London is much, much more than just shopping. Here are 30 things to do in London which don’t cost a bean. The cheapest way to get around is with an Oyster Card. These cost £5 plus another £5 per day for unlimited travel on Buses, Underground, Overground and DLR in Zones 1-4.
Oyster Cards can be handed in at any Underground station for a £5 refund at the end of your adventure.
1) On Sunday Speaker’s Corner is a must. It takes place from midday at the corner of Hyde Park that’s closest to Marble Arch. Here you’ll see serious speakers, evolutionaries, fundamentalists, we’ve-been-invaded-by-alienists and other persons of curious belief (nutters) all arguing with each other at the tops of their voices. It’s all very entertaining and rather jolly. Bring a milk crate if you want to have a go.
2) Had the British shores been breached during World War 2, Churchill’s last stand would have been at the government bunker in Dollis Hill. Prior to that a battle would have raged in the heart of London, The Citadel. Take another look at Horse Guards parade, and consider that the ground beneath your feet has bomb proof tunnels connecting every building. Where would you site a heavy machine gun if an invader was at the river? Would you bother defending the National Gallery?
3) Hampstead Heath is as close as London gets to wild open spaces. Stand on Parliament Hill and watch the kites or try and pick out the buildings on the London skyline laid out below you. On a clear day the view is breathtaking. Then, when you’ve had enough of views head down towards the ponds and get thoroughly lost. Sometimes, when it’s quiet, the woods can seem like you’ve stumbled into a little bit of Middle Earth.
4) A whole day’s free cabaret can be found in the Piazza at Covent Garden. This is where the pros come to sharpen their acts. You’ll see people who, in the evening, you’d pay at least £10 to see doing it for nothing. Why? Street Theatre is HARD. If you can hold an audience on a pavement the stage is a lot less daunting.
5) On a Saturday the mile-long market that stretches from Portobello Road up to the furthest reaches of Golborne Road is a constantly shifting array of just about everything. Starting with fake antiques and ending with real rubbish; Portobello Market is quirky and colourful with a roots reggae soundtrack. Spend nothing but do bring a sense of humour.
6) Wear stout shoes today because we’re going to check out a wonderful piece of engineering, the Union Canal. Starting at Haggerston Station head down the Kingsland Road towards the canal. Now head West along the canal taking in the old wharfs, the bridges and the enormous acreage of sky. Cyclists avoid fishermen, while swans pointedly ignore you, and ducks wonder if you’ve brought them anything edible.
7) The Pub. It is worth noting that ruthless competition amongst local hostelries means that some pubs tucked away from the main drag will sell you a pint for £1.99. They’ll announce this on a board outside. Equally a pint of lime juice and water – “London Tap, please…” will quench the thirst, “No ice, thanks…” and will often be free.
Camden is a good place to start another Canal Walk. If you start at Camden Lock and continue West you walk through London Zoo without having to pay a penny for it. True, you won’t see any tigers but it’s worth it for the aviary alone. After that continue through St John’s Wood, past the barge where Richard Branson dreamed up the Virgin empire to Paddington Basin.
9) Poundland does drawing blocks that cost, well, a pound. With one of these you’re an artist. Sit and draw something. The courtyard of the British Library, on the Euston Road is a fabulous red-brick space with an amazing sculpture in one corner. Find a bench and start sketching. It can really clear the mind when it’s just you and a pencil.
10) Starting at Charring Cross, walk through the station keeping towards the left and cross the Thames by footbridge to the South Bank. Outside the NFT is one of London’s last collections of second-hand bookstalls. Also, during the day, there are performances of classical music in the foyer of the Festival Hall which are free.
11) The Thames as we see it today is an engineering feat on a massive scale. The river is contained on the North side by the Victoria Embankment and on the South by the Albert Embankment. On a day with a bit of blue sky they afford some of the best views of London.
12) The British Museum houses collections from all over the world and, like all museums and galleries in London, is completely free.
13) The Museum of Natural History covers everything which crawls, creeps and flies along with fossils fish and dinosaurs.
14) In the Science Museum you can see space capsules, cruise missiles and huge Victorian engines. There are fascinating interactive displays in the basement. Take a small person for extra wow factor.
15) The V & A is all about colours and textures and design. Britain is one of the design capitals of the world with an illustrious history. You can see it all at the V & A
16) Tate Modern. Art.
17) National Gallery. More Art.
18) National Portrait Gallery. Even more Art.
19) Imperial War Museum. Formerly a lunatic asylum, the Imperial War Museum looks back at all the wars that we’ve engaged in. Fascinating but a bit grim. Small boys love it.
20) London’s growing Overground Network is an interesting investigation in its own right. An Oyster Card works anywhere and takes you through a Sci-Fi film set on the DLR to Canary Wharf or along the line from Highbury and Islington to Willesden Junction which served as a guide for German bombers. Notice how many of the newer buildings in the area are positioned alongside the track.
21) Dalston Market is where Africa goes shopping in London. The stalls here are purveyors of just about anything you can think of and present some fantastic photographic opportunities.
22) If you’re spending a day with someone small there’s a little known treat that’s completely free tucked away in the North West corner of Hampstead Heath. Take a 268 bus from Swiss Cottage to Golders Hill Park and its Children’s Zoo. Expect to see alpaca, muntjac deer and other exotic species from around the world.
23) J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, announced a new treat for the young and the young at heart, with a message in The Times.
“There is a surprise in store for the children who go to Kensington Gardens to feed the ducks in the Serpentine this morning. Down by the little bay on the south-western side of the tail of the Serpentine they will find a May-day gift by Mr J.M. Barrie, a figure of Peter Pan blowing his pipe on the stump of a tree, with fairies and mice and squirrels all around.”
24) Camden Market is a cross between a souk and a disco with everything on sale looking as though it’s been especially designed just for here. At the top end of the Stables area is Proud, a warren of performance spaces for anything from blues and folk to live rap. Always eclectic and always different.
25) Soho, sanitised but still seedy, is bounded to the South by Gerrard Street, otherwise known as Chinatown. Think Kowloon on a chilly afternoon.
26) That Oyster Card is your ticket to an exhibition of Railway Architecture. We hurry through stations, seldom looking beyond the departure boards, but in doing so miss seeing what fabulous machines railway stations are. Count trains from the footbridge at Clapham Junction, the biggest railway junction in the world or crick your neck looking up at the cast-iron roof of Paddington. Find a seat at any one of them, chill and look.
27) Take a photograph. Not a snap, a photograph. A snap is a picture of something. A photograph is composed. Frame a picture that balances colours and shapes and angles. If your phone supports it reverse the screen so you’re dealing with an upside-down image. (Curiously, this makes framing easier.) Stand on Tower Bridge at sunset and balance the lights, the sky and the water. Lots of people have cameras. Not many are photographers.
28) Stay at home, make a cup of tea and check out Tom Mills’ stunning panoramas of London.
29) Get lost in the City. The City of London, just a mile square, and despite the attentions of the Luftwaffe, still has corners that look like illustrations from a book by Charles Dickens. Consider too, as you wander its streets; how the area is designed for defence, with choke points and heavy concrete street furniture.
30) Tottenham Court Road is always worth a look even if you’re not spending today. Find a new bit of tech; a tablet say, and get a full hands-on demonstration. Find the best one and then wait a year or so. Prices will have halved and you’ll be able to spot a real bargain when it comes round.
