Shakespeare, Dickens & London's Greatest Stories Free Walking Tour (90 minutes)

Think you know London? Think again.

This is not a dry or dull history tour. It’s a fast-paced, story-driven walk through the lives, scandals and streets of Shakespeare, Dickens and the writers who have shaped this city.

Led by a working writer and performer, this is the only London literary tour run by someone who is actually writing the city today.

We will walk in the footsteps of the greats - from Dickens’ childhood to Shakespeare's Globe via Chaucer's Canterbury - and uncover the stories behind the stories, the fights, the struggles, and the moments that changed literary history.

Along the way, you’ll hear live readings, surprising anecdotes, and the hidden stories that most tours miss...

Round every corner, down every backstreet and in (almost) every pub in London is inspiration for one of the greatest stories ever written. 

Let us show you. 

Duration: 90 minutes | Small groups | Ends by Shakespeare’s Globe

The Route

Join us and you will visit:

• London's last surviving galleried coaching inn 🍺

• The exact spot that Chaucer's pilgrims began their Canterbury Tales 🥾

• John Keats' old workplace 👨‍⚕️

• The old debtors' prison that kept Dickens captive until his death 💰

• A magical old unconsecrated burial ground 🪦

• A funky mural of William Shakespeare 🎨

• The site of the original Globe Theatre (both versions) 🎭

• The site of the old Rose Theatre 🌹

• Shakespeare's Globe (the modern theatre) 🌎

All tours begin at The George, the most literary pub in London, and we conclude the tour in Shakespeare's old stomping ground with the tour ending just outside the Globe by the River Thames. 

The London's Greatest Stories Tour is not an ordinary history tour. It combines classic history tour with readings and excerpts from some of the finest writing ever put to page, all guided by a local writer and poet.