BESPOKE WALKSFOR BUSINESSESWe host private walks for Midtown businesses - sharing our unique local knowledge with your guests, clients or employees.

You can choose a walk from our existing programme that we can tailor for your chosen group; or you can request a theme of your choice.

A walk can be used as staff induction activity, corporate hospitality, an office celebration or a staff incentive.

We combine fascinating local history with useful practical information.

We can also recommend local restaurants or host a quiz in one of Midtown’s many pubs.

To find out more call 020 7078 7077Or email info@bee-midtown.com

This programme of walks is brought to you by BEE Midtown, where EC1 meets WC1. We represent the new centre of London: Holborn, Bloomsbury, St Giles, Farringdon & Clerkenwell.

BEE Midtown exists to promote, celebrate, and build upon everything that’s great about London’s best-connected postcodes.

Our streets are home to some of the world’s biggest brands and household names. But Midtown is not just a commercial centre. It’s a hotbed of history, culture and creativity. It’s a vibrant destination with a huge variety of things to see, hear and experience.

Join one of our walks to tap into our knowledge and find out more.

bee-midtown.com

@MidtownLDN

@MidtownLDN

midtownldn

FREE GUIDEDWALKS

HOLBORNBLOOMSBURYST GILESFARRINGDONCLERKENWELL

APRIL – JUNE 2020

WHERE TO JOIN OUR WALKSThere

,s no need to book, just show

up at the starting points (unless the walk

,s description says otherwise).

HANGING ACREFriday 17 April1pm. Chancery Lane Station

This walk explores the gruesome history of the area bordered by Gray’s Inn Road, Clerkenwell Road and Leather Lane. We visit locations connected to murderers, executioners and go to the site of the ‘Thieves Kitchen’ and ‘Hanging Acre.’Duration: 45 minutes.

HOLBORN STATION KIOSK Meet by our bright orange information kiosk outside Holborn tube station, 88-94 Kingsway, WC2B 6AA.

CENTRAL SAINT GILES Find the red sculpture in the courtyard of Central Saint Giles, 1 St Giles High Street, WC2H 8AG and you’ve found the starting point.

CHANCERY LANE STATION From Chancery Lane tube station take the exit marked ‘Holborn Circus’ and meet by the junction of Holborn road and Brooke Street. Our guide will be waiting for you.

FARRINGDON STATIONOur orange-uniformed guide will be waiting for you in Cowcross Street, in between the two station entrances/exits to Farringdon station.

WELCOME APRIL

GREAT PLAGUE Friday 3 April1pm. Holborn Station Kiosk

Visit the area where the Great Plague of 1665 started, and hear about these terrible times.Duration: 45 minutes.

HOMES OF FAMOUS PEOPLEMonday 6 April1pm. Holborn Station Kiosk

This tour visits some of the houses in Holborn formerly occupied by famous people, including the first British Prime Minister to be assassinated, and important dwellings from the history of literature and invention. Duration: 45 minutes.

OLD ST GILESTuesday 21 April1pm. Holborn Station Kiosk

Today we go to the site of the notorious St Giles Rookery and hear about its history.Duration: 45 minutes.

ST GEORGEThursday 23 April 1pm. Holborn Station Kiosk

A patriotic theme for St George’s Day. This walk takes us to the place where our national anthem was first sung publicly. We also visit a former home and the final resting place of the composer of Rule Britannia. Duration: 45 minutes.

WHO ATE ALL THE PIES?Monday 27 April1pm. Holborn Station Kiosk

Today we hear about the story of the 18th century serial killer Sweeney Todd. This walk visits the site of his barber shop and the place where his victims were made into meat pies.Duration: 45 minutes.

APRIL MAY

“Many thanks for your guided tour, Little Italy and the Risorgimento. The tour was impeccably organised and very educational. The participants, I feel sure, learnt a lot. I certainly did.”

Andrea Del Cornò, London Library, 2019

DOODLEBUG!Friday 15 May1pm. Holborn Station Kiosk

In 1944 Hitler unleashed his V1 ‘Doodlebug’ flying bomb and V2 rocket on Britain. This walk continues our commemoration of VE Day by visiting four places in the Holborn area hit by these weapons. Duration: 45 minutes.

FARRINGDON AND WORLD WAR II Wednesday 20 May12.30pm. Farringdon Station

Farringdon was badly bombed during the Second World War. This walk concludes our series commemorating VE Day by visiting some of the bomb sites in the area.Duration: 45 minutes.

HORRIBLE HOLBORNFriday 1 May1pm. Holborn Station Kiosk

The pleasantness of present-day Holborn hides a dark and sinister past. This tour uncovers it. Please note that this walk includes graphic descriptions of executions that some people might find upsetting! Duration: 45 minutes.

HOLBORN AT WARMonday 4 May1pm. Holborn Station Kiosk

This week marks the 75th anniversary of VE Day. To commemorate the event we begin our series about the Second World War with a walk visiting sites in Holborn connected with the Battle of Britain. Duration: 45 minutes.

THE BLITZTuesday 12 May1pm. Holborn Station Kiosk

Holborn was badly damaged during the Blitz. Today’s walk continues our commemoration of VE Day by visiting several locations that were bombed and explains how the Holborn we know today was shaped by these terrible events. Duration: 45 minutes.

“Since moving to London we have wanted to learn as much as possible about our new home city. We signed up and participated in a wide range of guided walks that ranged from the so-so to the not-so-bad. Then we discovered Bee Midtown Walks and have had consistently wonderful experiences. We find them to be assiduously researched, and carefully organised for our best safety and convenience. Midtown has been brought to life and hundreds of years of history have been linked up in vivid and meaningful ways.”

Vicky Grandon & Dr Hernando Fernandez,Waltham Forest residents, 2019

MAY JUNE

HIP TO BE SQUAREFriday 5 June1pm. Holborn Station Kiosk

Today we go to Queen Square and round off our walk with a visit to see the contemporary art of the October Gallery and their special exhibition of works by Rachid Koraïchi. For Koraïchi, art represents an ancient pathway into the unknown. Signs and symbols from civilisation’s oldest languages are deconstructed and abstracted in the artist’s work to elaborate a personal visual vocabulary.Duration: 45 minutes.

BRANCHING OUT (NEW)Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 June11am and 1pm. Meeting outside Conway Hall, Red Lion Square

Today’s walk is an official part of Bloomsbury’s Open Gardens festival supported by the Friends of Red Lion Square Gardens. We meet outside the main entrance to Conway Hall before going into the central part of Red Lion Square to look at eight varieties of trees, including London Plane, Tree of Heaven and Handkerchief trees.

Please note. The unusual starting point for this walk which is immediately outside the main entrance to Conway Hall in Red Lion Square by the junction with Lambs Conduit Passage.Duration: 45 minutes.

THE BLOOMSBURY GROUPTuesday 9 June5.30pm. Holborn Station Kiosk

Visiting some of the many sites connected with the Bloomsbury Group of writers, artists and intellectuals. Duration: 90 minutes.

SUFFRAGETTE CITYTuesday 26 May1pm. Holborn Station Kiosk

We visit several sites in Holborn and Bloomsbury linked to the struggle for votes for women.Duration: 45 minutes.

WALK ON THE WILDE SIDE (NEW)Sunday 24 May 11am and 2pm. Farringdon Station

Part one of a special series of three walks to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the trial of the poet and playwright Oscar Wilde. We visit several locations in the Farringdon and eastern Holborn areas connected to the life of this literary giant and focus on the libel action he took at the Old Bailey. You don’t need to go on all three parts of this series because each walk is designed to be enjoyed either separately or together with the others. Parts two and three will take place later in the year.Duration: 135 minutes.

“I went on the excellent Regicide walk today and I wanted to say how great the guide Aly was. There was a lot of humour in the presentation and his knowledge was really impressive. I learnt a lot from this fascinating and well-thought-out tour.”

Jonty SternBarnet resident, 2019

JUNE

MUSEUM MILE LONDON: WELLCOME COLLECTION (NEW)Friday 12 June2pm. Central Saint Giles

This tour visits Wellcome Collection to explore two of its special exhibitions about Happiness. Joy explores states of euphoria, and social experiences of collective joy, whilst Tranquillity will consider calmer more solitary feelings of reverie, serenity and awe.

Wellcome Collection is the free museum and library for the incurably curious. Inspired by the medical objects and curiosities collected by Henry Wellcome, it connects science, medicine, life and art. Through its exhibitions, live programming, and digital and publishing activity, it makes thought provoking content which aims to challenge how we think and feel about health.

The tour will start at 2pm and end near Euston at 5pm.

Today’s walk visits one member of Museum Mile London, but our guide will also mention all the other members to encourage people to visit them in the future.

#MuseumMileLDN www.museum-mile.org.uk

FREE20 places only

Booking required and admission to the walk is by ticket only.

Booking commences online from 3 April. Please do not apply before this date because your application will not be accepted.

To book go to www.eventbrite.co.uk and search ‘Bee Midtown Museum Mile London walk.’

Duration: 180 minutes.

JUNE

LITTLE ITALY AND THE RISORGIMENTO Sunday 14 June2pm. Holborn Station Kiosk

On this walk we go to streets and buildings that were part of Little Italy – the heart of London’s Italian community in the 19th and 20th centuries. We also visit sites connected to the revolutionary nationalists Mazzini and Garibaldi and hear about the Risorgimento – the struggle for a united and independent Italy. Duration: 135 minutes

PEPYS SHOWWednesday 17 June5.30pm. Holborn Station Kiosk

Samuel Pepys’ famous diary provides a fascinating record of life in London in the 1660s, covering the restoration of the monarchy and the Great Plague. On the walk we see sites in the Holborn area referred to by Pepys in his diary. Duration: 90 minutes.

CORRIDORS OF POWER (NEW)Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 June10am and 2pm. Farringdon Station

BEE Midtown presents a special walk which is an official part of the London Festival of Architecture 2020. Supporting the LFA 2020’s theme of ‘power’, we visit the outside of 13 buildings in Farringdon, Holborn, and Bloomsbury which were constructed to serve important and influential organisations. The tour will consider how organisations such as businesses, the legal profession, museums and trades unions, have left their mark on our area through the construction of buildings designed to demonstrate the influence or ‘power’ of commerce, culture and beliefs. We will hear about the design of the buildings, the occupants they were made for, as well as the past and present uses of these buildings which have helped shape the local environment. Duration: 180 minutes.

The London Festival of Architecture runs from 1 – 30 June 2020. For details of the LFA 2020 and their schedule of events please see londonfestivalofarchitecture.org

JUNE JUNE

WALKING OUT!Friday 26 June1pm. Holborn Station Kiosk

The Pride London Festival is taking place in London tomorrow. To celebrate the event we walk to sites in Bloomsbury and Holborn associated with lesbian and gay history, including the venue of the first Gay Liberation Front meeting in Britain. Duration: 45 minutes.

WALK ON THE WILDE SIDE (NEW)Sunday 28 June11am and 2pm. Farringdon Station

Part one of a special series of three walks to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the trial of the poet and playwright Oscar Wilde. We visit several locations in the Farringdon and eastern Holborn areas connected to the life of this literary giant and focus on the libel action he took at the Old Bailey. You don’t need to go on all three parts of this series because each walk is designed to be enjoyed either separately or together with the others. Parts two and three will take place later in the year.Duration: 135 minutes.

A RING AROUND FARRINGDON Thursday 25 June2pm. Farringdon Station

Join this guided walk to discover 1,000 years of history through the buildings and collections of six of its cultural organisations. Experience Barts Hospital Museum, which exhibits the fascinating history of medical treatment at the Hospital; the church of St. Barts the Great, London’s oldest church, and the setting for many films and TV programmes; the church of St Barts the Less; the museum and chapel of the Charterhouse, a thriving almshouse and stunning seven acre historic site dating back to the 14th century; the Museum of the Order of St John, charting the story of the religious military order from its origins in Jerusalem in the 11th century to its modern incarnation as St John Ambulance; and the Goldsmiths’ Centre, home to over a hundred craftspeople who continue the area’s tradition of passing skills on to future generations and host to a changing programme of contemporary jewellery and silversmithing exhibitions. The tour will finish at the Goldsmiths’ Centre’s excellent café, The Bench.

The tour will end near Farringdon Station at 5pm.

FREE20 places only

Booking required and admission to the walk is by ticket only.

Booking commences online from 3 April. Please do not apply before this date because your application will not be accepted.

To book go to www.eventbrite.co.uk and search ‘Bee Midtown A Ring Around Farringdon walk.’

Duration: 180 minutes.

“I was most impressed by your erudition, and the planning, that you had put into this new walk. It will be a marvellous addition to your portfolio and will increase the public appreciation of such important, but inadequately recognised, sites. Thank you again so much for organising it.”

Dr Charles Goodson-WickesRepresentative Deputy Lieutenant, Islington, Chairman, The Ring, 2019

BESPOKE WALKSFOR BUSINESSESWe host private walks for Midtown businesses - sharing our unique local knowledge with your guests, clients or employees.

You can choose a walk from our existing programme that we can tailor for your chosen group; or you can request a theme of your choice.

A walk can be used as staff induction activity, corporate hospitality, an office celebration or a staff incentive.

We combine fascinating local history with useful practical information.

We can also recommend local restaurants or host a quiz in one of Midtown’s many pubs.

To find out more call 020 7078 7077Or email info@bee-midtown.com

This programme of walks is brought to you by BEE Midtown, where EC1 meets WC1. We represent the new centre of London: Holborn, Bloomsbury, St Giles, Farringdon & Clerkenwell.

BEE Midtown exists to promote, celebrate, and build upon everything that’s great about London’s best-connected postcodes.

Our streets are home to some of the world’s biggest brands and household names. But Midtown is not just a commercial centre. It’s a hotbed of history, culture and creativity. It’s a vibrant destination with a huge variety of things to see, hear and experience.

Join one of our walks to tap into our knowledge and find out more.

bee-midtown.com

@MidtownLDN

@MidtownLDN

midtownldn

FREE GUIDEDWALKS

HOLBORNBLOOMSBURYST GILESFARRINGDONCLERKENWELL

APRIL – JUNE 2020