Gingko

Madame Tussauds

Marylebone · 0.6 miles

A wax museum on Marylebone Road in central London presents lifelike figures of historical personalities, contemporary celebrities and characters from film and television. Visitors can walk among the recreated likenesses of monarchs, politicians, athletes and fictional stars, while a dedicated history exhibit displays the surviving casts of early models, including the 1765 figure of Madame du Barry and Marie Tussaud’s own self-portrait that greets guests at the entrance. The attraction traces its origins to 1835 when French sculptor Marie Tussaud opened a museum in Baker Street, where the Chamber of Horrors first appeared in advertising in 1843. Overcrowding at the original site led her grandson Joseph Randall to commission a purpose-built building on the current Marylebone Road location; the new galleries opened on 14 July 1884 and the business was incorporated as Madame Tussaud & Sons Ltd. in 1889. Operated today by Merlin Entertainments, the venue forms part of an international chain that expanded to Amsterdam in 1970. Despite fire damage in 1925 and wartime bombing in 1941, many early waxes survive as casts that have been remade for display. Access is step-free, providing wheelchair users with full mobility throughout the exhibition spaces. Opening times are published on the museum’s listing, and the site is served by the surrounding Marylebone area, making it reachable by public transport and local amenities.

The Lion of Knidos

St Giles · 0.6 miles

A marble lion, larger than life and weighing six tonnes, stands on a plinth beneath the roof of the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, forming part of the British Museum’s collection. Carved from the same Pentelic marble that built the Parthenon, the recumbent figure measures 2.89 metres in length and 1.82 metres in height; only its lower jaw and front legs are absent, and the eyes were probably once set with glass inlays. The statue originally topped a square funerary monument with a stepped pyramidal top, a form that has prompted scholarly debate over its date, ranging from the mid-fourth century BC to the second-century BC, with the museum currently estimating a creation period of 200–250 BC. The lion was first observed by the archaeologist Richard Popplewell Pullan in 1858 while he assisted Charles Thomas Newton in excavations near the ancient port of Knidos, now close to Datça in Turkey. After the monument collapsed, the marble lion was recovered, transported along the coast and loaded onto HMS Supply by Robert Murdoch Smith before being shipped to London. Since 2000 it has been displayed prominently in the museum’s Great Court. In 2008 the Turkish town of Datça lodged a formal request with the British Ministry of Culture and Tourism for the statue’s return. The monument is listed in OpenStreetMap as a historic feature near the St Giles area of London.

Cartwright Gardens

High Holborn · 0.6 miles

A crescent-shaped green space set within Bloomsbury offers a quiet alternative to the surrounding streets, with the nearest main thoroughfare being High Holborn. Managed by the London Borough of Camden, the park is open to the public and is bounded by iron railings that enclose mature plane trees, grassed areas and a network of circular walks. A bronze statue by George Clarke, dating from 1831, stands on a granite plinth that records the reform work of John Cartwright, after whom the gardens were renamed in 1908. Unusually for a central London garden, several tennis courts are available for residents of the surrounding buildings and hotels. The surrounding crescent was originally laid out between 1809 and 1811 as Burton Crescent, part of the Skinners’ Company Estate designed by James Burton. Early occupants included a number of prominent 19th-century figures such as social reformer Edwin Chadwick, postal reformer Rowland Hill and writer Sydney Smith. The east side of the gardens was largely demolished in the early 20th century; an Art Deco block, Canterbury Hall, was erected in the 1930s and later incorporated into University of London inter-collegiate halls, including Commonwealth Hall in the 1950s and Hughes Parry Hall in 1969. Those structures gave way to the Garden Halls built between 2014 and 2016, although the tower block of Hughes Parry Hall remains. Several of the Georgian houses, numbered 27-43 and 46-63, retain Grade II listed status, preserving the architectural character of the original development.

The Regent's Park

Regent's Park · 0.6 miles

Regent’s Park occupies 410 acres (170 ha) of north-west Inner London, straddling the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden. The land passed to the Crown after the 1530s dissolution of the monasteries, initially serving as a hunting and tenant-farming area. In the 1810s the Prince Regent proposed a pleasure garden, and the layout was executed by John Nash together with James and Decimus Burton, the latter receiving private financing from developer James Burton when the Crown Estate withdrew its commitment. The park is recorded on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens at Grade I. Today the site combines open parkland, ornamental water features and a series of public gardens. An outer ring road of 4.45 km (the Outer Circle) and an inner 1 km loop (the Inner Circle) encircle the most intensively tended area, Queen Mary’s Gardens, while the remainder is largely pedestrian-only apart from the Broad Walk, a shared-use path. Attractions include a lake supporting a heronry and waterfowl, a boating area, sports pitches, children’s playgrounds, the Italian and English Gardens, the Queen Elizabeth II Garden and the Open Air Theatre within the Inner Circle. The northern edge houses London Zoo and the Zoological Society of London’s headquarters; the southern side is bordered by Regent’s University London. Regent’s Canal runs along the northern perimeter, and the private grounds of Winfield House, the U.S. Ambassador’s residence, lie in the western sector. Public areas are managed by The Royal Parks charity, with the Crown Estate Paving Commission overseeing aspects of the built environment and the Crown Estate retaining the freehold. The park is listed on the official Royal Parks website where opening times are published; visitors should consult that source for current hours. Access is provided by the surrounding road network and pedestrian routes, and facilities such as cafés, toilets and information points are distributed throughout the grounds.

Regent Square Gardens

High Holborn · 0.6 miles

A public garden set within the historic Regent Square provides a green focal point in the St Pancras area of north-central London. The square lies close to High Holborn, Kings Cross and Bloomsbury and has been part of the London Borough of Camden since the mid-1960s. The garden was laid out around a large central lawn in the Harrison Estate and first occupied in 1829, echoing the garden-square pattern typical of Bloomsbury’s better-known developments. The southern side of the square retains its original early-nineteenth-century façades, which are collectively protected as a Grade II-listed group, and a traditional red telephone box situated within the gardens also carries a listed status. The site once accommodated two churches – the National Scotch Church, built between 1824 and 1827 and later an English Presbyterian congregation, and St Peter’s Church of the Church of England. Both structures were destroyed by wartime bombing and removed after the Second World War, leaving the surrounding architecture and the garden as the principal features. The park is managed by the London Borough of Camden and remains freely accessible to the public. Entry is from the surrounding streets, with the nearest reference point being High Holborn. No admission fee is required, and the space is open for typical park activities such as walking, casual recreation and appreciation of the listed surroundings.

Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain

St. James's · 0.6 miles

A striking water feature and memorial occupies the south-eastern edge of Piccadilly Circus, overlooking the south-west end of Shaftesbury Avenue. The bronze fountain supports a winged aluminium figure representing Anteros, the Greek god of selfless love, although it is commonly, though incorrectly, referred to as Eros. Erected between 1892 and 1893, the monument commemorates the philanthropic work of Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, whose campaigns replaced child labour with schooling. The statue was the first in the world cast in aluminium and was designed by Alfred Gilbert, who chose the subject to symbolise the Earl’s charitable legacy. The memorial has been relocated twice: first in 1925 to Embankment Gardens during construction of a tube station, then again in 1939 when the statue was stored for safety during the Second World War, before returning to its present position on 29 June 1947. The fountain’s bronze basin and marine-inspired motifs were moulded by Fernando Meacci and likely cast by George Broad & Son. Visitors can view the monument at no charge; it forms part of a heavily trafficked public thoroughfare and is reachable on foot from nearby transport links. Wheelchair access is limited, reflecting the site’s historic layout. The surrounding area falls within the St. James’s district and the fountain is listed as a historic memorial under heritage protection.