Second trip to London since 2023 - Advice Thread

London Walks offers tours that focus on the Beatles and rock and roll London. I’ve never taken one of these specifically, but I have gone on quite a few tours and highly recommend them.

Good luck planning your trip & happy travels!

There is a reference to Spinal Tap in the Stonehenge museum. See if you can find it.

Hi Max,

Sounds like a fun trip. I like really like Bath. I have been there for the past 3 Christmas markets and even in cold weather, Bath is charming. If want some details about restaurants and tours, just PM me. As for Stonehenge, visited in December with Scarper Tours which offers a half day tour of Stonehenge. Other options we looked at only offered full day tours which included the Cotswolds. If you don't want to spend an entire day, I would recommend this tour. It is in a small mini-bus (16 people max), you have a couple of hours at Stonehenge, then back to Bath. Note in early December, there were maybe 100 people at Stonehenge, it is likely to be busier in April.

For London, I have taken the London Walks Beatles tours and they are excellent. I also took the Eating Europe Soho tour while being a food tour, covered a lot of the music venues in Soho, including some of the record stores, historical sites of all genres of music. If you want to combine food and music, something you might check out. You can send them an email to see what they cover that may be of interest to you.

For the V&A, check on what's on in April. I would also recommend the highlights of the V&A tour. I have been to the V&A more than a. dozen times and I always learn something new on the tour. The V&A has an excellent theatre/performance permanent exhibit.

You may also want to check out the British Library, they have a wonderful Treasures of the Library that includes works by Andrea Levy, Monty Python and Shakespeare, and see the Lindisfarne Gospels and Magna Carta. Their tour is excellent. If there are specific artists that you want to research, you can do that as well, check out their website for research and tours.

I read about the David Bowie archive awhile back:
https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/david-bowie-centre?srsltid=AfmBOoqhLWIFm89SGuPBBMq-cWSiv3zcHHCCbtf6ulppMkSbCst_Glme
I did a quick search of "Experiences" on AirBnB and saw several Rock and Roll tours of Soho. I stopped scrolling at that point. Like accommodation listings on AirBnB, these are individuals you can contact through the site to try and set up something that's more to your taste.

We went to the David Bowie centre at the V&A Warehouse a few weeks ago. It’s a small exhibition with a changing display of artefacts. Given the warehouse is in Stratford it may not fit for anyone with a short time in London. It swell worth it if you’re a Bowie fan and the rest of the warehouse is also fascinating but if you have not been to the main V&A I would start there first. You need to book for the Bowie exhibit but it’s free.

We are big fans of Aidan Turner as well and also hoping to get to Les Liaisons Dangereuse this year! Plus Lesley Manville who we also love. Looks like it will be great show.

I've been to Stonehenge a few times and both times I combined a morning visit to the stones with an afternoon in Salisbury (including visiting the cathedral, and the extremely haunted pub Haunch of Venison). We also love Spinal Tap, and of course had to listen to the song while contemplating the stones.

I am not a Genesis etc fan so unfortunately can't share much info about Salisbury Hill!

Definitely visit V&A and Greenwich. At the V&A, you'd probably be interested in the theatre and performance room.

I've not done any rock tours in London, tho to be honest with a bit of research you can make your own! Once we were walking by Trident Studios in Soho, where Ziggy Stardust, Transformer, and A Night at the Opera were all recorded, and we passed a tour group that had clearly come to see the (outside of) the studio. I'm not sure what tour company it was but maybe try to find one that goes by Trident Studios. Of course you also have to see the Ziggy Stardust album cover location on Heddon Street in Mayfair if you are a Bowie fan.

You've been given lots of good advice above.

The V&A is my favourite museum in London. And, as mentioned, its East End site has a Bowie exhibition (haven't been yet, so can't comment personally on whether I think its worth the trip)

Just to add. Give London Walks a go. www.walks.com They do literary walks as well as music walks, and so much else. They have regular walks and lots of one offs. Notice from a quick scan of your trip, that Samuel Peyps mentioned - eg they have a walk covering this period www.walks.com/our-walks/samuel-pepys-london-bloody-flaming-poxy-london - which may run during your trip. Lots of Beatles tours, Pink Floyd tours, Dickens tours, Oscar Wilde, food tours etc.

Stonehenge pairs well with Salisbury (catherdral). Can easily be done as a day trip from London. Train from Paddington.

I'm not a fan of Bath (but know lots of others disagree), after York my pick for a second location outside London would be Liverpool - which could give the option of flying into Manchester and return from London. I love Liverpool - well worth a few days.

Another site just outside London that might be of interest (see you liked the Cabinet War rooms), is Bletchley Park. Short train ride, easy to get to, from London Euston. Film the Imitation Game, about Alan Turing and code -breakers, covers this a bit. But its got so much more.

PS. Look at Premier Inns for London. The earlier you book the cheaper.

Katy - Ithink you have to be really interested in Bowie to make a special trip to thee hibit at the V&A Warehouse BUT the warehouse itself is well worth a visit. It’s a fascinating novel approach to how to approach a museum. And of course later this year there will be the more conventional V&A East museum opening as well.

thanks John, for the heads up about the Bowie exhibit. It was on my "to do" list, but will hold off going there. There's such a lot of stuff I want to get to (Turner/Constable at Tate Britain, Helene Kröller-Müller at the National Gallery, Marie Antoinette at the V&A), so will hold off from the V&A in east London for now.

The V&A warehouse is fun but only a very few items are labelled- it mostly is just a big storehouse, which is cool on its own but a very different experience to a museum.

If you want to see the Marie Antoinette exhibit I would get tickets ASAP- I thought I'd be able to get tickets on the day but they were constantly booked up and I was lucky to get one for a Saturday in March.

Thank you to all.

Still in the loosey goosey stage of planning, though we have the hard date of April 13 for Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Wife was surprised to get better seats than we had for Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons considering the scale of production for LLD vs L^5, but it’s not in the central theatre district and I guess they make it up on the volume of seats.

I’m sold on a Stonehenge - Salisbury day from Bath. That’s one day down. Bath Abbey + Roman baths feels like a second day. We are cathedral nerds on top of everything else, or at least I am, Salisbury and Bath Abbey feel right.

Beyond Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s, are there any other churches of note from an art/architecture/history point of view in London?

St Brides, St Bartholomew’s, St Etheldredas in Holborn, St Magnus The Martyr, St Matthias in Richmond, Holy Innocents Crouch End, Oh Most Holy Redeemer Clerkenwell.

These days with the internet you can search on line and discover churches in various London neighborhoods.

Of numerous visits to London I sought out churches where I can light a candle for my mother. Catholic, Angelican. Doesn’t matter. Seen some lovely churches and cathedrals. Have heard choirs practice, found boxes of Christmas Cards for sale, bake sale items, and clean restrooms.

Tickets for the National Theatre tend to be less expensive- they're set that way on purpose as it's meant to be a theatre experience which is more accessible for the average person (while still being very high quality).

In terms of churches, there are a LOT here as you may gather, but I would say don't miss Temple Church, both for its history and unique architecture: https://www.templechurch.com/

St Bartholomew the Great is another favourite of mine: https://www.greatstbarts.com/

And if you're a fan of Byzantine architecture or mosaic tiles, don't miss Westminster Cathedral: https://westminstercathedral.org.uk/
Note that Westminster Cathedral is different to Westminster Abbey. It's a Catholic cathedral in Victoria.

St. Martin in the Fields is a lovely church in Trafalgar Square. I went to hear carols there this past Christmas. It was absolutely amazing. They usually have concerts scheduled. Check their web site. I also love to stop by their Crypt Cafe for a meal. I love the atmosphere and jazz music.

Thank you, all, especially Cat VH You had me at Byzantine mosaics.