London Stories – Host Cafe, St Mary Aldermary
In the heart of the City of London, beneath the extraordinary plaster fan vaulting of St Mary Aldermary, you’ll find HOST Café and it has become one of my favourite places in London.
Explore
a city
Wander through the streets
and history of London
🏆 TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Award 2026 ⭐ 5-star rated
👣 Small friendly groups 🏛 See London Differently
Welcome! I’m Tim and this is your gateway to London.
From iconic landmarks to fascinating locals, I love sharing the extraordinary stories of this 2,000-year-old city.
Alongside my weekly films on instagram each month I curate a series of award-winning walks around the city. From royal palaces and treasures, to tales of radicals and rebels. Uncovering the rascals and the saints, each walk reveals the everyday lives of Londoners through the ages. A glimpse into the city’s rich and diverse history.
Whether you’re a first-time visitor or a living breathing Londoner, join me and discover some fabulous things in this amazing city.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Tim’s style was both informative and entertaining – easily one of the best tours I attended!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great tour today. Really enjoyed it – loved the storytelling & linking to characters.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I liked the way Tim developed the theme of the walk, rather than just treating it as a collection of separate episodes.
London Writing – Of Ostrich Feathers and River Pirates
A peculiar chain of London history, from ostrich feathers, the East India Company warehouses of Bishopsgate to thieves on the Thames and the birth of the River Police.
London Writing – the secret alleys of Clerkenwell
Sometimes London shows itself best, not in its grand stately buildings, its palaces or cathedrals: but in its narrow gaps, the seams which thread between the buildings. Its passageways, its unloved alleys.
London Photography – Trafalgar Square in glorious sunshine
The most brilliant sunshine turned the tiny flecks of water from the fountain into a myriad of cascading diamonds, I pulled the camera up to shoot a few frames and at that point the pidgeon sensing its destiny with imminent photographic fame skimmed across the shot, purely a happy accident.
London Stories – Shepherdess Walk Mosaics
Hidden in a corner of a park in Hackney lies one of London’s most extraordinary pieces of public art and almost nobody knows it’s there. The Shepherdess Walk Mosaics at first glance look like Roman pavements, but look closer and you’ll find decidedly modern things.
London Stories – Talbot Yard
Hidden behind Borough High Street in Southwark lies Talbot Yard a forgotten corner of London where Geoffrey Chaucer once imagined the pilgrims of The Canterbury Tales setting out for Canterbury. Today it’s easy to walk past without noticing it.
London Writing – Smithfield
Smithfield has been used for many things; from fabulous jousts in the Middle Ages and riotous fairs, to bloody executions and the oldest meat market in Europe. Smithfield has a rich and fascinating history….
To find out about upcoming walks and themes please visit the walks page.
To read more stories, to get to know more about these grand places, buildings and thoroughfares, and the fascinating people who have lived here, please visit the blog page.
‘this great and monstrous Thing, London’
Daniel Defoe