- Tours›
- Art, Culture, & Historical
The Sex Industry and the Stage in Georgian London
Joined 2023
After the Puritan Protectorate Londoners went wild. The sex industry became huge and public and London sex-capital of Europe. The walk starts with theatres at a time when all actresses were considered prostitutes and the stage a place for clients to find them. We see where street-walkers and bawdy houses were linked with playhouses, hear about bawdy-house keepers and women who worked in them, homosexual Molly Houses, Jelly Houses, Coffee Houses and Bagnios. Links with criminals are everywhere.
Itinerary
This itinerary can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Send me a message with your requests!
Meeting Point
Holborn Station
Holborn Station
Meeting point
Lincoln's Inn Fields
Near Lisle's Indoor Tennis Court that became an early theatre
Aldwych
Former Holywell Street, centre of pornographic books
The Strand
Street-walking
Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Covent Garden Piazza
Royal Opera House
St Paul's Church
The actors' church
Bow Street
Early police station
Drury Lane and Macklin Street
'Little Sodom'
Endell Street
Old bagnio
Holborn Station
end of the walk
Ending Point
Holborn Station
Want to personalize this tour?
This tour can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Click below to send me a message with your requests.
Inclusions & Exclusions
Guide fee
Everything but the guide's fee
Tour Important Information
Important message from the supplier
I'm a guide for walking tours; I don't have a car.
Cancellation Policy
- Free cancellation - 8 days prior to meeting time
- 50% Refund - 3 to 7 days prior to meeting time
- No Refund - Within 2 day(s) prior to meeting time
Joined 2023
About Tour Guide Laura A.
I'm a qualified London guide now offering History Walks with Gender, Sex and Class. Walks focus on the lives of poorer working people rarely described in historical accounts except as criminals or objects of charity. When there’s an opportunity to talk about women I’ll take it, and social class is always on the table. I've been a writer, researcher and critical historian all my life, and I've been a Londoner since the 1960s, although I've left to live in other towns and countries. Author of Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry, for many years I've focused on getting the stories out of women and others marginalised because of being poor, foreign, ‘different’ or doing jobs some folks think are Wrong, in the present and in the past. I'm known as The Naked Anthropologist.
$450/ per group
More tours by Laura A.
The Secret London Village of Primrose Hill
Primrose Hill is one of London's most desirable areas but it was born with the noisy grimy railway in the early 19th century. The streets show industrial solutions by brilliant Victorian engineers and the hard labour of tough 'navvies' who built them. On this walk you'll see railway-industry landmarks and pastel-painted streets that came later, in one of which lives Paddington Bear. Also a beautiful stretch of the Regent's Canal, and from the top of the hill itself great views over London.
The Great Wild West of Medieval Southwark
Nowadays Southwark is in London but 500 years ago it lay outside City control, an area of Anything Goes. South of London Bridge was the county of Surrey, but the sheriff's job was made hard by private estates with their own systems of law. This was the place to be if you were on the run. The market was outside the City so prices were cheaper driving City authorities wild. Travellers and pilgrims came from far and wide, Bankside was nightlife area renowned for gaming, theaters and brothels.
Wind in the Willows - the Thames from Richmond to Twickenham
Your dreams of English countryside come true in the city. Richmond is Sir David Attenborough's favourite place on the planet. We see a wide village green, narrow lanes, the Tudor gatehouse of Richmond Palace and the Old Deer Park. Swimming birds and working boathouses await you, as we cross Richmond Bridge to walk southwards along the river, passing Marble Hill House and other mansions with parklands and formal gardens as well as wildflowers, paddling children and dogs.
Other Popular Art, Culture, & Historical Tours in London
Fast Track London
Discover London's pulsating heart on this thrilling journey, ideal for first-time visitors and seasoned explorers alike. Starting in Soho, we'll explore Chinatown, the Theatre District, Trafalgar Square, Horse Guards, London Eye, Westminster Abbey, and the grand Palace of Westminster with Big Ben—all in under 2 hours. Brace yourself for an unforgettable adventure as we unveil a hidden oasis of captivating street art along the way.
London's Jewish History
A journey through the streets and alleys of London to discover the 1000-year history of the Jews in England. From the arrival of a Jewish community from Normandy in 1066/67 to the Kindertransport children of 1938/39, Jews have played important roles in the unfolding drama of British history. We will visit some of the most spectacular sites in the City. We will also reveal the little-known Jewish associations of some of London's most famous landmarks. I donate all my tour proceeds to charity
British Museum Guided Tour
Meet in front of British Museum. Halfday Guided Tour . The British Museum was founded in 1753 and opened its doors in 1759. Roughly 80,000 objects are on public display at the British Museum in Bloomsbury at any one time. The British Museum is committed to lending its collection as widely as possible to increase public access and collaboration with collections and colleagues around the world. Of the 3,823 objects lent on average every year over last 5 years, 1,982 objects are lent to UK displays
The Royal London Tour
Three royal Palaces, Westminster Abbey, a beautiful Royal park and the Houses of Parliament. We will experience the Changing ceremonies of the King’s mounted Life Guard and the Foot Guards with their marching band and hear stories of love, betrayal, scandal and intrigue. All my tour guiding income is donated to charity.