24 Hidden Gems in London Most People Walk Right Past
24 landmarks with verified facts and stories
Barbican Conservatory
Silk Street, City of London, London, EC2Y 8DS, United Kingdom
Six storeys above the stage of the Barbican Theatre, hidden inside one of the most brutalist buildings in London, there is a tropical rainforest.
Bleeding Heart Yard
Greville Street, Camden, London, EC1N, United Kingdom
You'll find this cobbled courtyard tucked away off Greville Street in Clerkenwell, and the name alone should stop you in your tracks.
Crossbones Graveyard
Redcross Way, Southwark, London, SE1 1TA, United Kingdom
This narrow Southwark side street sits on top of an estimated fifteen thousand bodies.
Dead Man's Hole (Tower Bridge)
Newham, London, E13, United Kingdom
Walk along the north side of Tower Bridge, toward the Tower of London end, and look down at the river's edge.
Dennis Severs' House
18 Folgate Street, Tower Hamlets, London, E1 6BX, United Kingdom
This is not a museum.
Eltham Palace
Court Yard, Greenwich, London, SE9 5NP, United Kingdom
Eltham Palace is what happens when a medieval royal residence meets a 1930s millionaire couple with exceptional taste and no interest in restraint.
Goodwin's Court
City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom
Most people walk past the entrance to Goodwin's Court without noticing it.
Hackney City Farm
1A Goldsmith's Row, Hackney, London, E2 8QA, United Kingdom
There's a working farm in Haggerston with donkeys, pigs, sheep, and bees — and it's completely free.
Hampstead Heath & Hill Garden Pergola
Camden, London, United Kingdom
Hampstead Heath is 320 hectares of ancient heathland, swimming ponds, and meadows in north London — a rough, half-wild landscape that has survived every attempt to develop it since the 17th century.
Highgate Cemetery (West)
Swain's Lane, Camden, London, N6, United Kingdom
This place was built because London was literally drowning in its own dead.
Little Venice
City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom
Everyone credits Robert Browning with naming this place, and everyone is wrong.
Maltby Street Market
Ropewalk, Bermondsey, London, SE1 3PA, United Kingdom
If Borough Market is the famous older sibling, Maltby Street Market is the cooler younger one that the locals don't want you to know about.
Marble Arch and the Tyburn Gallows
1–3 Marble Arch, City of Westminster, London, W1H, United Kingdom
Every time you walk down Oxford Street toward Marble Arch, you're retracing the final journey of fifty thousand condemned prisoners.
Old Operating Theatre Museum
9A St Thomas St, Southwark, London, SE1 9RY, United Kingdom
High up in the attic of a church, accessible only by a narrow spiral staircase, is Europe's oldest surviving operating theatre.
Postman's Park and the Watts Memorial
King Edward Street, City of London, London, EC1A, United Kingdom
Tucked behind St Paul's Cathedral, through a gate most people never notice, is a small park with a wooden shelter running along one wall.
St Bartholomew the Great
West Smithfield, City of London, London, EC1A 9DS, United Kingdom
London's oldest church with continuous services was founded by a jester who had a fever dream.
St Dunstan in the East Church Garden
St Dunstan's Hill, Billingsgate, London, EC3R 5DD, United Kingdom
You're about to walk into one of London's most quietly extraordinary places.
Temple Church
Temple, City of London, London, EC4Y 7BB, United Kingdom
You're standing outside a Crusader church.
The Charterhouse
Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6AN
You're standing on top of twenty thousand bodies.
The Clerks' Well
14-16 Farringdon Lane, London EC1R 3AU
An entire London neighbourhood is named after the thing you're about to see through a window.
The Painted Hall, Greenwich
Old Royal Naval College, King William Walk, London SE10 9NN
They call this Britain's Sistine Chapel, and for once the comparison isn't hyperbole.
The Seven Noses of Soho
Various locations; most famous on Admiralty Arch, The Mall, London SW1A 2WH
Look up at Admiralty Arch as you pass through it toward The Mall.
Wilton's Music Hall
1 Wiltons Music Hall, Tower Hamlets, London, E1 8JB, United Kingdom
Down a tiny alley off Cable Street in the East End, behind a door that looks like it leads to nothing, is the oldest surviving grand music hall in the world.
York Watergate
15-16 Buckingham St, City of Westminster, London, WC2N 6DU, United Kingdom
This ornate stone arch sitting in the middle of a garden looks completely out of place.
Explore hidden gems in London
GPS-guided narration at every landmark. Tap a spot on the map, hear the story. Every fact verified.