Unusual things to do in London.

Thank you so much for all the suggestion!! You have all made making my itinerary much harder because I want to do everything you’ve suggested.

Can anyone recommend any pre or post theatre restaurants? I’m thinking of something like Bob Bob Richard or Ting at The Shard (but less touristy)

I'll be staying near the Barbican on Sat 14 Aug - anyone know of anything to do around there (or a reasonable taxi ride away) during the day?

My companion can't walk far and we've already done the Museum of London.

Good thinking, thanks! We are indeed off to Singin' in the Rain and Anything Goes 😁

How about the Marble Arch mound ?

If you are staying near The Barbican, how about a visit to St Giles Without Cripplegate, the church within the Barbican? Milton was buried there, Oliver Cromwell married there and Rick Wakeman recorded part of his "Six Wives of Henry VIII" on the organ there.

Lots of good recommendations. I'd say seeing the city from the river is one of my favourite things to do - by speedboat is great. I use Thames Rockets (the red boats) for this and they are excellent - they tend to use actors/comedians as guides and they are excellent. Also, the Thames Clippers are an excellent way of getting about as well. I would recommend Greenwich, which has lots of things to see and do, and only a 40-minute ride on the Clippers from central London.

Although not located in the City, the West End or indeed in the heart of London, the Hornimam Museum is also great!

www.horniman.ac.uk/

Whilst I was are of it, I had never been to it until last week when I had a week off work.

It has just been voted The Art Fund Museum of 2022.

Located in Forrest Hill on the London Overground, is 15 minutes from London Bridge by train.

There are permanent exhibitions on musical instruments, natural history and anthropology .

There are also wonderful gardens with a bandstand, a butterfly house, an aquarium, a small petting zoo with rabbits, alpacas, chickens, etc and a crystal palace.

With the exception of the cafe, the butterfly house and the aquarium, the whole thing is free.

It's extremely good. Very family friendly.

It was very busy when I was there.

Another interesting place to visit is the Grant Museum of Zoology.

www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/grant-museum-zoology

According to the website/:

The Grant Museum is the only remaining university zoology museum in London and contains specimens from the whole of the animal kingdom. The collection dates from the 19th century and is still added to. The collection contains a wide range of material including fluid preserved, pinned entomology, taxidermy, freeze-dried and skeletal specimens. The Grant Museum offers an active and exciting range of educational programmes. The collection is an excellent resource for several different audiences, offering experiences for primary and secondary schools, art and special interest groups, and university classes.

Only 7% of the collection is on display but the rest of the collection is primarily available for use in research. The Grant Museum welcomes research enquiries and the collection is available for the research community for study and sampling.

You can see a Jar full of Moles (yep, you read it right), see a Quagga skeleton, glass models of invertebrates, red deer antlers, an African Rock Python Skeleton and the Brain Collection.

There are also downloadable guides.

Another interesting place to visit is the Royal London Hospital Museum.

This small museum in a former church crypt contains artifacts of the Elephant Man, Jack the Ripper and Florence Nightingale.

www.atlasobscura.com/places/royal-london-hospital-museum

According to the website: The long history of the famous hospital is on display at a small museum across the street from its Whitehall quarters, which has been the hospital’s home since 1758. Housed in the former crypt of St. Augustine with St. Philip’s, a red brick 19th-century church, the eclectic collection includes artifacts and archival material relating to major medical figures and surgical history. Oh, and Jack the Ripper. And the Elephant Man.

Sir Frederick Treves, the man who saved Joseph Merrick from a sideshow life, was in residence as a surgeon at the London Hospital. It was here, in 1886, that Dr. Treves cared for Merrick, made famous as the Elephant Man, until his death in 1890. The museum collection includes a replica of Merrick’s skeleton, cap, and burlap veil, some of his correspondence, and a remarkable model of the Cathedral of Mainz, built by Merrick’s own hand.

The Hospital’s London neighborhood was also the focus of the Whitechapel Murders of 1888, better known as those of “Jack the Ripper.” At the time the hospital lent a forensic hand to the murder investigations, and its collection includes some archival and other materials that give detail to its involvement and assistance.

It’s not all former circus freaks and grisly murders here at the Hospital Museum. There are collections and displays of some of Britain’s most important historical medical figures, including Florence Nightingale and Edith Cavell, who each helped transform what we now think of as nursing. Their contributions, along with those of Sir William Blizard and other prominent doctors, pathologists, and surgeons, helped establish the London Hospital — sorry, the Royal London Hospital – as a pre-eminent medical facility of the last three centuries.

Well it's not for everyone.

Speaking from personal experience, the Royal London Hospital Museum, although small, is really quite moving.  Especially The Elephant man artefacts. 

How about getting up really early (not Mondays) and going to the New Billinsgate Market. Take care not to get run over by porters with huge loads but it is a slice of real London that may soon move.

There is a beautiful exhibition currently showing at the very lovely Fitzrovia Chapel. The chapel is all that remains of Middlesex Hospital and the exhibition relates to photos taken on the AIDs ward of the hospital in 1993. The photos are projected onto a big screen and there is also a video showing on a loop of medical staff and family members recalling those days. As someone who was 30 in 1993 (and dressed in the same way as many of those featured in the photos) and had a close friend die of AIDs I found it incredibly sad but also life affirming. If you thought It's A Sin ripped your heart out then you will definitely need to take tissues to this. And for those of us still enamoured, like londonpostie, by the Elizabeth Line, it is a very easy walk from the Dean Street exit of the Tottenham Court Road Elizabeth Line station. I was able to get to the exhibition from my home in Stratford in less than half an hour.

www.fitzroviachapel.org/event/the-ward-revisited-3/