Open House Festival: The best guided walks in the Square Mile
As we celebrate the Square Mile with our Toast the City Awards 2026, here are some amazing City-based Open House Festival tours, including close looks at some of our nominees.
Money, money, money
What is Canada most famous for? Money, of course. This Open House tour, of the Square Mile’s financial past and present will take in icons including the the Bank of England and Royal Exchange, as well as less familiar totems to its commercial heritage.
• Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 September
Aldgate walking tour
Aldgate is a nexus, both geographically, between the City to the West and Tower Hamlets to the East, and historically, connecting London’s Roman origins to its medieval past. This walking tour will fill you in on the details of one of the city’s most fascinating areas.
• Monday 14 and Wednesday 16 September
The Barbican & The City Gardens
Nominated twice for our Toast the City Awards, the Barbican is a stunning feat of architecture and placemaking. This Open House walking tour will fill you in on some of its amazing history and take you through gardens usually reserved only for residents.
• Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September
The City Churches: St Stephen Walbrook
It may not be the most outwardly spectacular but St Stephen Walbrook holds a place as one of the most fascinating of all the many, many churches in the Square Mile, from its twelve Corinthian columns to its one-of-a-kind altar by Sir Henry Moore.
• Tuesday 15 and Friday 18 September
Carpenters’ Hall
The history of the City is intertwined with the Livery Companies that helped to build it. This Open House drop-in session will allow you to explore one of these, with Carpenters’ Hall dating back as far as 1429, although rebuild several times since.
• Saturday 19 September
Secrets and Symbols of the city
This walking tour around the Square Mile will answer many questions you’ve always wondered about and some that you never even thought to ask. Did you realise, for instance, that there are no “roads” in the Square Mile, only streets and lanes squares?
• Monday 14 and Friday 18 September
The Literary City
You may know that Dickens wrote some of his famous prose from a window in the Square Mile, but did you know there are also literary associations linking it with figures ranging from Shakespeare to Oscar Wilde? You surely will after this Open House guided walk.
• Thursday 17 and Friday 18 September
The City at night
Readers of Morning Wire will be well acquainted with the Square Mile but everything changes at night, after the bankers have left and the tourists have returned to Mayfair. Explore shadowy nooks and crannies that cast this great location in a whole new light.
• Tuesday 15 September
Andaz London Liverpool Street
It may be a five star hotel today but Andaz London Liverpool Street has a rich history. It stands on the site of England’s first mental hospital, the Bethlehem Royal, and is home to two Masonic Temples, one Egyptian and one Grecian.
• Monday 14 and Friday 18 September
Romans in London walk
The Roman amphitheatre beneath Guildhall is one of the most amazing London discoveries of the last 50 years – a worthy Toast nominee. But there is Roman history all around the City, from the hidden bath house to the City walls, as this Open House walking tour will show.
• Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September
Hidden City: Lost rivers & super sewers
You may know the churches and gardens, but how au fait are you with the channels of water that flow beneath the skyscrapers? Drawing inspiration from sources as diverse as Dick Whittington, Samuel Pepys and the Roman Empire, this is a tour like no other.
• Tuesday 15 September
St Bartholomew’s Hospital
Another , St Bartholomew’s Hospital this year saw the reopening of its stunning North Wing, with its grand staircase featuring an incredible mural painted by William Hogarth, leading to one of the finest grand halls in the City.
• Monday 14, Tuesday 15 and Sunday 20 September
- For more information and to book go to the Open House Festival website here