London 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

What do you do when GWR drops a sale, you snag bargain tickets to London, and you’ve already ticked off all the usual tourist hotspots? You head to TikTok and YouTube, of course, hunting for obscure and quirky hidden gems. We built a huge list of places to explore (expertly plotted on a map by Momma) but unfortunately, time wasn’t on our side, and we barely made it through half of them. This can only mean one thing: another trip is officially required to finish the job.

V&A cafe – I love a coffee shop with something a little different or quirky about it, and since we’d already visited Attendant (the disused Victorian lavatory in Fitzrovia), this felt like the perfect way to start the day in London. Said to be the oldest museum café in the world, it’s an absolute feast for the eyes. Enormous lights hang from the ceiling, sunlight pours through vast stained-glass windows, and grand arches frame walls covered in colourful ceramic tiles. Even better, the coffee and cake were delicious—and surprisingly reasonably priced.

WW2 battle scars – Outside the V&A, take a close look at the facade and you will notice various pockmarks – these are the remnants of the Blitz.

Vincent Street Fireplace – Here sits the remains of a fireplace from the Second World War. Although the surrounding terraced house was destroyed during the bombing, this small fireplace survived. More than 80 years on, it still stands as a reminder of the devastation of that time.

Ghost signs – London is full of these, and you could easily spend a whole day hunting them. Also known as ‘fading ads’, they often reveal past services or businesses. Here are a couple we found today.

Westminster Cathedral – Not to be confused with Westminster Abbey… Santa has been searching for this place for years, so he was thrilled to finally get a look inside. It’s absolutely stunning, with multiple chapels adorned with intricate, colourful mosaics.

Paxton & Whitfield – One of the oldest cheesemonger in England and Proud Royal Warrant Holders since Queen Victoria in 1850. This insanely smelly shop is perfect for cheese lovers. We tried some samples and got a BOGOF sausage roll – delicious.

Police coat hook – Blink, and you’ll miss this tiny relic of hiatorical London. It’s said that during the hot summer months, police officers tasked with directing traffic at this busy intersection would hang their heavy capes on this hook while they worked.

The noses of Soho – The first nose appeared in 1997, without notice or any apparent meaning. Over the course of that year, more than 30 noses were quietly fixed to landmarks and public buildings across the city. Whilst most were removed almost immediately, a few have survived—and are still out there waiting to be hunted down.

Police box – These were very common in the 1920s and it’s thought there was around 685 around the city. They enabled members of the public to contact the police in an emergency, and then a light on top would flash to signal an officer to call in. With the arrival of portable radios, the need for these declined by the 1970s.

Postman’s Park – The park earned its name from its popularity as a lunchtime garden for workers at the nearby old General Post Office. It also features a poignant memorial with 54 plaques, each honoring an “ordinary” person who did something extraordinary—they gave their life trying to save someone else.

Rising Sun – One of London’s pubs with a gruesome past; this was once notorious for body-snatching. Gangs are said to have drugged unsuspecting patrons and murdered them, selling the bodies to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. Staff have often reported objects moving and mysterious noises.

Golden Boy of Pye Corner – We all know where the Great Fire of London started, but do you know where it was stopped? At this seedy corner of medieval London – the corner of Cock Lane and Giltspur Street. The ‘golden fat boy’ is said to have been a warning to Londoners that their gluttonous vices had been the cause of the fire.

Lovat Lane – This street offers a classic, picture-perfect view of The Shard, where the towering modern skyscraper is perfectly framed by the narrow, historic, and charming alleyway of the City of London.

If you’ve made it to the end.. well done! Hopefully you will spot some of these treats on your next trip to London.