rich. From clean money to dirty money, I'll tell you the back story behind London's rise, not just the official version! The good, the bad and the ugly: you'll hear about it all.
Soho & China Town: A tale of refugees, radicals, revolutionaries and sexual rebels, from Karl Marx, to George Orwell, Oscar Wilde and beyond
Welcome, I'm Justin. But some friendly advice! If you just want to take pretty pictures to put on social media (and don't really like walking much), I am the wrong tour guide for you! My tours attract people who like ideas, history and books. If that is not what interests you, book another tour :)
I have 6 walking tours on GuruWalk: 1) The City, 2) Soho, 3) Covent Garden, 4) the South Bank, 5) St James's & Mayfair and 6) ArtLand, which together have around 1,500 reviews averaging 5 stars (the highest on GuruWalk).
Highlights of the tour include:
I do have a card reader so can can take credit/debit cards for tips.
I will meet you outside of Boots at Piccadilly Circus (Exit 1 of Piccadilly Circus Underground station on the Piccadilly or Bakerloo lines). I'll be carrying a yellow umbrella and wearing a black hat or cap.
Site of the Red Lion: a pub that changed the world through being the birthplace of the Communist Manifesto
Centre of London's diplomats in the 18th century, who were are a target of the anti-Catholic Gordon riots
Centre of the London's swinging sixties
Site of the notorious water pump that allowed Dr John Snow to prove the link between dirty water and cholera
Legendary music street, which now hosts a cluster of vinyl record shops
The residence of Karl Marx, where he lived and worked and 3 of his children died
Centre of London's gay community
Main street of London's Chinatown, but between WW1 and WW2 a hub of nightclubs including the exclusive "Great Gatsby" style "43 Club"
Home to England's most famous jazz club, Ronnie Scott's
Abode of French revolutionaries and Kettner's, Oscar Wilde's favourite haunt
A house that has seen everything! Originally, the abode of slave plantation magnate Richard Beckford, but later of centre of the Victorian Board of Works that built London's sewerage system still used today, and then a charity for "fallen women" (ex prostitutes). Today a homeless charity.
One of London's first squares and now the heart of its creative industries
Free tours do not have a set price, instead, each person gives the guru at the end of the tour the amount that he or she considers appropriate (these usually range from €10 to $50 depending on satisfaction with the tour).