LONDON PREMIER WALKING TOURS INTERVIEW
Here at Experience Days we always love finding new and exciting things for you to do around London, and today we caught up with one of our newest experience providers, London Premier Walking Tours to find out all about the insightful tours that they have to offer you.
How long have you been running London Premier Walking Tours?
We are a family run business that have been offering specialist walking tours for a number of years.
And how did you guys first start up?
We have always enjoyed taking part in walking tours on foreign holidays. Being from such a historical city as London, we love exploring the culture of other cities. One day we were sitting in a coffee shop in New York and we started to think about running tours ourselves back home. We realised that we could combine our love of tours with our love of London and create a dynamic walking tour with extra value, added features and experiences that other tours do not have.
Explain a bit about the route of your tours and where they take place.
The Kings, Queens, Politics & Power Tour is a walk through 1500 years of history around the streets and parks of Westminster, Whitehall and some secret hidden streets in between. Be prepared to be astounded and knocked backwards by the good, the bad and the ugly of English history.
Our Secret London Tour walks within the boundary walls of the original Roman City of London (Londinium) that nowadays contains London’s East End, its Financial District with its incredible buildings and some of the most momentous events in London and world history.
The Tower Bridge and Thames River Tour plots a route down the banks of the River Thames from the Tower of London to Tower Bridge, then London Bridge and beyond, and discovers the history and mysteries of some of the world’s greatest landmarks and maritime masterpieces. This is a beautiful walk that will stimulate the body, mind and soul.
What would you say to be the most favourite/famous/interesting or best part of the tour?
There are so many highlights that it is like trying to choose a favourite film or piece of music, but I will try my best to select just a few of the highlights.
One stand-out is hearing the whole story, and I mean the whole story, of Winston Churchill on The Kings, Queens, Politics and Power Tour. He was one of the great leaders in world history, but when you hear the full story of his life and career you will be astounded and left gasping.
On the Secret London Tour there are two joint major highlights – the Jack The Ripper murders of 1888, and The Battle of Cable Street that took place in 1936 between 7000 fascist marchers and 300,000 anti-fascists. This tour has an amazing 30 points of interest on it.
The inside story of the Tower of London, plus the way the river Thames has played such an important role in the history and development of London, are two of many highlights on The Tower Bridge and Thames River Tour. Be prepared to take a sharp intake of breath when you stand at the base of Europe’s tallest building, the mighty Shard.
What’s the best part about the job for you?
It’s a great feeling as a tour guide to have your group of walkers captivated and enthralled from start to finish, and at the right moments to shock them with the unexpected, make them laugh at some of the funnier things about London and to generally entertain, educate and leave every walker with some great memories of the tour.
Any stand out memories from LPWT?
A certain Pamela Anderson made an on-line booking with us. Our tour guide was quite excited and spent some extra time grooming himself to look extra smart for the start of the tour. Pamela Anderson duly arrived for the start of the tour and was a 68 year old pensioner from Colchester!
It was a momentous moment when the first ever walker to be brave enough tried a sampler of Tubby Issacs’ world famous Jellied Eels on the Secret London Tour. His face was a picture of fear as the slimy chunk of eel approached his mouth. He started to chew, then he swallowed. After a short pause, the frown on his face subsided and he announced, “It’s actually okay, it tastes a bit like salmon.”
When the door of St George’s German Lutheran Church in the East End of London unexpectedly opened and we were let into what is usually a closed down 18th century church. The door opening made the tour guide jump but when let inside, the secrets that the church uncovered were truly spine chilling and now form a significant part of the Secret London Tour.
On The Kings, Queens, Politics and Power Tour, one of our walkers was from Ohio in the USA and he insisted on repeatedly referring to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as “The QE2”, which of course is a ship! The tour guide found this really funny but held herself together and delivered a great commentary throughout.
Now time to let us in on some secrets…where do you find out the hidden gems of information?
Our tour guides are students of London history and culture, and more importantly, they love London. They are professionally trained in the art of tour guiding…but that’s not all. The real secret to being a great tour guide, and to uncovering those magnificent secrets of London, is to always be learning and gathering extra information and research – before, during, and after tours. Some of the best and most brilliant things that our tour guides gift to our walkers are things that they stumble upon by chance during tours, or in conversations with the many hundreds of people that our tour guides get to meet during their job.
So, why will our Experience Days customers want to do your London tour?
Our absolute mission is to give each and every walker a great tour experience where they are excited, entertained and educated, and even more importantly, where they have fun and leave with some great memories.
If you had to impress someone with any aspects of the tours, where would you take them?
I would take them to Leman Street in the East End of London on our Secret London Tour. The amount of things that have happened over the last 3 centuries in that one street is truly incredible.
Amazing, thanks for talking to us today! Sound like your perfect day out! Don’t forget to check out their other tours, here:
London Walking Tour – Kings, Queens, Politics & Power
If you’re more of a politics. history and culture seeker, this will be perfect for you. Touring around Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey including the Royal Wedding of William & Kate, The Churchill War Rooms and much, much more, whilst learning about the history and secrets of each location.
Price: £10
