# Free things to do in London, England



## Cotswolder

*I have copied this post over from Timesharing -> Travel Info Forum. It has been resurrected from the old BBS.

Feel free to add any more that you find*  


Europe,Other International 
Free things to do in London, England 
Topic: Free things to do in London, England 
bobbygrrl
From: Essex UK
Hi 
after seeing that some of you like to visit my home town I thought to give you some knowledge that I have gathered. I hope you find this helpful and enjoyable. 

I will break it down into categories 

Museums 
Art 
Walking 
Post Office tour 
TV and radio shows 
Big Ben tour 
Theatre 
Music 

I hope you have a wonderful time. 

"A person who aims at nothing is sure to hit it." 

bobbygrrl
From: Essex UK
Free admission has always been the case at the mammoth 
British Museum http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/ 
Now the recent Government change in policy means we have free admission at all national museums these include: 

The Science Museum http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/ 

The Natural History Museum http://www.nhm.ac.uk/ 

The Victoria and Albert Museum http://www.vam.ac.uk/ 

The National Maritime Museum http://www.nmm.ac.uk/ 

The Imperial War Museum 
Lambeth Road, London, SE1 6HZ tel:020 7416 5000 

The Museum of London http://www.museum-london.org.uk/ 

Sir John Soane's Museum 
3 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3BP tel:020 7405 2107 (is stuffed with antiquities, paintings, sculptures and models of buildings) 

The Horniman Museum http://www.horniman.ac.uk/ 

London's top art galleries are all free, except for special exhibitions. They include the huge, comprehensive National Gallery, with paintings by many of the greasts, including da Vinci and Van Gogh. 

The National Gallery http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/ 

National Portrait Galler http://www.npg.org.uk/ (is literally round the corner from the National Gallery) 

Tate Britain www.tate.org.uk/britain 

The new Tate Modern www.tate.org.uk/modern 

bobbygrrl

Nearly forgot this one LAW 
For over-14s, a trip to the public gallaries of the Old Bailey's Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey, Newgate Street, EC4M 7EH Tel: 020 7248 3277) gives a great insight into Britain's legal system. There are 19 course here, where the country's main criminal cases are tried. The most gripping section of the trials is usually when a witness is being cross-examined by the opposing side's counsel. The oldest courts - numbers one, two and three, usually hold the most interesting trials. 


WALKING 


You could take a long walk from Notting Hill to Whitehall through four of the best - Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park and St James's Park almost without a break. 

Often overlooked are the capital's Victorian cemeteries. these peaceful beautiful yet spooky and eerie wildernesses of gravestones and ornate tombs sometimes contain the graves of eminent former londoners 

Brompton Cemetery, Fulham http://www.royalparks.gov.uk/ = the Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst among others 

Bunhill fields Burial Ground. City Road, London, EC2, which covers four acres and was founded as a cemetery for non-conformists in the early 1700s 

Kensal Green Cemetery - Harrow Road, London, W10 Tel:020 8969 0152 
boasts the graves of classic novelist Trollope and Thackeray and the ground breaking victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel 


ROYAL MAIL POST OFFICE TOUR 

Adults and children over the age of 12 can follow the journey of a letter by taking a pre-booked tour of Mount Pleasant Post Office, Europe's biggest sorting office. You can see the mechanical sorting equipment in action as well as the underground mail rail, installed in 1927, which carries ten million sacks of mail around London on automatic trains. Its best to visit at around 2pm, which is when the mail rail starts. Bookings must be confirmed in writing at least 14 days before the visit. 

Write to: Mount Pleasant Post Office, Farringdon Road, London EC1 1BB or call 020 739 2311 

bobbygrrl

TV AND RADIO SHOWS 
Many radio and television shows can be seen for free although there can be a wait for a few months for the most popular ones. 

For details of forthcoming BBC radio and TV shows and requests for ones you'd like to see call 020 8576 1227 

For details of ITV shows, write to:L the Ticket U 
nit, London Television Centre Upper Ground, London SE1 9TT Tel: 020 7620 1620 

The Duty Offices at channel 4 on 020 7306 8333 and Channelo 5 on 0845 705 0505 can give details on shows coming up. 

Powerhouse can arrange free tickets for TV programmes on all channels. Call 020 7240 2828 

BIG BEN TOUR 

Big Ben at the Houses of Parliament, London, SW1 is one of London's most famous sights, yet few people have been inside the tower. Many people know that visits to both the House of Commons and House of Lords can be arranged but few are aware that there is also a weekly tour of the world famous clock tower on Fridays. If you take a 45 minutes tour (over 11's only), you can climb the 334 steps of the belfry to walk behind the illuminated clock faces and watch the clock ticking and the bells being all 020 7219 3000 www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/PIO.HTM 


THEATRE 

Many people are put off going to the theatre in London because they think you have to take out a mortgage to pay for a decent seat. On the contrary, the Guldhall School of Music and Drama stages a whhole variety of drama productions and standards are very high. Matinees in the main house and all plays in the studio are free. 

Write to: The Guildhall School of Music and Drama General Office, Silk Street, Barbican, EC2 for an events diary, call 020 7628 2571, or visit the events section at http://www.gsmd.ac.uk/ 

bobbygrrl
MUSIC 
On weekdays some of the City's most beautiful churches put on classical music recitals at lunch-time and the standard is generally very good. Details from the City of London Information Centre, St Paul's Churchyard, London, EC4M 8BX tel:020 7332 1456. 

Londons music colleges also have regular free orchestral concerts, chamber music performances and recitals. These include: 

The Royal Academy of Music http://www.ram.ac.uk/ 

The guildhall school of Music and Drama, see the theatre above 

The Royal College of Music http://www.rcm.ac.uk/ 

The Royal National Theatre South Bank, London, SE1 9PX tel: 020 7452 3400 
Offers a variety of classical, world, jazz and folk in the foyer. Call for performance times

Janie
Moderator 
TUG Volunteer 
Wow--thanks, bobbygrrl--what a fantastic list! We're going to London next November and I really appreciate all of the suggestions. This would be a great thing to have in the TUG archives somewhere! 

bobbygrrl

X-ring


Originally posted by bobbygrrl: 
MUSIC 

On weekdays some of the City's most beautiful churches put on classical music recitals at lunch-time and the standard is generally very good. Details from the City of London Information Centre, St Paul's Churchyard, London, EC4M 8BX tel:020 7332 1456.

Great initiative bobbygrrl, thank you. 

For music, may I add the noon concerts at historic Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields at Trafalgar Square (parish church of the Queen and the PM, not that they attend here!). Mozart had played on a visit. The noon concerts are free but a donation is welcomed. Concerts at other hours as well. 

On Sunday, we also attended Ev'ensong at St. Paul's (the sound of the organ and choir reverberating in the dome is a glorious experience!) and an organ recital at Westminster Abbey. 

nkosi278

Sunday morning mass at the Brompton Oratory.
It's a long while back, but John Stott preaching at All Souls,
Langahm Place was fantastic.
Buy the Daily Telegraph for the services at all London's Anglican, Catholic, and Non-Conformist churches.... 

MULTIZ321
Bobbygrrl - 
Thanks so much for your useful information and links. 

Here's some additional link information for your list: 

The Imperial War Museum - www.iwm.org.uk/ 

Sir John Soane's Museum - www.soane.org/ 

For the Walking List 

Bunhill Fields Burial Ground - http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cj.tolley/nch-bunhill.htm 
Among the notables buried here are Willaim Blake and his wife Catherine, John Owen, Daniel Defoe, Susana Wesley, John Bunyon and Isaac Watts. 

Kensal Greeen Cemetery www.kensalgreen.co.uk/ 

Here are some sites to help plan your trip using public transportation: 

London Underground Website http://www.thetube.com/ - click on Tube Planner 

London Bus Routes www.londonbusroutes.net/ 

A great site for planning bus/tube travel: www.transportforlondon.gov.uk/tfl/ 

An alternative website for planning subway navigation - this site has links to major metropolitan areas w/ subways, including London: http://www.subwaynavigator.com/ 

MULTIZ321
And if you'd like to go directly to the Subway Navigator Link for London:
http://www.subwaynavigator.com/subw...e=60&langue=eng 


MULTIZ321
By the way, I forgot to mention another good site 
If you are interested in learning about current and upcoming
exhibitions at 2500 Museums in London and UK, check out
http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/ 

MarTN
Wow, thank you so much for pulling this together. 
I hope it does get Archived as well as linked from the Reviews pages. 

bobbygrrl

Not free but I haven't seen this before so I thought I would share the info with anyone that may be interested anyway http://www.londonpass.com/index2.asp


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## Tania

CEREMONY OF THE KEYS

By invitation only, this ceremony has been held for 700 years at the Tower of London and commemorates the locking up of the tower every evening.

Write for your free invitation at http://www.hrp.org.uk/webcode/content.asp?ID=622
Your only cost is a self-addressed stamped enveloppe if you have UK stamps or two International Reply Coupons, available at your post-office.

Not to be missed!


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## Beaglemom3

Tania said:


> CEREMONY OF THE KEYS
> 
> By invitation only, this ceremony has been held for 700 years at the Tower of London and commemorates the locking up of the tower every evening.
> 
> Write for your free invitation at http://www.hrp.org.uk/webcode/content.asp?ID=622
> Your only cost is a self-addressed stamped enveloppe if you have UK stamps or two International Reply Coupons, available at your post-office.
> 
> Not to be missed!




  I just got my tickets in the mail today for the May 15th Ceremony of the Keys in the Tower.

  I mailed in my request with two international postal coupons (hard to find at my local post offices) on March 19th from Boston. I put in four dates that would work in May and got my first choice. 

  You should request three months ahead of going in the peak summer months of July & August.


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## cristinaaloha

I like the script and the conversation. LOL great.


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## sarabarros

I just love Big Ben, and I never get tired of taking photos of it. Day or night, next to him or in the next part of the city, it is always possible to get great photos of such beautiful thing like it is Big Ben! I know that you enjoy the same as me, so why we don´t join together and share the best places to catch the best pictures of Big Ben? To confirm and to know more information: http://bit.ly/z5onBX: See you there!


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## philofarrelly

amazing Post, Thank you.


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## PStreet1

I may have just missed it, but I didn't see The British Library listed.  It's free and few tourists go there.  Their permanent displays are wonderful:  original Beatle's scores with their handwriting, Leonard Di Vinci sketches, a display where (using a fantastic computer program) you can "turn" the pages of the original copy of Alice in Wonderland and The Book of Days--and more.  They also have traveling displays; we saw an absolutely fantastic display of Korans, most in gold, and Dead Sea Scrolls.


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## bobbygrrl

thanks for bringing it over x


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## janetfdoss

*Amazing*

I have almost visited all of the place you have mentioned in your post. But there are some places which is still not been visited by me till now. So i will keep those in mind next time i will be there.


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