From London Waterloo walking guide

Leave Waterloo station by exit 5 (opposite the Eurostar Terminal) and follow the signs at the foot of the steps, left, to “Thames Path & Festival Pier”. Cross the main road, go along Sutton Walk, turning left at Concert Hall Approach, then cross Belvedere Road and take the steps by the Royal Festival Hall.

Turn right at the Hungerford Bridge and follow the riverside walkway passing the Royal Festival Hall, Festival Pier on your left. Pass the National Film Theatre and continue walking under Waterloo Bridge. After passing the National Theatre on your right, look for an information panel on the railings pointing out the sights. Pause to admire the skyline, including St Paul’s and the latest celebrated building, the “Gherkin”. 

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The route shortly passes Gabriel’s Wharf with its restaurants and bars, and the Oxo Tower. Take the steps by Doggett’s Coat and Badge pub up to Blackfriars Bridge. Turn left across the river and then use the pedestrian underpass on the north side following the signs to emerge at exit 8. Across the road is The Blackfriar, an art-nouveau pub built on the site of a 13th-century friary.

Continue uphill to Ludgate Circus turning left into Fleet Street where, in around 1500, Wynkyn de Worde set up the first printing press to be near the literate churchmen who were his best customers. St Bride’s church, with its wedding-cake steeple, is on your left after about 60 metres. Pepys was baptised here, and Dr Johnson and Dickens lived nearby.

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Returning to Fleet Street, admire the art-deco design of the former Daily Express building, opposite, with its ocean liner-like curves of steel and glass. Next door to St Bride’s at No 85 is the former Reuters building, designed by Lutyens.

Cross Fleet Street and continue west, passing 135 Peterborough Court with its mock-Egyptian façade, which once housed The Daily Telegraph. You will reach the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese at 145 Fleet Street. It was Johnson who wrote: “There is nothing which has as yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.” Bar food is served in the dark-panelled rooms, and the restaurant Chop Room does a filling steak-and-kidney pudding."

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Immediately beyond the pub, follow the brown-and-white signs, right, to Dr Johnson’s house* in Gough Square, passing a statue of the writer’s cat, Hodge, along the way.

Return to Fleet Street and turn right, then right again on to Fetter Lane to emerge opposite the Gothic Prudential Assurance building. Cross the road, following the brown-and-white arrows in the direction of Leather Lane market and, at the King of Diamonds pub, turn right into Greville Street to meet Hatton Garden. The London Diamond Bourse and Club, 100 Hatton Garden, is where brokers trade the world’s rough diamonds.

* Admission to the 18th-century home Mon-Sat 11:00-17:00 Oct to Apr; 11:00-17:30 May-Sep; closed Sun and Bank Holidays

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Turn right on Hatton Garden to Holborn Circus, then left to Holborn Viaduct. Follow the brown-and-white signs in the direction of St Paul’s. When you reach The Viaduct Tavern, turn right into Old Bailey. Turn left at Ludgate Hill where St Paul’s dominates the view with its 365-foot dome. 

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With St Paul’s on your left, pass the City of London Information kiosk and cross at the lights to reach the Millennium Bridge, the first pedestrian bridge built across the Thames for more than a century. It has excellent views back to St Paul’s and east to Tower Bridge. Turn right by Tate Modern and follow the riverside back to Blackfriars Bridge, from where you retrace your steps to Waterloo.

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