Landmarks

in London

Chinatown• Chinatown’s colourful history

stretches back long before the

Chinese community of restaurants

and businesses popped up in the

1950s. It was the birthplace of the

Post Office, Ronnie Scott’s and the

playground of the literary elite.

• From bakeries to bars and

restaurants to reflexology, today

Chinatown is a thriving hub of

Oriental wonder. Souvenir shops,

health clinics, barbers, travel

agents – it really does have

everything. Lord Gerrard would be

proud.

Oxford Street

• Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus.

• It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and as of 2012 had approximately 300 shops.

Hyde Park

• Set right in the heart of London, Hyde Park offers both world-class events and concerts together with plenty of quiet places to relax and unwind.

• Dip you toes in the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain, brave an open water swim in the Serpentine, or just admire the views across the lake from a waterside café.

• Have a go at boating, tennis, horse riding, or join the many joggers, walkers and cyclists enjoying the open air.

Shakespeare’s Globe

• Shakespeare's Globe is the complex housing a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre.

• An Elizabethan playhouse associated with William Shakespeare, in the London Borough of Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames.

Tower Bridge

• Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London built between 1886 and 1894.

• The bridge crosses the River Thames close to the Tower of London and has become an iconic symbol of London.

The Monument

• The Monument stands

at the junction of

Monument Street and

Fish Street Hill in the

City of London.

• It was built between

1671 and 1677 to

commemorate the

Great Fire of London

and to celebrate the

rebuilding of the City.

The National Gallery

• The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London.

• Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900.

St Paul’s Cathedral

• St Paul's Cathedral, London, is an Anglican cathedral, the seat of the Bishop of London and the mother church of the Diocese of London.

• It sits on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grade I listed building.

• Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604.

Westminster Cathedral

• Westminster Cathedral, or the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in London is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

• The site on which the cathedral stands in the City of Westminster was purchased by the Diocese of Westminster in 1885.

• Westminster Cathedral is the largest Catholic church building in England and Wales and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster.

Buckingham Palace

• Buckingham Palace is the London residence and administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom.

• Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality.

• It has been a focal point for the British people at times of national rejoicing and mourning.

Big Ben

• Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London and is usually extended to refer to both the clock and the clock tower.

• The official name of the tower in which Big Ben is located was originally the Clock Tower, but it was renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II.

Palace of Westminster

• The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

• Commonly known as the Houses of Parliament after its occupants, the Palace lies on the north bank of the River Thames in the City of Westminster, in central London, England.

Piccadilly Circus

• Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster.

• It was built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with Piccadilly.

The Natural History Museum

The handsome Alfred Waterhouse building houses a collection that contains some 70 million plant, animal, fossil, rock and mineral specimens. The Natural History Museum’s Blue Zone is devoted to the diversity of life on earth, from dinosaurs to epic sealife. The entrance hall meanwhile houses Dippy the plaster cast of a Diplodocus, which has been there snce it was commissioned by King Edward VII in 1905, but will be replaced by the skeleton of a blue whale from summer 2017 while Dippy goes on tour.

The Science Museum

The Science Museum features seven floors of educational and entertaining exhibits, including the Apollo 10 command module and a flight simulator. The Wellcome Wing showcases developments in contemporary science, medicine and technology. The Medical History Gallery in the museum's attic contains a substantial collection of medical history treasures and Pattern Pod introduces under-eights to the importance of patterns in contemporary science.

The British Museum

One of the world's oldest museums, the British Museum is vast and its collections, only a fraction of which can be on public display at any time, comprise millions of objects. First-time visitors generally head for the mummies, the Rosetta Stone, LindowMan, the Lewis Chessmen and the Sutton Hoo Ship Burial.

The Cartoon Museum

Anyone who loves comics

like The Beano, The Dandy

and Topper is sure to enjoy

Bloomsbury's Cartoon

Museum. Opened in 2006,

this small museum is

dedicated to preserving

British cartoons, comics and

animation from early Punch

to current favourites, such

as Giles and Steve Bell.

There's also fun, interactive activities for kids

Museum of brands, packaging

and advertisingThe Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising in Notting Hill features more than 12,000 original items from the Robert Opie Collection. Step inside for a nostalgic journey through childhood toys, fashions, magazines and more from Victorian times, through austerity Britain to the swinging 60s.

Old Operating Theatre, Museum

and Herb GarretThis is a real one-off – the only remaining 19th-century operating theatre in England, which sits at the top of an old church. Inside, you can watch demonstrations of surgical techniques and volunteer to be "operated on". The smells emanating from the herb garret (originally used to store and cure medicinal herbs) just add to the atmosphere.

Sherlock Holmes Museum

Visit the Sherlock Holmes Museum, a Grade II-listed lodging house on Baker Street which has been furnished as the apartment of Conan Doyle's famous fictional detective and his friend Doctor Watson. The museum features waxworks, Victorian ephemera and a very popular gift shop selling Sherlock Holmes collectibles and novelty items.

Brunel Museum

On the site of the Thames Tunnel, The Brunel Museum showcases the work of famous engineers Marc Isambard Brunel and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Among the objects on display are drawings, watercolours and engravings of the pioneering tunnellingproject as well as artefacts from the Fancy Fairs that took place there.