Let’s face it…London is full of touristy things to do, whether it’s spectacles like the London eye, museums or historical attractions like London dungeons, there’s always something for everyone!
How many things are on your London bucket list?
I have started to love history more recently, eager to submerge myself in the past and build my knowledge of what happened back when….So when I was invited to attend the Jack the Ripper Walk blogger event I could not turn it down. I’d heard about, and seen a few, walking tours of London and always been a bit inquisitive, but mix it with history and I’m definitely there.
We all met at Aldgate East station at about 4.30 on Sunday afternoon, just when it was getting dark – nice and atmospheric for a ripper story! Claire the lovely lady who organised the event, introduced everyone with a fantastic memory recall for names before our tour guide Richard, joined us.
Richard was absolutely fantastic from the start. Irish accent, eccentric personality and really funny, you could not ask for a better tour guide for something like this. Richard gained our attention and introduced himself and the tour. He led us up towards Aldgate before turning town an alley – perfect setting for something so scary and freaky, and so the story began.
(Photo from A Working Mum’s Blog)
Richard started the story from the beginning, talking about the year, 1888, what it was like in the east end during Victorian times and really setting the scene. He led us down allies and streets in the Aldgate area, down brick lane, houndsditch and back, following the murders as they happened.
(Photo by madeleine at Le Cabinet de curiosités de Madeleine Miranda)
Richard also had images of the letters with him in a folder which Jack the Ripper sent to the police. These were fab to see!:
(Photo from A Working Mum’s Blog)
This really did add to the tour! You got to see extra bits which helped you understand and picture how it would have been at the time – how the streets would have looked, how victims were found – although I know this is a bit disgusting. Without this I don’t think the tour would have been anywhere near as good!
The tour took about 2 hours, wandering the streets, stood under street lamp light listening to the next addition to the ripper tale and feeling a little grossed out.
(Photo by madeleine at Le Cabinet de curiosités de Madeleine Miranda)
At the end Richard stopped us and told us about all the suspects…who it could be…all the suspicions and theories. I’m still not sure who I think it was…
Although it was raining for at least half the tour, I had a fantastic time! I would highly recommend the Jack the Ripper Walking Tour, but could not imagine it without the ripper vision, so do book with this company! If your up for a bit of historical sight seeing, learning and a great evening being a tiny bit grossed out and spooked – ok maybe just me being spooked – then do give it a go. It’s normally only £10 and it ends close to Brick Lane so you can always go there for dinner afterwards too! If it’s not on your bucket list, it should be!
After the tour we all went to Mumbai Square for some food, wine and to warm up.
(Photo from A Working Mum’s Blog)
The staff were lovely and accommodating for our big group, we were seated in a private room upstairs (great for parties) and served our drinks. Poppadoms were delivered to our table, before a delicious starter with onion bhaji and chicken pieces, and something else I wasn’t quite sure what it was but was really tasty!
We then had rice served and mains were placed in the center for us to help ourselves. There were three options of which I tried the veggie dish and some of the meat dish, also obviously helping myself to naan. Everything tasted fantastic. The vegetables in the veggie dish were cooked perfectly, the sauces of the curries were a really nice consistency and they weren’t too spicy either – obviously to accommodate for everyone. It’s made me think about picking veggie options at an Indian more often…and perhaps shaking it up from only having a vindaloo every time I go!
Overall it was an amazing evening. I met some lovely people, had an awesome time on the tour with some delicious food after! I would highly recommend both the Jack the Ripper Tour and Mumbai Square…perfect night out planned right there!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Claire for organising such a fab night, our AMAZING tour guide Richard, Mumbai Square for some great service and the lovely ladies who kindly offered to let us share photography, Madeleine and Paris!
Chloe xx
To find out more about the Jack the Ripper Walk I went on and to book yourself visit https://www.thejacktheripperwalk.com/. Twitter handle: @JackRipperWalk