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Jack the Ripper tours in London

Has anyone gone on one of the Jack the Ripper tours recently? If so, which one - and would you recommend it? My husband wants to go on one of the tours, but I've seen listings for several different companies.

Thanks.

Posted by
449 posts

I always recommend London Walks. www.walks.com. I've been on many of their walks and usually enjoy them very much.

I've never done a Jack the Ripper tour with anyone, never seen the point of it. You're just taking a walk around the City and I don't think any of the original buildings are still standing. There are so many other walks you can go on that would be much more interesting, eg in the City there's the Street Art Walk that London Walks do.

Katy

Posted by
792 posts

I did one through London Walks in 8/2015 and enjoyed it. I have not heard anything negative about the other companies though.

Posted by
32 posts

I did the Jack the Ripper tour through London Walks in September. I thought it was very well done and I learned a lot from the guide. The only issue I had was the guide walked very fast and it was difficult to keep up with him, but he did wait until we were together to start the explanation. I recall there were a couple of the buildings we viewed where the victims and/or suspects lived at the time. If you are interested in going, then go. All it will cost is a few pounds and a couple hours walking in an interesting part of London you might not otherwise see. I agree that London Walks has many interesting programs and I took full advantage of their offerings while in London.

Posted by
967 posts

It's been a few years, but I did the Jack the Ripper tour with LondonWalks. I've probably done 8 or more walks with this wonderful company, and this was the only one I was a little disappointed with. The guide was enthusiastic and knowledgeable, and the pace was fast to cover a good bit of territory, but there's almost nothing original to Jack to see in this now commercialized and gentrified section of London. Our guide could point out where a victim was stalked or murdered, but standing on a sidewalk in front of a modern building with London traffic buzzing by, one must have a great imagination to conjure up the setting in 19th century London. (There are so many tours that are much better, IMO.)

Posted by
565 posts

Yes, the original buildings are pretty much gone, whether through gentrification or the Luftwaffe, but if you're a true crime/history buff like I am, it's a fun way to spend an evening, and the guides tend to be entertaining. They usually meet at the Whitechapel Gallery, so you have an opportunity to visit one of the best Indo/Pak restaurants in the city afterwards (Tayyabs, open until 11:00, BYOB, it's a must-do.)

Posted by
4684 posts

A quick appeal from a Londoner. Do NOT visit the so-called Jack the Ripper Museum. Not only is the quality dubious but the behaviour of the person who runs it was unspeakably vile - he gained planning permission from the local council by telling them that it would be a feminist museum of London women's history and then turned it into a serial murder museum after it was too late for them to cancel it.

Posted by
32505 posts

thanks very much for the reminder about that nasty piece of work, Philip. a particularly vile act.

Posted by
2709 posts

What you get on the London Walks Jack-the Ripper tour is David Rumbelow as the leader. He is a retired investigator who is the world's top authority on Jack the Ripper. So you get is not just what happened in front of the building that used to be there, but a tremendous amount of history about this. I believe he leads these on Friday and Sunday nights, you can check their schedule and with the company.