Private Walking Tour · London · The South Bank & The American Dream
The Mayflower Tour
Shakespeare’s Globe · The Clink · Dickens’s worst slum · The pub that launched America
The South Bank of the Thames has over 2,000 years of rich, sometimes brutal, always fascinating history — and most tourists never properly explore it. This private walking tour follows the river from Shakespeare’s Globe to the Mayflower pub, the very spot where the Pilgrim Fathers set sail to change the world, passing through medieval slums, pirate haunts, Dickensian poverty and the birthplace of the American Dream along the way.
The most historically rich stretch of riverbank in the world — and one of the least explored by tourists
The South Bank of the Thames has been at the heart of London’s most dramatic history for over two thousand years. This is where medieval Londoners came to escape the rules of the City — to watch plays, visit bear pits, drink in taverns and live in some of the most notorious slums in Europe. It is also the stretch of riverbank from which some of the most consequential voyages in history departed.
This private walking tour follows the Thames from the Millennium Bridge eastward, passing through Bankside, Borough, Bermondsey and Rotherhithe — each one with extraordinary stories to tell. The tour ends at the Mayflower pub, on the very spot where Christopher Jones recruited his crew and the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for the New World in 1620.
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Shakespeare’s Globe, The Clink & Borough MarketThe tour begins at the Millennium Bridge and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre — and immediately reveals the abject poverty that used to plague the area. The Clink, one of the worst prisons in history. The ruins of a palace. The Golden Hinde sailing ship. And the magnificent Borough Market, one of the oldest food markets in London.
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Jacob’s Island — Dickens’s most terrifying slumJacob’s Island was once considered the worst slum in London — so terrible that Charles Dickens used it as the setting for the climax of Oliver Twist. Bill Sikes meets his end here. Certain streets still take you back a century or two. This is also where pirates were hanged and where crime was a way of life.
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Captain Cook, the Mayflower & the birth of the American DreamThe Mayflower pub stands on the very spot where the Mayflower sailed from in 1620 — where Christopher Jones recruited his crew and the Pilgrim Fathers began their journey to the New World. Captain Cook also drank here before setting sail to discover Australia. A pub was here before the ship departed, and when Captain Jones brought the vessel home it was left on the shore just feet away.
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The first underwater tunnel — and a TV studio still making hits todayOne of Britain’s greatest engineers built the world’s first underwater tunnel in this stretch of the Thames. And nearby, a historic television and film studio that has been producing some of Britain’s best-loved programmes for decades — and is still making hits today.
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre — where the tour begins, and where the South Bank’s extraordinary story starts to unfold
The gory and fascinating past of Bankside and Borough — one of London’s most historically rich stretches of riverbank
Jacob’s Island — the old slum where pirates lived and died, and where Charles Dickens set the climax of Oliver Twist
The Mayflower Pub — the very spot where the Pilgrim Fathers set sail to change the world in 1620
Departure Time: 9.30 am City Location: London Duration of Tour: 3 hours (Approximate times as all tours are bespoke)
How to book The Mayflower Tour
To make a booking please use our automated calendar and booking form below or contact us above by email.
Alternatively you can book by using the automated booking process with Viator.
“From Shakespeare’s Globe to the very pub where the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for America. Medieval slums, pirate haunts, Dickensian poverty and the birth of the American Dream — all along one extraordinary stretch of the Thames.”
