Public Tours

RECENT AND FORTHCOMING PUBLIC TOURS

Booking Public Tours
External Organisations
Please book your tickets via the organisation listed with the tour details eg City Lit, Bishopsgate etc

OR
Go London Tours events

Bookings for tours organised by Go London Tours can be made by emailing info@golondontours.com
An acknowledgement with full details of the tour and how to make your payment will follow.

AUGUST 2015

GAMBLERS AND GANGSTERS, PIMPS AND PUSHERS: SOHO VICE

Saturday 8th August, 2.00pm ** DATE CHANGE **

Concentrating solely on the notoriously sleazy side of Soho, Barrie's tour highlights the pre-war Sabinis and Messina crime families, the infamous crime king Billy Hill, the crazy 'Roaring Twenties' and the fun and frivolity during the Blitz of WWII.

£10.00. Book via Go London Tours / 020 8883 4169

JEWISH HACKNEY

Sunday 23rd August, 11.00am

Jewish life in Hackney was very vibrant. Your journey from Hackney Central to Dalston uncovers the stories of synagogues, boxing rings, Rothschild dwellings, socialist movements and the singers and writers for whom Hackney was their childhood home. You end at Ridley Road where bagels were sold amid the heckling of the Fascists.

£15.00. Book via Jewish Museum / 020 7284 7384

KEEP YOUR TICKET! Each Jewish Museum tour ticket gives you 'TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE' entry for up to three months from the date of the walking tour.

BEHIND THE TERMINI: UNIQUELY EUSTON

Sunday 23rd August, 2.30pm

Somers Town, once one of London's worst slums underwent a transformation in the 1930s and now you can discover this hinterland of Euston before it is transformed again. With the art deco Carreras Black Cats, two historic hospitals, paper mache bugs, a new 'Super Lab', Dickens, Mike Leigh and Walter Sickert plus the best washing line poles in London, Somers Town's history is indeed unique.

£10.00/£8.00 conc. Meet outside Mornington Crescent tube. No need to book. Just turn up.

SEPTEMBER 2015

SOHO: ROOTS OF THE SWINGING SIXTIES

Saturday 5th September, 2.00pm

Hear the story of how the 'swinging sixties' emerged from the streets of Soho during the early 1960's from someone who was there, your guide, Barrie. Discover the sites of famous music venues, discotheques and shops, 'meet' the personalities who shaped those magical times and share Barrie's personal memories.

£10.00. Book via Go London Tours / 020 8883 4169

WONDERFUL WOMEN OF WESTMINSTER
Tuesday 8th September, 2.30pm

This walk encounters women who battled, campaigned, fought and talked. From Boudicca, proud atop her chariot, to the Pankhursts striving for votes for women and Nancy Astor and Margaret Thatcher becoming important firsts in the House of Commons there was nothing these ladies could not achieve. Their stories together with society ladies' and social workers', not to mention WT Stead and his exposure of child prostitution in his Maiden Tribute make for a fascinating tour.

£12.00/£20 for two. Book via MSCC / 020 8922 2900

STITCH STITCH STITCH

Saturday 12th September, 11.00am

Explore the background to the ever-changing rag trade of Spitalfields. Once the centre of London's silk and sweated tailoring industries dominated by the French and Jewish immigrants, the same streets today are a centre for African textile shops, vibrant markets, designer makers and cutting edge fashion.

£15.00 / £20.00. Book via Bishopsgate Institute / 020 7392 9200

LAMBETH LIVES

Thursdays 17th September to 15th October, 11.00am (series of five walks)
This series of tours uncovers the varied and fascinating history of the south London borough of Lambeth by profiling five very different neighbourhoods – Clapham Common South Side, Waterloo, Vauxhall, Brixton and North Lambeth.

£33.00 / £57.00 / £75.00 for the five tours. Book via City Lit / 020 7831 7831

MUSIC AND MISTRESSES: ST. JOHN’S WOOD ** NEW **
Sunday 20th September, 11.00am

Take a leisurely walk discovering the history and personalities who have shaped this historic residential London quarter. This area that was once the "wrong side of the park" became home to eminent Victorian artists and sculptors where high walls could hide their secret liaisons, top class cricket, an iconic recording studio and the 'birthplaces' of both Masorti Judaism and Winnie the Pooh.

£15.00. Book via Jewish Museum / 020 7284 7384

KEEP YOUR TICKET! Each Jewish Museum tour ticket gives you 'TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE' entry for up to three months from the date of the walking tour.

BEHIND THE TERMINI: CHARING CROSS
Sunday 20th September, 2.30pm

The network of narrow steep streets around the elaborately fronted Charing Cross station leads down to the Thames hosting memories of long-gone food markets, riverside palaces, revolting peasants and Charles Dicken's youthful employment. With glorious architecture, old and new, to behold and statues of the great and good to admire this area has it all.

£10.00/£8.00 conc. Meet outside Amba Charing Cross Hotel at Charing Cross station. No need to book. Just turn up.

BESPOKE TO BOUTIQUE, SAVILE ROW TO SOHO ** NEW **

Saturday 26th September, 11.00am

Join Rachel on a fashion journey from the sartorial elegance of Savile Row's bespoke tailoring with the birth of the Tuxedo, court livery and a dressmaker to the Queen to Carnaby Street of the 60s, where boutiques, Mods and dolly birds were the heart of Swinging London.
£15.00 / £20.00. Book via Bishopsgate Institute / 020 7392 9200

OCTOBER 2015

LONDON ON FILM

Wednesday 7th October, 6.00pm

Follow in the footsteps of Jude Law, Hugh Grant, Ralph Fiennes, and others to discover some of London’s most famous film locations. An increasing number of films are using London as a backdrop and this tour will visit sites for Four Weddings and a Funeral, Closer, Shakespeare in Love, Bridget Jones’s Diary and one of my favourites, Hue and Cry. In between you will hear about filming in the capital ... should you be planning your own film!

£12.00 or £20.00 for two tickets. Book via MSCC / 020 8922 2901

LONDON’S TOWNS * series of four walks *

Saturdays 10th to 31st October, 11.00am

Inspired by the song Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner, this series of walks with Rachel Kolsky explores four very different towns in London - the under known but fast regenerating Somers Town near Euston, the sedate Victorian villas of De Beauvoir Town, the dockers' Cubitt Town on the Isle of Dogs and buzzy Camden Town with its musical, gin and transport associations.

£41.00 to £55.00. Book via Bishopsgate Institute / 020 7392 9200

REGGAE, RIOTS AND BIBA BOOTS: BARRIE’S BRIXTON

Saturday 10th October, 2.00pm

Brixton is full of surprises. Once London's premier suburban shopping centre it was transformed in the twentieth century by the vibrant Caribbean community. A more recent transformation has brought more music, murals, cafe culture and a new currency. Join your guide, Barrie, who worked here for over 25 years, on this special personal trip down memory lane including the shop his parents opened in 1937.

£10.00. Book via Go London Tours / 020 8883 4169

BLOOMS TO BURGERS, BAGELS TO BHAJIS * EUROPEAN JEWISH HERITAGE DAY *
Sunday 11th October, 11.00am

From the days of bagels, Boris and Bloom’s, Whitechapel Road now embraces a new immigrant community. Rachel will explore the different and parallel stories of the Jewish and Bengali communities including anarchists, Altab Ali and the much-loved London Hospital.

£12.00 / £11.00 for Bnai Brith members. Book via Go London Tours / 020 8883 4169
Note: This tour is also being run on Sunday 6th September, 11.00am led by Isabelle - booking as above.

GAMBLERS AND GANGSTERS, PIMPS AND PUSHERS: SOHO VICE
* CANCELLED - DATE CHANGED - SEE 18TH OCTOBER *

WILLESDEN JEWISH UNITED CEMETERY

Wednesday 14th October, 11.00am

Discover the many and varied members of the Anglo-Jewish elite for whom Willesden Cemetery is their last home. Their stories are fascinating ranging from the first Jewish MP and first Jewish Lord, both Rothschilds, discovery of DNA, diamond Randlords, the first Singers Prayer Book and a furniture manufacturer once the largest in the UK.

£15.00 (incl. donation to the cemetery). Book via Go London Tours / 020 8883 4169

Don’t miss this chance to experience THE classic East End tour!

JEWISH EAST END with visit to SANDYS ROW SYNAGOGUE

Sunday 18th October, 11.00am

This ever popular tour in and around Brick Lane and Spitalfields evokes the long-gone Jewish community of the late 19th and early 20th century. With synagogues, schools and soup kitchens the memories come flooding back and the tour ends with a special treat, an exclusive visit to Sandys Row Synagogue, a community founded in 1854 and housed in a converted Huguenot chapel built in 1766.
£15.00. Book via Jewish Museum / 020 7284 7384

KEEP YOUR TICKET! Each Jewish Museum tour ticket gives you 'TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE' entry for up to three months from the date of the walking tour.

WONDERFUL WATERLOO * BEHIND THE TERMINI *

Sunday 18th October, 2.30pm

Described as being for 'a better class of commuter' Waterloo provides an opportunity to hear the stories behind not one but seven stations and from one, The Station of the Dead, there were no return journeys! Behind the station you will discover wonderful artisanal housing, the theatre that went from music hall to temperance to being one of London's top venues and the site of London's Cans Festival.

£10.00/£8.00 conc. Meet under the big clock on the main concourse. No need to book. Just turn up.

GAMBLERS AND GANGSTERS, PIMPS AND PUSHERS: SOHO VICE * DATE CHANGE *

Sunday 18th October, 2.00pm

Concentrating solely on the notoriously sleazy side of Soho, Barrie's tour highlights the pre-war Sabinis and Messina crime families, the infamous crime king Billy Hill, the crazy 'Roaring Twenties' and the fun and frivolity during the Blitz of WWII.

£10.00. Book via Go London Tours / 020 8883 4169

THE UNTOLD STORY: WOMEN’S LONDON * series of five walks *
Thursdays - 22nd October to 19th November, 11.00am

This series of walks gives centre stage to women whose experiences have left their mark on London. Visiting areas as diverse as Whitechapel, Westminster, Bow, Borough and Hampstead Garden Suburb you will 'meet' personalities such as Mary Hughes, Nancy Astor, Sylvia Pankhurst, Octavia Hill and Henrietta Barnett and in Belgravia those unnamed women who worked and lived above and below stairs.

Book early to avoid disappointment - the previous courses sold out very quickly

£33.00/£53.00/£75.00 for the five tours. Book via City Lit / 020 7831 7831

ARCHITECTURE TO ACADEMIA, TAIL COATS TO THE TELEGRAPH: BALLS POND ROAD CEMETERY
* NEW! AFTER SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH - AN ADDITIONAL DATE *
Sunday 25th October, 10.30am
This new tour explores the rarely visited and very much unknown Jewish Cemetery opened by the Reform movement in 1843. With several grand tombstones, the stories range from Queen Victoria's chiropodist, the founders of Angels and the Daily Telegraph, important leaders of the Anglo-Jewish community such
as the Goldschmids, Mocattas and Montefiores and the grave of the first Jewish person to be cremated in the UK.

£20.00. Meeting place provided on booking. Book via Ronit Wang / 020 8455 2569

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY - November and December 2015

November

Sunday 1st November - Jewish Mayfair
Tuesday 3rd November - Jewish West End: Soho and Fitzrovia

Saturday 7th November - Stokey: A Misty Village
December
Sunday 13th December - Your Loyal Subjects: National Portrait Gallery

FESTIVE GREETINGS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

News for 2016! After my autumn/winter break, I will be back with JW3 - three great tours have been scheduled

Contact Rachel if you would like more information (prices, booking or meeting places etc) in advance for any of the tours.