Author's Guided Tours of London
Guided London Walking Tours with Paul Talling |
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Tickets for these walks usually sell out months in advance. Use the contact form at the bottom of this page to be advised of advanced notification of dates. Please also complete the form for enquiries regarding weekday bookings for private groups.
Click the WeGotTickets logo below for upcoming walks and tickets, although most are already sold-out months in advance.
Next dates with available tickets:
The Lost River Fleet with author Paul Talling - Sunday 7 September 2025
Advance booking essential
The b+w pics above are courtesy of Tim Slessor
These walks, all led by author Paul Talling, cover lost music venues/dereliction/lost rivers, canals & docks/dead pubs/TV & film locations, lost sports grounds and general social history followed by a few hours in pubs for all the local gossip. Join the mailing list via the website to be informed of ticket releases. Any time estimate of walks is very rough, as I'm in no hurry.
Paul has appeared on the Today Programme on BBC Radio 4 & also has had numerous appearances on BBC London 94.9, BBC1 and ITV London as well as features about his work in the Guardian (Inc a 4-page Weekend magazine feature), The Observer (centre page spread), The Times, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Star, Evening Standard, Financial Times, Mojo and Time Out along with glowing reviews in Time Magazine, New Statesman, Metro, Maxim, Londonist & Lonely Planet.
Walks are ADVANCE TICKET PURCHASE ONLY. You cannot pay on the day.
These walking tours go ahead regardless of the weather - rain or shine, heatwave or Arctic conditions! I have public liability insurance. Well-behaved dogs and children are welcome on all tours.
Paul has appeared on the Today Programme on BBC Radio 4 & also has had numerous appearances on BBC London 94.9, BBC1 and ITV London as well as features about his work in the Guardian (Inc a 4-page Weekend magazine feature), The Observer (centre page spread), The Times, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Star, Evening Standard, Financial Times, Mojo and Time Out along with glowing reviews in Time Magazine, New Statesman, Metro, Maxim, Londonist & Lonely Planet.
Walks are ADVANCE TICKET PURCHASE ONLY. You cannot pay on the day.
These walking tours go ahead regardless of the weather - rain or shine, heatwave or Arctic conditions! I have public liability insurance. Well-behaved dogs and children are welcome on all tours.
"A big thank you for such an interesting and informative walk today round Limehouse and Poplar. We really enjoyed your stories, which brought the area to life and highlighted your passion for the area and its older buildings." Kingston Camera Club
"Your walks are entirely different and memorable: you talk about the people who lived in places that we look at interspersing descriptions of people with stories about the things they do and how they lived. Numerous tour guides and historians aren't interested in the working class! I just loved your description of the pub in Silvertown which had the seat ripped with a Stanley knife and repaired duct tape! " Roger B
I’m a Londoner by birth, but there’s so much of it, it’s impossible to every know it all. These are guided walks unlike any others. The groups are small, and many people are regulars. You have to book online months in advance, and when new walks are announced, most of them are full within a day of the email going out. Paul is an absolute mine of information, not just about the history of the places on the walk, but everything else too. It’s a real mix of Paul’s own lived experience and his meticulous research. The tours feel really informal and personal – unscripted and relaxed, and always ending at a ‘real boozer.'
Robin (www.eastbournediary.co.uk)
"Your walks are entirely different and memorable: you talk about the people who lived in places that we look at interspersing descriptions of people with stories about the things they do and how they lived. Numerous tour guides and historians aren't interested in the working class! I just loved your description of the pub in Silvertown which had the seat ripped with a Stanley knife and repaired duct tape! " Roger B
I’m a Londoner by birth, but there’s so much of it, it’s impossible to every know it all. These are guided walks unlike any others. The groups are small, and many people are regulars. You have to book online months in advance, and when new walks are announced, most of them are full within a day of the email going out. Paul is an absolute mine of information, not just about the history of the places on the walk, but everything else too. It’s a real mix of Paul’s own lived experience and his meticulous research. The tours feel really informal and personal – unscripted and relaxed, and always ending at a ‘real boozer.'
Robin (www.eastbournediary.co.uk)
Ben Pedroche author of DO NOT ALIGHT HERE writes:
"Paul Talling's book London’s Lost Rivers is a fascinating read that explores several buried rivers, and Paul has been running regular walks that follow the route of the most famous ones included in the book.
The walk I attended covered the River Fleet, which is the most famous buried river of all, with a long and colourful history along its full journey from Hampstead Heath to the Thames. Paul very kindly invited me along, as the route also passes by several sites included in Do Not Alight Here, in particular the area around Farringdon.
I’d walked much of the route from Blackfriars to St Pancras before, but Paul filled the journey with some incredible facts that were new to me, illustrated with archive photos. Highlights on the walk included the site of the old Bridewell Prison, the Clerk’s Well of Clerkenwell, and Holborn Viaduct. I was pleased to see that the route also passed by Smithfield Market, which allowed Paul to throw in some sites included in Derelict London.
Paul is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about his subject, and the walk was well-organised, with a relaxed and casual atmosphere. We also ended up in the pub, where myself and other fans of Paul’s books got to chat to the man himself."
"Paul Talling's book London’s Lost Rivers is a fascinating read that explores several buried rivers, and Paul has been running regular walks that follow the route of the most famous ones included in the book.
The walk I attended covered the River Fleet, which is the most famous buried river of all, with a long and colourful history along its full journey from Hampstead Heath to the Thames. Paul very kindly invited me along, as the route also passes by several sites included in Do Not Alight Here, in particular the area around Farringdon.
I’d walked much of the route from Blackfriars to St Pancras before, but Paul filled the journey with some incredible facts that were new to me, illustrated with archive photos. Highlights on the walk included the site of the old Bridewell Prison, the Clerk’s Well of Clerkenwell, and Holborn Viaduct. I was pleased to see that the route also passed by Smithfield Market, which allowed Paul to throw in some sites included in Derelict London.
Paul is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about his subject, and the walk was well-organised, with a relaxed and casual atmosphere. We also ended up in the pub, where myself and other fans of Paul’s books got to chat to the man himself."
Advance booking essential
London's Lost Rivers, Derelict London and London's Lost Music Venues Guided Walks by Paul Talling :
Limehouse & Poplar, River Fleet, River Westbourne, London Docks (Wapping), River Peck, The Woolwich Alldayer, Isle of Dogs, the Grand Surrey Canal, Bow Creek, Silvertown, Hammersmith, Dirty Dartford ,The Lost Rivers of Hampstead, The Bishops Avenue, Whitechapel & Bethnal Green, Hammersmith, Roman Road, Soho, Fitzrovia, River Moselle, River Tyburn and Covent Garden.
Limehouse & Poplar, River Fleet, River Westbourne, London Docks (Wapping), River Peck, The Woolwich Alldayer, Isle of Dogs, the Grand Surrey Canal, Bow Creek, Silvertown, Hammersmith, Dirty Dartford ,The Lost Rivers of Hampstead, The Bishops Avenue, Whitechapel & Bethnal Green, Hammersmith, Roman Road, Soho, Fitzrovia, River Moselle, River Tyburn and Covent Garden.