London Walks Pen &
Daily Constitutional Special Correspondent David Tucker writes…
A few details covered in Andy's Tuesday night's Hidden Pubs Walk…
1. You'll see the finest Elizabethan building in the City
2. You'll see a spiky bronze dragon clutching his thing
3. You'll be taken through a precinct of essentially monastic character
4. You'll see a rare survivor of pre-Fire London
5. You'll see the only privately owned retail bank in the country. And "see through" that secret doorway.
6. You'll see a very early example of a purpose-built office, a pioneer of the Jacobean Revival
7. You'll see the first major Gothic Revival public building after the new Palace of Westminster
8. You'll see the smallest house in the City of London
9. You'll see the only London Art Deco building worthy to be set beside the skyscraper lobbies of mid-town Manhattan
10. You'll see Wren's tallest spire ("soaring out of its hemmed-in site, it's like a hollyhock that escapes from the pressure of undergrowth")
11. You'll see a herald blowing a trumpet
12. You'll pay your respects at the memorial to the parrot Polly, who died in 1926 aged forty, famous for her perfect imitation of the pop of a champagne cork – a feat that she performed four hundred times on Armistice night.
And that's just for starters...
London's Hidden Pubs meets at Temple tube every Tuesday night at 7pm. Click HERE for full details. A London Walk costs £10 – £8 concession. To join a London Walk, simply meet your guide at the designated tube station at the appointed time. Details of all London Walks can be found at www.walks.com.
