Basic HTML Version
14
City & Village Tours: 0845 812 5000 info@cityandvillagetours.com
The Diamond Jubilee London Tour
Enjoy a tour of the landmark London building
from where in 1953 the BBC filmed
HM Queen Elizabeth’s coronation and the
recent wedding of her grandson Prince
William and follow the life story of Her
Majesty with an entertaining coach tour and a
short walk in her childhood neighbourhood -
Mayfair.
Built on the site of the London Aquarium though
for much of its history a Music Hall, Westminster
Central Hall was built entirely with donations to
mark the centenary of John Wesley the founder
of Methodism. This extraordinary Edwardian
building occupies one of the most prominent
sites in the centre of London and yet few people
know what it is. It is a building that hides in plain
sight. The outside is completely free of religious
symbolism and inside the style is probably
unique for the UK mixing Viennese Baroque with
Romanesque decoration.
HM Queen Elizabeth knew this building as a
child when she attended children’s concerts
conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent. In more
recent years Her Majesty expressed her delight,
during a visit to unveil a statue of John Wesley,
to be taller than someone for a change - she
has a full two inches on the 5’1’’ preacher.
During the morning tour you will see the Great
Hall with its impressive dome where the
inaugural meeting of the United Nations was
held and you will hear about the illustrious
people who have spoken here from Clem Atlee
and Winston Churchill to Nelson Mandela and
the Dalai Llama. We also enjoy fantastic views
from the 4
th
floor balcony used by the BBC to film
the Queen’s coronation in 1953. Indeed the BBC
still pay a retainer on this balcony and last year
an astonishing 2 billion people worldwide
watched Prince William, Kate Middleton and
their guests enter and leave Westminster Abbey
from this viewpoint.
In the afternoon we will take you on an
entertaining and informative coach tour of
London using a special permit to access royal
routes not normally accessible by coach as
we tell the life story of Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II from birth in Mayfair to her arrival
at Buckingham Palace, first as daughter of King
George and later as Queen.
At the end of the afternoon we set down to walk
through the red carpeted Burlington Arcade built
for the upper classes and still policed by beadles
in top hats and tails and out onto Piccadilly right
by royal Grocers Fortnum & Mason. You can
pop into Fortnum’s to see the magnificent Food
Hall and push the boat out for tea or choose an
alternative tea-shop nearby before heading
home at 4-45pm.
This trip is called
The Diamond Jubilee London
Tour.
You meet the tour guide at 10-30am just
off Parliament Square and the day finishes on
Piccadilly at 4-45pm. You can also book the day
with Later Start Option arriving for lunch at
midday and heading home at 5-00pm.
The tour is available every day through until
the end of March 2013 at the following cost.
Day including the visit to Westminster Central
Hall, group members pay for their own morning
refreshments and lunch on the day.
Adults & Seniors: £12.00.
Day including the visit to Westminster Central
Hall with morning coffee and biscuits and a main
course lunch included.
Adults & Seniors £18.95.
Day as above but
with morning refreshments
and two-course lunch.
Adults & Seniors: £22.50.
The above prices are valid daily right through
until the end of March 2013.
To book please call us on 0845 812 5000.
Portrait of a Queen
Available 17 May to 21 October 2012 only
Meet our guide on Piccadilly to buy morning
refreshments before beginning the day in upper
class style with a walk through the Burlington
Arcade and out into Mayfair the neighbourhood
of the Queen’s birth and childhood.
During the morning we will take you on an
entertaining coach tour tracing the life story
of Her Majesty through to her sudden arrival at
Buckingham Palace as daughter of an unlikely
King in that dramatic year when her much loved
grandfather died and her uncle abdicated
.
For lunch we arrive in newly pedestrianised and
de-pigeoned (I think I just invented that word)
Trafalgar Square where you can sit among the
lions and fountains with a packed lunch or buy
lunch in the Crypt Café of St. Martin in the
Fields.