RBS

Temple Bar

St Clement Danes · 0.1 miles

The historic gateway that once marked the main ceremonial approach from Westminster into the City of London lies at the junction where Fleet Street meets The Strand, close to St Clement Danes. Known as Temple Bar, the site originally held a barrier that regulated trade and signalled the boundary of the City’s jurisdiction. From medieval times the route linked the Tower of London, the Palace of Westminster and St Paul’s Cathedral, making the bar a focal point for royal processions; the Lord Mayor traditionally presented the Sword of State to the monarch there. The surrounding built environment includes the 19th-century Royal Courts of Justice to the north and, on the south side, Temple Church together with the Inner and Middle Temple Inns of Court. The present structure is a memorial erected after the 17th-century Wren-designed archway was taken down in 1878. The monument is topped by a dragon symbolising the City and incorporates statues of Queen Victoria and Edward VII. Although the original stone arch was later re-erected in Paternoster Square beside St Paul’s Cathedral, the memorial at Temple Bar remains the focal point for visitors. The site is listed as a heritage monument and offers step-free, wheelchair-accessible access. No admission fee is required, and the open space allows a clear view of the surrounding legal precincts and the historic streetscape.

Royal Courts of Justice

St Clement Danes · 0.1 miles

The Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is a court building in Westminster which houses the High Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The High Court also sits on circuit and in other major cities. Designed by George Edmund Street, who died before it was completed, it is a large grey stone edifice in the Victorian Gothic Revival style built in the 1870s and opened by Queen Victoria in 1882. It is one of the largest courts in Europe. It is a Grade I listed building.

The Original Cell

Bank · 0.1 miles

The library is first fire-proof building in the country. As a result, the cell doors weigh half a ton each and are cast iron in order to attempt any outbreak of fire. Cell was used to store documents and other archives.

Dr. Johnsons House

Bank · 0.1 miles

Dr Johnson's House is a writer's house museum in London in the former home of the 18th-century English writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson. The house is a Grade I listed building.

Lincoln's Inn

Gray's Inn · 0.1 miles

A Portland stone monument set within the historic precincts of Lincoln’s Inn commemorates members of the Inn of Court who lost their lives while on active service in the First World War. Erected in 1921, the structure was designated a Grade II listed building in 1999. The ensemble measures roughly 46 feet (14 m) in length and rests on a three-step stone base; a central pylon is flanked by a curved screen that incorporates seating, terminating in piers at each end. Latin inscriptions on the screen and monument read “HOSPITIUM SOC I S / SANGUINEM PRO PATRIA LARGITIS / FILIIS PARENTES”, while the end piers bear the Roman-numeral dates 1914 and 1919 in the apostrophus form. Brass plaques on the interior faces of the piers list 35 names of the fallen, and a bronze plaque on the pylon records a further 66 names in two columns. A later addition includes a bronze plaque naming 29 individuals from the Second World War, among them Prince George, Duke of Kent. The memorial forms part of a wider network of remembrance within Lincoln’s Inn, which also contains a commemorative table, a book of remembrance, a chapel plaque, and a memorial to the 1915 Zeppelin air raid. The site lies in close proximity to Gray’s Inn, as indicated by OpenStreetMap, and can be viewed at street level within the inn’s public areas. Admission is unrestricted, and no specific visitor facilities are recorded.

Covent Garden Market

Blackfriars · 0.6 miles

The former fruit-and-vegetable market at Covent Garden provides a compact city-centre experience, combining cafés, pubs, independent shops and two small markets – the Apple Market and the Jubilee Hall market – within the historic arcade that dominates the square. Set on the eastern edge of the West End, between St Martin’s Lane and Drury Lane, the landmark lies close to Blackfriars and is served by the Piccadilly line at Covent Garden tube station; a short 300-yard walk links it to Leicester Square station. Originally part of the Anglo-Saxon trading settlement of Lundenwic, the site became a walled garden belonging to Westminster Abbey by the early thirteenth century. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, King Edward VI granted the land to John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, whose family held it until 1918. Inigo Jones designed the Italianate arcaded square in the early seventeenth century, and by 1654 a modest open-air market had taken root on the south side. The market was formalised in a neo-classical building by Charles Fowler in 1830, later supplemented by the Floral Hall, Charter Market and the Jubilee Market of 1904. Traffic pressures led to the relocation of the wholesale market to New Covent Garden Market at Nine Elms in 1974; the central building reopened as a shopping centre in 1980, retaining its heritage listing by Historic England. Visitors can reach the area on foot or by public transport, though wheelchair access is limited. The square remains a focal point for street performers and retains many of its historic façades, offering a blend of retail, food and cultural attractions within a protected urban setting.