Steve Does Tours (2025)

27/03/2025

Interesting story about how the Mayor of London is reenstating the old Greater London Council coat of arms.

Logo disappeared in 1986 when GLC abolished.

Apparently Mayor has to pay £5k to the College of Arms, founded in the 15thC, to get the heraldic logo rights! Another £3k on getting the coat of arms on the stationary and £4k for getting a big sign up on the front of City Hall.

However no word about crockery. (LCC crockery pictured model’s own).

The blue wavy lines represent the Thames, while the crown is for Middlesex. You can still see the Middlesex logo on old schemes like where the canal goes over the North Circular.

Recommend for London news stories like this.

25/03/2025

Someone once said talk about something for 5 minutes or less and you can make it interesting.

OK the history of south London postcodes!

In 1856 Sir Rowland Hill as post master general comes up with the idea of postcodes for a rapidly growing London. These are neatly sliced up along the points of the compass - N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW.

In 1866 Antony Trollope (slightly more famous for novels than postcode reform) decided not enough people lived in south London to justify a S postcode so split S into SE and SW.

Just by Clapham Common is the Pavement. One sign has a S on it, meaning it had to have been put up between 1856 and 1866.

One I point out on my Clapham Common tours.

18/03/2025

The Guildable Manor covers an area just south of London Bridge, including and .

Its history is ancient (13th Century?) and complex and is largely about the City wanting control of the southern entrance to London Bridge.

To this day it still has a range of officers including the Flesh Taster, Ale Taster, Ale Sizer and the Tithingmen. I think I’m in the wrong job.

Check out Guildable Manor website for more details.

10/03/2025

Well plenty of time for reading as they say.

For me Sherlock Holmes will always be read with voice of Jeremy Brett in my head.

But poor south London - always getting a bad review….
“Wandsworth Road” said my companion. “Priory Road, Larkhall Lane, Coldharbour Lane. Our quest does not appear to take us to very fashionable regions”. We had indeed reached a questionable and forbidding neighbourhood”.

“An oasis of art in the howling desert of south London”
The Sign of Four.

At least we can claim the Jeremy Brett bench next to the Bandstand Cafe on Clapham Common.

06/03/2025

Happy World Book Day!

Books obviously play a big part in a tour guide’s life as we hunt at new stories and obscure things to point at.

Thank you the various borough archives I’ve spent happy hours in - especially

Also on the occasions I do get a tip I’ve often almost said “do not tip me I’ll only spend it on books!”

But what would I dress up as for World Book Day? Probably not the Bishop’s Brothels, a history of Bankside’s red lights district, which I bought in the bookshop. May be a Victorian wombat?

01/03/2025

Happy St David’s Day!

St David’s Day makes me think of a favourite spot in Borough. The sign behind the still very active Welsh Chapel, which is a polite way of saying “no p*ssing at the back of the chapel”.

Over the years has the pleasure of taking many tours there. From the local Women’s Institute to the international writing team at Lego, they have had this local landmark pointed out to them.

“Commit no nuisance” long may it continue!

Worth mentioning a lot of Chapels in London, as Victorian Welsh came to the capital looking for work, often in urban dairies and as bricklayers.

24/02/2025

I’ve been reading up on my English magic. We generally think of Druids as hanging out in Wales or the West Country.

But ….and this is when it becomes interesting for a London tour guide.

The Ancient Order of Druids was founded in 1781 at the King’s Arms Tavern in Poland Street, Soho. Churchill joined them in 1908 (love the fake beard of the guy behind him in the photo). The pub is still there and above it there is a plaque all about the druids. The Royals we also not above a bit of Druid supporting and by 1933 the order had over 1.5 million members.

Clapham resident George Watson MacGregor Reid in 1918 founded the Ancient Druid Order, an esoteric mix of various spiritualities. Although he preferred Stonehenge over Clapham Common for the rituals it is perhaps something we should bring back to SW11.

21/02/2025

Happy 2025!

A big thank you to all the guests from across the world that I have had the pleasure of showing this most international of cities to.

20/02/2025

As a tour guide obviously when head off on a break I do my research. I was very pleased to see where we are staying in the Cotswolds we could do a bit of Nancy Mitford pilgrimage.

If you’ve not read her do, she is such a funny writer. Recommend “The pursuit of love” as a good place to start as must autobiographical novel and also very funny.

Ok the politics are a little shall we say “problematic”. One sister marries Oswald Mosley (with Hi**er as the key guest) and one falls madly in love with Hi**er and puts a bullet in her head when war is declared (Unity is then smuggled out under Hi**er’s orders via Switzerland and lives for a few more years).

Interestingly Nancy’s husband works in a refugee camp for Spaniards escaping Franco and one sister, Jessica, is a massive communist.

Anyway the church where she is buried (next to Unity & some Mosleys) is beautiful and the local pub the Swan Inn is a wonderful place to lunch on a chilly February afternoon, with lots of Mitford photos (the youngest sister owned it for a bit, as well as being the Duchess of Devonshire).

19/02/2025

Love an over the top Stuart period tomb. The Tanfield monument remembers Sir Lawrence who became the corrupted Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer to James I and his wife Lady Elizabeth who had the tomb erected against the locals wishes. Both were hated locally as terrible mean landlords and 200 years after their death their effigies were still being burnt in Burford town.

Descendants where the Lord Falklands (who gave name to the islands) and one end of the tomb has their daughter Elizabeth the first English women to have written and published an original play.

Lord and Lady Tanfield’s ghostly carriage know to appear racing up the highstreet!

02/02/2025

I’ve never liked the whole Jack the Ripper tales.*
Which is why it has taken me this long to read The Five by Hallie Rubenhold.

It is an amazing book. In great detail it charts the lives of the five until their murders. It is a social history of women who faced outstanding hardships. Common themes of abusive partners, endless childbirth and the remorseless loss of children, squalid accommodation and backbreaking work.

Highly recommended. And it also details their homes down to house number, so I’ll be having an explore.

* one professional tour guide told me Jack the Ripper was paying his mortgage - death and gore to endless traumatised 14 year Spanish students.

23/01/2025

Huge news! The plaque has gone up!

The Hit Factory means a lot to pop fans of a certain age. Think Kylie, Jason, Rick Ashley Bananarama and many others all recording and being made stars in this back street behind Borough Tube station.

The founders of Stock, Aitken and Waterman unveiled the voted by the people (including me) plaque yesterday.

From Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens and the Hit Factory Borough High Street literary history is huge!

And thanks to for pointing it out to me.

19/01/2025

A visit to the Handel and Hendrix House museum. Handel lived here for 36 years composing a huge range of music. Hendrix lived here for only a few months, but what a busy few months.

The museum lovingly recreates the rooms for both musicians with Hendrix’s flat at the top. In 1968 the ground floor was Mr Love’s restaurant, where Hendrix would order up rose wine with steak and chips.

Great museum much benefiting to my mind by the amble dressing up opportunities.

12/01/2025

A Sunday stroll around Borough Market for this group of friends and history enthusiasts. I was asked to provide some Vikings so had to end with the Norwegian King who tried to pull down London Bridge. He tied his ships to the then wooden bridge which acted a defensive across the Thames. Anyway we made him a Saint, built him a church and them replaced the church with the very nice office building that stands there today.

Also rewarded with seeing the procession from to the middle of London Bridge. Each year there is a blessing of the Thames jointly between the Cathedral and St Magnus the other Viking church on the north bank.

05/01/2025

Very much a small group bespoke tour this morning around the Jewish history south of Whitechapel High Road. At the start of the 20th Century the East End had 65 active synagogues. Now only three open (according to my guide book).

Also took in the Cable Street riot mural. It recalls when in October 1936 the local population stopped Sir Oswald Mosley and his blackshirts from marching through the East End. Well worth a visit.

Also took in same famous names, including one Ronald Schatt, better known as Ronnie Scott (of Soho jazz club fame).

02/01/2025

Well that was a nice review to end 2024 on - thank you!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review

You can read all my reviews on Borough Market and Beyond & a lot on my website Stevedoestours - link in bio 👆🏽👆🏽

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31/12/2024

A big thank you to everyone who came on a 2024 tour! And especially to those who took part in one of my terrible “selfie with guests” photos. Small selection shown here.

Looking forward to 2025 and plenty more terrifically bad selfies.

30/12/2024

The Brompton Oratory is a large slice of Rome in South Kensington with a Cold War secret.

The column on the right as you enter was used by the Soviets as a dead letter box, where spies would leave a message to be picked up later.

The Oratory with its hushed and confessional tones still feels very espionage. I wonder if the priests knew what was going on all along?

(My second recent dead letter box post but I do like the dressing up)

Steve Does Tours