According to the latest data, London receives almost half of the UK’s foreign visitor traffic each year. It’s no surprise then that the English capital has some of the most well-known tourist attractions worldwide.
If you visit London frequently, though, you might be searching for something more than the London Eye or Big Ben. Thankfully, there are some London sites that go under the radar most of the time.
The Painted Hall in the Old Royal Naval College barely gets attention as one of London’s must-see attractions. But you will be up for a surprise if you head to Greenwich and visit this beautiful establishment, with its thousands of square meters of illustrated Baroque walls and ceilings.
Flooding has plagued London since the Roman era. The Thames Barrier came as a saving grace for the residents, and besides its practicality, it makes for a great sightseeing spot. The £535 million structure is located downstream from Greenwich, near City Airport. Try to visit during one of the monthly tests so that you can see the gates rising from the depths of the river to the height of a five-storey building.
It’s no secret that London is a city with a rich gambling legacy. The West End has housed many casinos for centuries. While British punters have developed a taste for online gambling recently and have been playing at fast payout casinos on the internet, the allure of brick-and-mortar casinos lives on.
If you want to have a taste of this gambling history, we would recommend that you check out Maxim’s near Kensington Palace. It feels like a journey to the past the moment you cross the casino’s threshold. This architectural gem, a Victorian creation by John Foster, who socialised with Charles Dickens, evokes a bygone age.
The Chelsea Physic Garden also deserves a mention in this conversation. This is a verdant haven that transforms with each season. Home to over 5,000 plant species, it also features a delightful café, offering meals amidst one of Europe’s oldest botanical sanctuaries.
The Lock & Co hatters stand today as the oldest operational hats shop in the world. This is the place where bowler hats were born, with the likes of Oscar Wilde, Charlie Chaplin, and Sir Winston Churchill having bought their headwear from here. There’s a great museum nearby as well that has hats worn by some of the shop’s most famous customers and other memorabilia. If you want to grace your head with a hat, this is probably the best place to drop by.
You will find the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art in a lovely Georgian building off Canonbury Road. The gallery gets its name from Eric Estorick, an American art collector who used to live in London. Many 20th-century Italian art pieces can be enjoyed, featuring artists like Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carra, and Gino Severini.
Among the most intriguing sites in central London are the Inns of Court next to Holborn, the old centre of Britain’s judicial scene. Visitors can enter the office where a young Charles Dickens once pored over legal books, and the nearby 15th-century dining hall hosted the first known performance of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors in 1594. The neighbourhood is also a real treasure trove of secret gardens and peaceful lanes that still seem locked in the Renaissance years.
Enjoy these hidden gems in London, the behind-the-scenes marvels that don’t get the attention they deserve. If you are craving to see something new in the Big Smoke, consider visiting any of these locations.
